Seeing The Fingerprints

It was the earliest I've ever awoke for a child's birthday.  It was 3:30am in Florida and time to get up and get going to head home to a special loveable, huggable birthday boy.  Despite the early hour and freezing airplane ride it was a mostly uneventful successful travel home. As soon as we drove up to the house the kids were out the front door with huge smiles and excitement on their faces.  Of course the birthday boy was beaming the most!!!  Thanks to a fantastic friend for making most of his day something wonderful!!! And something he'll never forget I'm sure!!!!  The house was decorated and balloons were floating around.  Breakfast was made together as a team and a good game of bowling was done!  Really who could ask for a better birthday??? The first words out of his mouth were "Where is my Birthday Present" It was nice to see a happy kid excited for his day!  We love Mr. E to bits with all his hugs and squishes and pray God will cont...

Last full day here in Florida....still enjoying the heat and the filtered sunlight.  D is off at the boat show where you can just smell money.  I was trying to determine if you just see the way people dress, or what they're driving if that is how you sense the millions of dollars people may have or if it is the rich perfumes and cologne that are floating through the air.  Regardless people don't look happy even if they have a big number value to their name. A couple days ago we finally explored the everglades in Florida.  Yes, we were right up close and personal with the alligators.  Would've reached out and touched one if it wasn't so threatening looking.  Learned a few fun facts while out on the air boat tour.  Overall it was a fun experience to get in the everglades and finally meet the alligators. We then travelled to the W hotel.  It feels ritzy, but all the staff is super nice and normal.  Haha.... if D is out...

Well another travel destination can be crossed of our list.  We headed to the Florida keys yesterday to explore.  It didn't rate super high in our travel log though....The tides currently are super high, the winds are still blowing super fast making for the adventure we were seeking a little more disappointing.  The beaches seem null and void and the one we did find wasn't really directly into the ocean or bay.  We also couldn't get on the water in boats or kayaks as the wind gusts were just too strong.  Meaning no snorkelling adventure either.   I do think we may have to try the keys again....but i don't think it will be any time soon. We did enjoythe sunshine finally coming out full force.  So we went from base tans to a little burnt or darker.... The green ocean waters were pretty fascinating to see in the keys.  The wind and waves did make it fairly murky though, so i can't say if that was its true colours??? The iguanas we saw by the oc...

Oh sorry the title didn't include that this was back in early 1900's.  John Deering owned this beautiful mansion in Miami called Vizscaya.  Named for no other reason then it was easy to say and sounded pretty.  The details in this place were beautiful. 3 amateur designers helped with all the little details.  Instantly I could pick out any Italian flair....I haven't been in Venice for about 6.5 years yet the house felt like I was in Venice.  Sure enough the explanations stated many of the designs were from here.  There was a Spanish touch (never been there so not as recognizable) as well as french.  And of course a piece of our heritage, Dutch!  The one table setting dishes had artwork of the Dutch people on it...who wouldn't recognize the wooden shoes??? The Chinese artwork was also noted a few places and who knows what all else was in there.  This house even had a swimming pool....which the owner swam in once.  We weren't supposed to ta...