Jason was done with his work stuff, so he was able to join in the festivities the next day. We decided to go explore Vizcaya Museum and Gardens. This place was amazing! The former estate of businessman James Deering... Just a quaint little house...
Ryden took hold of his cousins while we explored
Front view
Checkin' out the swamp
Laying on the ground in your Mercedes Benz outfit seems like the right thing to do..
Trevin jumps at any chance to throw rocks into the water.
..the other boys followed
There were several girls dressed up in big, beautiful dresses taking pictures. The girls high tailed it over to say hi to the 'princess'.
This girl was so sweet to let the girls take a picture by her.
The boys could care less. Throwing rocks in the pond was way better than some dumb princess
Hangin' tough
"Get together...better cheddar!"
This sweet woman offered to take our picture. That is always music to our ears. Little did we know, she was a bit of a stalker...in a semi-non-creepy way. She followed our group around and was snapping pictures of the kids. She wanted to take Harper home with her. We had our own paparazzo. Boy would I like to see her camera feed.
I tried so hard the few days I had with the girls. I even wore a long flow-y blue skirt that Harper was in awe of..my 'Let It Go' skirt. I felt we really bonded even though she still called me 'That Lady' (I'll take it). But the minute Uncle Jason was in the picture, 'That Lady' was chopped liver...LO. He was way more fun than me so I just hung back and let him do all the entertaining. The girls really dug him.
I mean....karate kicking off the stairs? Who can compete with that?
Well, Ryden tried to compete.
And then Trevin tried also, he bailed and we didn't hear the end of it for a good 20 minutes.
Lots of climbing and exploring
...and twins running around. Cue Cody singing "A run run run run a run run runnnn!"
Break time to stare at the angels on the ceiling
This drain hole was quite the entertainment for awhile...until we were told we were not suppose to be in that area. More like, we asked this security guard who was staring at us if it was ok to which he replied "Umm..no!" Way to do your job buddy.
Then, once again, Ryden got a hold of the camera.
...and Trevin got the Michael Jackson urge..first with "Thriller"
..and then "Heal the World"
The alligators even came out to watch the performance.
More exploring in a fountain...something we probably weren't allowed to be doing either but we ditched security.
Look at these cute cousins!
We spotted an Iguana which was pretty darn cool. I even got to see one splashing around in the water. Let's just say they aren't the most graceful swimmers.
Not sure the selfie worked...
I'll take your picture. Harper is focused on the flower she picked which is also illegal I'm sure. It really is so hard to tell kids not to pick flowers when they come running up with a sweet smile on their face to give them to you.
One last karate kick for the books.
We were heading out and who do we see? Our friendly stalker! I just had to get a picture with her. I made sure we had Harper back after this picture. I was afraid she was going to stick her in her purse..
One more "Friller" dance for good measure
Harper kills me in this picture. I can just hear the deep laugh coming from that mouth.
We left Cody and the girls so they could take naps and we headed back to the hotel for some pool time. We were just hanging out on the chairs and the guy that brought us our towels walked by and started laughing. "Is he singing Michael Jackson?"
We headed down to the beach for a little bit and I thought Trev looked awfully 'Miami Vice-ish'
Ry just wanted to hang back in the sand and look for shells..
So Jason took Trev to the water
Thanks photographer Ryden
The amazing Jody and Bob had offered to watch all four kids while we went out to dinner. So we headed down to meet them and of course, Trev passed out right away in the car.
He woke up and was ready to go. Good luck Jody and Bob! Peace out!
We high tailed it to Ruth's Chris to make it in time for happy hour. We made it by the skin of our teeth, had a great meal and a few cocktails. We were home shortly after.
I started packing up the kids and Cody said, "What? Not staying for a cocktail? I bought some special wine for you." So we stayed for one more drink.
The kids were great while we drank our last drink. John played some Michael Jackson videos for the boys (is it getting annoying that all I talk about is MJ?)...Trevin danced with his pants on inside out
Vera drank out of her frozen straw...
Jason prepared for a rain storm
..and we just sat back and enjoyed all of the perfect chaos. Thanks again to our wonderful babysitters! It was nice to have some grown up time!
