Traveling

I lied. I didn't post yesterday. The wife and I spent all of yesterday and most of today storing our Christmas decorations and doing the mountains of laundry that was here waiting for us when we returned from our trip. Christmas, as always, was fun. We had an excellent time with the family on Christmas Eve and Santa even made an appearance that evening. We spent Christmas Day with the in-laws and the wife's sister who was in from Jackson. The wife and I realized, as we were putting the gifts under the tree, that we had gone way - WAY overboard. We could barely walk through the room. Needless to say "the boy" was very excited on the morning of Christmas. He really got into it, ripping the paper and having to play with each toy. It sounds bad but, some of the things are going back to the store. This is probably the last year that we'll be able to do that as he will surely remember what he got next year. He received a number of duplicate things or toys that were really close in design. Say for instance, flash cards. He must have received 4 sets. The ones we got him are going back. There also is a number of toys that we didn't even wrap because we decided at the last minute that he had enough. I think this evening is our time to return things. The wife totally surprised me with an acoustic guitar. I had talked about it back in the fall, but really hadn't said anything since. It's going to be a great guitar to learn with and I'll be signing up for lessons soon.

A week ago today we left for Miami. We decided to make the trip a few weeks ago when we learned that the wife's Abuela had been in and out of the hospital. It was not anything major but, she is 88 and we hadn't seen her since last Christmas. Her health, being the way that it is, prohibits her from traveling anymore and when she realized that she was going to spend the holidays alone she kind of went a little crazy. So, the wife thought it was a good time to visit as she had the week off. Her Abuela lives in an assited living complex in Coral Gables which is just outside of downtown Miami. We surprised her with the visit and you could tell that she was pleased. I had never been to Miami and although I doubt I would ever live there for an extended amount of time, I found it to be rather enjoyable. We spent a good deal of our time with Abuela but we also found the time to visit the hospital where my wife was born, take the boy to Parrot Jungle, briefly visited South Beach and had a couple of wonderful meals at Versailles - a well known Cuban restaurant. The wife has told me about this restaurant for years. She and her family have visited it every time they go to Miami and it's a "must do" if you want to experience Cuban culture. We had a good time and I'm anticipating the next trip we make. We left on New Years Eve Day and drove to Jacksonville. We missed the ringing in of the New Year as we both were exhausted. The following day we drove to Savannah and had lunch on the Riverfront and then drove home to Atlanta. We're glad to be home and to sleep in our own beds. I haven't downloaded any pictures yet but, I will soon. There are some interesting ones from Christmas Eve and from Miami.