Day 52: South Beach, Miami.

We wanted to avoid the most popular area of Miami on a weekend. Especially the weekend that kicked off Spring Break down here. But the weather guy told us that Saturday was going to be our only beautiful day during our stay. So to South Beach we go. On a Saturday. Of Spring Break. Yikes.

As soon as we woke up, we packed the kids into the car and took off for South Beach. We were hoping most of the Spring Breakers would still be in bed, hungover, by the time we got to the beach. And we were right. Still hungover because traffic wasn’t too bad. We grabbed some breakfast and we listened to Ava beg for “hamburger ice cream”… which she was doing since she woke up. Hamburger ice cream, you say? We had no idea either. It took us a few minutes to realize that she meant ice cream sandwiches. Dan and I were so proud of unlocking the Ava mystery. But not as proud as the time we unlocked the mysterious “elevator ABCs” (a.k.a. a calculator). Hehe.

Since we were planning to hang out at the beach all day, we needed some water. And at Walgreens, we did just that. And what was the ONLY brand of water that they stocked? Jana! Water from Croatia. HAHAHAH! So awesome.

After paying ten bucks for parking, we lugged all of our crap to the beach. We must have been quite a sight since everyone else around us only had their dental floss bikinis and speedos to worry about.

Hello there Atlantic Ocean. So nice to finally meet you.

Then it was time to test out this beautiful water. Dan and Ava walked right down to the water… and Mr. Speedo tagged along.

Check out my little Mila in her first bathing suit. Ahhhhh. I wonder how long it will take this one to get as dark as her older sister.

You know what was the biggest surprise of the day? How much clearer and warmer the Atlantic Ocean is compared to the Gulf of Mexico. I would have never guessed. The water of the the gulf is so murky. No chance of seeing your feet in the water. But here? The water here is awesome.

Tons of planes were flying banners all day long. It’s Spring Break. Can you tell?

It was a perfect beach day. Thanks South Beach.

Next stop, our car. To throw all of our beach crap into. Because the next stop after that was the famous Ocean Drive. We wanted to check out some of the preserved Art Deco hotels that the street is famous for.

What was Ava’s favorite part of Ocean Drive? Any hotel painted pink. And what was Dan favorite part of the street? A dude wearing a Lakers jersey. Poor Dan. He is missing his basketball team. GO LAKERS!

After checking out the lunch menu at The Carlyle Hotel, we took a seat at table right on the sidewalk. Perfect for people watching in the shade. And we waited for our menus. And waited. And waited. By the time the menus came out, they switched to the dinner menu. Grrrrrr. Dan was ready to take off but I insisted on staying. For some reason, I barely drank any water today (even the Croatian water!). Can you say dehydrated? I never felt so crappy and needed to sit. So we picked out some drinks. Hmmmm. No prices. This should have been a clue. Can you say dumbasses?

The girls had a blast dancing and gets a lot of sweet comments from drunk kids on the street.

Our mojitos showed up in some crazy big cups. When we got our bill, we noticed that our drinks were $19 each. Ouch! I barely touched mine. Ouch again! Why didn’t I just stick to water. WHY?!?! Dumbass.

We also noticed on the bill that tip was already included. WTF. I guess 2 adults and 2 kids counts for a party of six on Ocean Drive. Not sure why Ava started to do this weird thing with her hand before we left The Carlyle. But somehow it seems appropriate.

One of the other things we wanted to do in South Beach is to go visit a tattoo shop. And not just any tattoo shop. Miami Ink. The place where they filmed one of the shows we watched on TLC. And when we got there, the store was gone. OH NO! But just two doors down, we found this…

The new location of the store!!

And two of the artists from the show were actually there today. How lucky are we! One of the owners, Ami.

And our favorite tattoo artist, Garver. Hi Garver!! The place was so well lit inside. Everything in there was super crisp. And they allowed pictures. It said so on their tip jar. And so I did. Hi again, Garver!!!!

And what did Ava think about her first stop to a tattoo shop? She kept saying “it’s too loud“. That’s my girl.

We might have missed traffic driving into South Beach but we sure didn’t miss it on the way home. It took Dan an hour and half to drive home. With Ava watching movies. With Mila asleep. And with me asleep too with the biggest headache of my life. (Water Marlene, WATER!)

the end,
marlene