ALL IN A DAYS WORK...OR PLAY

Mom and Dad's first real day in Miami, I woke up to the sound of silence in the house.  Usually, when at home or when they come to visit, the sound of them walking through the house wakes me up.  However, this was different.  Maybe they braved it out and went for a walk through Little Havanah, but who was I kidding.  I found each, still passed out in the beds that I let them use for the night.  I must have been too rough on them, or else my boys were.  Now they know how I feel each day when I come home from entertaining, babysitting or whatever else you would like to call my job.

We woke up about a quarter after 8, which was pretty late considering I was supposed to be at school by 8:30 for a gardening project.  We hurried around and made it there by about 9:15 to find that they still had not started working, but everyone was still showing up.  This is the beauty of Miami time.  No one cares what time things start, but come when they please.

We spend the morning planting the gardens at YLC and interacting with the children of the school some more.  It was really fun to have Mom and Dad come and see the kids a bit out of school, yet, actually having fun doing some community service for the school.  Everyone loved having them there, as not everyone had the privilege of having them in their class, but only got to say hello while passing.  The only bad part about this is that they now think my parents are the cool ones, since they basically spoiled them.  From now on, the kids are always going to be asking where they are and why they are not coming back.  

We left the school after we ate an amazing Honduran and Creole lunch prepared by the school chef and by the elementary teacher, Miss C, who is Honduran.  Mom, Dad and myself loaded the an and took out for North Beach.  I showed them around Little Haiti some more on the way, but quickly changed into the ritzy area of Miami and the beach side.  We walked down the beach almost half a mile and just sat relaxing in the sand together.  Shortly, we noticed people running in, but didn't think anything about it until we felt a few raindrops.  I checked the sky and nothing seemed promising for rain, but we decided to walk back anyways.  On the way, the storm moved overtop the building, which was blocking our view of it.  Being the only ones not in swimsuits, we got drenched on the way back.  However, it was good to be wet as the heat was starting to get to us.

We drove home wet, with the windows down which really helped my failing AC keep us cool.  We quickly showered, changed and got ready to go, as we hit the local mall.  It was my first time in a mall here, but the scenery inside was as if I was still in Wichita.  All malls are the same in my books.  Mom did a great job at spoiling me, which is always appreciated, yet, I felt guilty accepting everything without being able to pay a bit.  As we kept walking the halls, we noticed it was getting near time to go to church so we headed out.

We stopped at home and picked up Julie, then darted to church.  We got their just as they were starting the music.  This was the Lighthouse, the very contemporary church that we attend as a house.  Mom and Dad really seemed to enjoy the service, especially the music which is by far, the best thing they have there.  

We ended the night by taking Mom and Dad to Scotty's Landing, a local seafood place that almost has like an Applebee's menu, only with fish.  It is a nice place to relax with candles and live bands right by the ocean.  Couldn't ask to a better end to a fun day!