miami-day 3

Despite Kevin being up a lot during the night to blow his nose, etc, Brooke slept like a rock.  This is how I found her after Kevin left for work.  Did I mention that she's awful at bed sharing??  It's a good thing Daddy likes to snuggle, haha.

I was thankful that we didn't have anything scheduled until noon that day because I felt exhausted when I woke up!  We enjoyed a quiet morning in the hotel room, then headed over to Specialized Speech, which was the outpatient clinic I worked at when we lived in Florida.  It was only about 15 minutes from where we were staying, and I was excited to see the owners and all the therapists I used to work with.  I keep up with a few of them on Facebook, so in a way, I felt like I kind of knew what was going on in their lives.  They ordered lunch for me too, which was really thoughtful.  They were having a lunch meeting (which usually happened a few times a month), so they let me crash it.  At first, I felt a little stupid walking in with my two kids since everyone was already seated in a circle, but after a few minutes it was totally normal.  I was sitting next to John and Jennifer (the owners), and it was so nice to catch up with them.  Brooke was pretty content to play with her Cinderella figurines (which she LOVES), while I chatted away.  Jen wanted to hold Colby, and she got the cutest giggles out of him.  Everyone kept commenting how interactive he was for being only 2 months old...but I think it's because they are used to working with babies who have delays, haha. 

I really did love working there, and I was grateful to have a chance to go back and not only see my friends, but to also express my appreciation for a wonderful experience working there. When we left, we stopped at Steak and Shake to get Brookie a sandwich.  And some cookies :)

 

Then we headed to the park for the afternoon.  Colby was asleep, so we let him rest in the car.  I felt like it was safe since we parked right next to the playground and the whole parking lot was empty.  Oh, and I opened the windows of course so he would be comfortable :) 

Brooke was cracking me up.  We took turns going down the slide, and when it was my turn, she squatted at the bottom and told me that she would catch me.  I think she loved my undivided attention, and I loved playing and running with her. We also made some pretty sweet movies of us going down the slide together. 

I think this girl would swing all day if I would let her!  I love that she is getting a little more adventuresome and more willing to use the big girl swing. She just looks SO big to me though.  Kinda makes me realize even more that time is passing by quickly!

When we made it back to our room, she wanted to wear her nightgown again.  Not really sure why, but I consented and she had a great time playing until it was time to meet Daddy for dinner.  (We didn't bring many toys on our trip, but these figurines kept her busy for hours.  She would "set them all up", and play "missing Princess", in which she would make the Prince ride on the horse and look for Cinderella.  And every time she would tell me about Anastasia and "Bazella" (Drizella), who were not very nice and didn't make good choices.  Hahaha, I loved it.)

We ate at our favorite place, The Village Tavern.  It was kind of strange to be back in a place we lived without kids, and doing all the things we did before we had two precious ones to worry about.  It really felt like a different life.  I love our life now, but looking back, our life was pretty care-free.

After dinner, we decided to drive past the new temple, which was completed after we left.  When they announced the Ft Lauderdale temple in 2010 (I believe), we never imagined that it would be built 2 exits north of where we bought our town home.  It is actually located in Davie, but is still called the Ft Lauderdale temple.  It would have been pretty great to have access to the temple when we lived there instead of having to make the 3.5 hour drive to Orlando, but I guess it keeps things in perspective.  Another cool side note:  Sister Salvador, a convert that we were close to, received her endowments shortly after we moved away.  Everyone knew her because of her strong testimony and personality.  Well, she received a special assignment to help with the chandelier in the celestial room. We talked on the phone periodically, and she told me about how she was able to hang all the crystals on the chandelier and what an amazing experience that was.  Pretty cool!  She now works in the temple every week, and teaches the gospel doctrine class in the ward.

Since it was 9:45 when we pulled in the parking lot, most cars were gone.  We did see a yellow car though, and Kevin immediately commented that it had to be Bishop Fisher's car.  Fisher was the Bishop of the Flagler Ward from when we lived in Doral.  We figured he must be a temple worker, and that surely he would be leaving soon.  So, we decided to walk around the grounds until he came out.  Seems a little stalker-ish when I write it out, but we planned on walking around anyway :)  Brooke REALLY wanted to go inside, and when we told her that the doors were locked, she said, "We can call the fire fighters and see if they can open it."  Hahaha, good idea my girl.

Well, sure enough, a few minutes before 10, Bishop walked out of the temple and we were able to go chat with him.  He is no longer the Bishop of the ward, but was called as a Sealer in the temple.  He is such a good man, and it was nice to see him again.

It was a full day, but so great!