Miami & Disney Trip Part I

We left for Florida Wednesday early in the morning. We were so excited to take a break from school, work and the cold weather. It was weird packing short-sleeved shirts and shorts. We had a layover at Dulles airport in DC. There, we tasted Potbelly's for the first time. We've heard of them before from our friends and family who live in Texas. It was so good! The best part was their ice cream cookie sandwich. It was huge. I'm a sucker for ice cream sandwiches (or anything with ice cream, really)!

On our 2nd flight, Blaine ended up sitting next to this super nice businessman. They talked the entire way. I slept and read without speaking a word to Blaine the entire flight. This guy was a Harvard MBA graduate, Iron Man finisher (he has ran several), and was just the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He had a lot of advice to give to Blaine regarding the finance world, maintaining a work-life-family balance and his career. They did not stop talking about all this finance stuff that I barely understood. It was one of the most pleasant airplane rides we've ever had. I love it when you meet random strangers that remind you that nice, decent people exist in the world!

We were greeted at the airport by my tia, Ulises, Uli and Yuyo. It was so nice to get hugs and kisses from them. I can't ever get enough it. At their place, Georgina had cooked up a real Cuban feast for us - with extra yuca made especially for Blaine. She is so sweet to us.

The next day, Blaine woke up feeling pretty sick. He ended up having a stomach virus for the next 2 days or so. He was in bed all day while he watched me eat yummy Cuban food. Poor guy. While Blaine was sick, my mom worked on our costumes for the half marathon. She worked on it all day until 3:30 am. Needless to say, they turned out awesome. I was so petrified of getting Blaine's virus since I had to run on Sunday, but thank goodness a miracle occurred and I'm still healthy today!

She didn't want me to take a picture of her :)

We left for Disney on Friday, a little bit later than expected. We were all exhausted and we weren't planning on going to a park anymore since Blaine was sick. We made it to Orlando around 6:30 pm, right in time to go to the Fit for a Princess Expo at the Coronado Springs Resort. We couldn't really enjoy the expo a ton, but we picked up our packets, bought princess charms for our shoes and Kim bought me a headband that I needed for the race.

That night, we had dinner at Planet Hollywood in Downtown Disney. Kim and Jonathan also joined us. The food was pretty good and Blaine was able to eat a tiny bit and keep it down. My family surprised me and ordered dessert to sing happy birthday to me. My name also came up on their big screen. It was really nice to "celebrate" my birthday with them :) I have the best family.

Everybody at our table ordered fried lasagna. 

Our Trip to Miami Part I

Our trip to Miami was great. It was pretty long since BYU didn't start winter semester the first week of January how they usually do. The temperatures were in the 80s the entire time. Yup. We were in heaven. I was wearing sandals as much as I could and Blaine refused to wear anything other than shorts. 

Here are some of the things we did while we were in Miami: 

Mami greeted us at the airport with a box full of pastelitos de queso, carne, y guayaba y queso, croquetas, and rollitos de queso (Blaine's favorite)... and Iron Beer, too!

We went shopping at my favorite mall - Aventura mall. 

Blaine and Papo played 2k13 quite a bit...

We ate at Cuban Guys, Blaine's favorite little Cuban restaurant. 

Hmmm...mariquitas

We dropped Papo off at the airport :( I was sad that I only had a couple of days with him, but he had to go back to Houston to start off his first semester of college.

We ate at El Palacio de los Jugos (The Palace of Juices) several times. Blaine couldn't get enough of their juice! 

And we had Tio Colo's ice cream sandwiches for dessert... 

Blaine played with Monster and Ini more than usual. I think he was missing Rue a lot :) 

I loved seeing my Mom's Christmas tree. She did a sweet "Candyland" theme this year. Isn't it gorgeous? She is so good at decorating, especially for the holidays. She made half of the ornaments herself. 

My mom did whatever I wanted to my hair almost everyday. I am not good at styling my hair at all. So I took full advantage of my mom's talent and of all the cool hairstyles on my hair board on Pinterest :) I asked her to do a waterfall braid the first day I was there and she got out of hand and ended up doing this crazy thing on my head (pictured below). I asked her to do a french braid, high buns, up-dos, all kinds of braids, etc. I know that I'm 22 (almost 23) and should probably learn how to do this on myself, but come on, it's so much better when Mami does it! 

Tidbits of Life in Miami

Small things that happen when we're in Miami and food that we ate! 

Being showered with gifts on days like Mother's Day and Father's Day when I'm obviously not a dad or a mom!

 Mami's arroz con pollo

Ivan helped Blaine wash his car. He was so eager to help!

Pastelitos, senoritas, capuchinos for breakfast.

Just hanging out with Uli.

Lunch with Mami at one of the 100s of Cuban cafeterias. Lechon, arroz morro, platanitos maduros con Iron Beer!

Chica's Bakery by my house. Cuban pastry heaven. 

 We were fed by Georgina, Ulises' mom, all the time. She's an amazing cook! She always makes yuca for Blaine.

 Playing Candy Land on Sunday is a must for Ivan.

Tio Colo ice cream sandwiches. You'll only find these in two places - Miami or Cuba.

Nicaraguan food - fritanga, churrasco, and queso frito.

Playing with these two.

Polo Norte Cuban pizza. Lots of cheese, thick crust, very little sauce. 

Puerto Rican food - Mofongo de pollo.

Sarussi dates with Abuelo. He loves this place. They make the best Cuban sandwiches!

Dates with the sister. We got our hair done at this new blow dry bar. It was fun!

We also went to Village of Merrick Park together for shopping and dessert.

Mami's arroz con leche. The best ever.

Getting hugs and kisses from this kid.

Pollo Tropical. Chicken on the grill! It's a chain, fast food Cuban place. A staple in Miami.

More pastelitos, rollitos de queso, y croquetas. Yum! 

Colombian food - arepa de chozclo. Blaine had a Hawaiian burger.

Boys playing video games. Common scene when we visit Miami. 

Papa rellena. A ball of mashed potatoes and stuffed with picadillo (ground beef).

Mami's tostones rellenos. Little cups of fried plantains filled with shrimp and ground beef. 

Building lego towers and demolishing them after.

Misha's cupcakes. We became obsessed. We had them all the time. They're the best cupcakes I've ever had!

Papo is still Papo. Does crazy things at random times. Right before bed one night, he randomly decided to invade Rue's cage. I love him. 

When we visit Miami, we enjoy doing all the fun, special things that we do because we're on vacation and visiting family. I love hearing the language. I am reminded of words that are so Cuban and that I've forgotten! But my favorite part are the small moments that happen every single day - whether I'm there or not. I cherish those moments more than the cool things we do since I am only there to experience them for a tiny part of the year. Even though things change, Miami will forever be my home because of the wonderful people who live there that love me so much. Hasta la proxima! Till next time!