Holiday Reflections

Happy New Year! We had a terrific holiday season...so good, in fact, that the Christmas tree and decorations are still resident in the house. So hard to motivate to dismantle the festivity!
Kathy and Danny (tutu and gpa), and Uncle Jim and Aunt Sarah came out on Christmas Day and stayed all week. We had a low-key Christmas day dinner with Mo and Cecilia - the new table's debut (we recently replaced our dining room table...which used to be Jim's dining room table...which used to be my parent's dining room table...which they purchased from a neighbor 35+ years ago and it was well-used even then).

My friend Wendy was kind enough to offer us her beautiful condo for the week - she lives on Key Biscayne. The weather was cooler than average for Miami, but it was just nice to have family in town - it is a rare treat for us. We had delicious meals, did some kayaking, adventured a bit around town (Jim can tell you about Calle Ocho), but really most of the time was spent enjoying the condo's pools and beach and each other's company. Dave and I also celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary!

Sarah kayaking in Key Biscayne

Dinner at Seasons 52 for our 3rd wedding anniversary

Cecilia and Mo's present to Winston was a clear winner...it is a under the sea themed playground. He loves it, and Lili has found an interesting use for it too...she wraps herself in it and tries to walk, chirping "Help! I'm trapped!"

Dad has another little one to boss around.

We rang in the New Year at Michelle and Andy's house. Winston was a champ...fell asleep on the way over to the party at 8 and slept through our midnight festivities, which included fireworks, toasting and cheer all around. What a good kid. My favorite story of the night is one that displays my utter lack of awareness of the party scene here in Miami. We were watching the New York festivities before midnight and Michelle and I both agreed we wanted to experience NYE in Manhattan sometime soon. Michelle also said "let's plan on going to Nikki Beach too" to which I responded "I don't think I want to go all the way to Australia to celebrate NYE." After laughing hysterically, they explained Nikki Beach is the location of the big NYE celebration on Miami Beach.
That Lili...most creative use of party hats we've seen in a while.