Miami

We {Aaron, both kids and I} flew down to Miami for a long weekend.

In regards to this trip, I'm gonna follow the

"if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all"

rule.

Let's just say Emory asked to go home about five hundred times a day and we will not be traveling with the kids again anytime in the near future.

I've held off even looking at these pictures for the week since we've been home because I really just wanted to forget the whole trip. Luckily I didn't think to take out my camera during the {many} bad experiences. Aaron and I have already been able to look back and laugh at what a disaster this trip was, although not one bit of it was funny while we were there!

Enough complaining...

Here are the handful of good memories we'll have of our first trip as a family of four.

Surprisingly both kids were angels during the flights. We had pacis on hand during take-offs and landings to keep their ears from hurting. One tip I would recommend to anyone traveling with a toddler...I wrapped a handful of little treats for Emory to have throughout the flights. All were things she could use on the plane {stickers, a DVD, markers, candy, etc} and she loved it! It made the flight {which was direct, thank goodness} so easy.When we got to the hotel {late afternoon} we just got settled in and let the kids play after being cooped up traveling all day. We had a nice big suite, so Em had plenty of room to run and play.
{Anyone notice she's wearing her brother's diaper. I ran out of her pull-ups before we got our luggage and had to use a size 2. It fit her no problem!}
The weather was SO COLD!! We had been looking forward to the warm, sunny beach weather and it was nowhere to be found. Luckily the pools were heated, so as long as you stayed in the water it was great, but the moment you stepped out, the wind was brutal.

See? Those little blue lips are absolutely frozen!!

One day we headed over to Jungle Island and checked out all the animals.

{Emory LOVED this!}

Chasing the birds and watching the fa-minnows {flamingos}...

They had the usuals like a giant tortoise, cows and flamingos, but also some rare ones like the liger...

Watson slept the first hour or so in the wrap. He likes to nuzzle when he sleeps, so by the time he woke up his head was hanging all the way out of the side! He thought it was very funny that we were laughing at him. :)

Daddy and Em enjoyed a stop at the playground in the middle of the zoo.

Another afternoon we took a Duck Tour. {We're "tour" people all the way. We even "quack", and if you don't know what that means you should definitely try out a Duck Tour the next time you're in a big city...they're great!}

We tried the brave the beach a second time, but we didn't last long in the wind.

But Emory loved playing in the sand between the huge gusts...

While we were SO HAPPY to be home, we will try and appreciate our little trip that taught us TONS about travling with two young kids! Em is definitely a seasoned traveler, but throwing another kid in the mix makes all the difference. Baby Girl and Baby Boy will be taking their own little vacation to Grandmama and Granddaddy's house next time Aaron and I plan a vacation!!