Bayfront Park

Sterling has been planning this park trip for a week, and it was just really unfortunate that my kids chose this week to never sleep at all and I was hitting a wall on Saturday. A migraine-inducing wall that wasn't getting better with ibuprofen. Sigh. But we still had lots of fun! 

We decided to use the metro (Sterling uses it to get to school every day, so he has a pass, the kids are under the height limit, so we just had to pay a couple bucks for a one day pass for me!) so that we wouldn't have to find and pay for parking downtown or deal with traffic and see how it went. It was....fine. The bus gave me motion sickness which didn't help my headache. It was all...dirty. Like when I rode it in Chicago with my sister Kami and it just feels so....dirty. I am not a city person. Every time I look at street corners in Miami I think 'seriously? how does so much trash get everywhere?'. I don't think I would have minded so much if it was just me. But I sat there watching my kids put their fingers in their mouth and then touch every single stool and pole and window and then stick their fingers back in their mouth. Okay, I know, I know...I am a big baby! Plus, remember my head ache. It actually wasn't too bad though. And I remember a stroller being a HORRENDOUS hassle when I was in Chicago at my sister Kami's and it made everything SO difficult. But they always had a handicap opening right by the rest of the openings (not the weird three-pronged monsters you have to scoot through that I remember from Chicago) so it was actually no big deal at all to take our double stroller on the buses and the metro. The buses can actually lower a step so we can roll our stroller right on! 

Waiting at the bus stop by our house! (Literally, it is about half a block from our house.)

Yes, Ruthie wore that tutu all across Miami. And those are the capris from you Kayli that Ruth wears all the time.)

Looking out the metro window. You are above the entire city! I wish I had felt better, at one point we went above some city streets--about six different roads crossing above and beneath each other. Someday I'll have to get a picture to show you how crazy Miami traffic and roads are.

There was supposed to be a 'metro mover' that would take us directly from the downtown station to this park, because it is so touristy. But it was down for the day. They did have shuttle buses in its place, but that meant instead of flying above all the traffic, we were muddling through traffic, and making stops in some of the scariest parts of the city. Like Overtown. At one point (this was on our way home) Sterling looked over at me and said "Pretty sure we're the only white people on here." Haha. We're not racist, it's just so crazy different than little ol' Utah! 

Which reminds me. Ruth is pretty used to seeing Cubans all the time in the area that we live in, but they are fairly light skinned. Other ethnicities are quite a bit darker and I guess Ruth is not quite as used to that. We sat down in the metro and after a bit Ruth points to the man in the seat in front of us:

"Look, he's black."

me: "Yeah, he is."

"He's REA---LLY black, mom."

"uh-huh."

"Why is he black?"

"He's black and you have red hair. Everyone is different and that is good! We are supposed to be different."

"Oh! Cool!"

Then about ten minutes later she leans over and whispers to me, "Mom. He's STILL black!"

HAAHAAA. I just hope people have a sense of humor and remember that she's three.  

On the shuttle bus. With the weird lady in the corner who kept wiping her nose on the same rag. I should be less judgmental. But city life is still a shock to my system sometimes.

BAYFRONT PARK 

 The only other place I've been that I can compare this to is Pike's Place Market in Seattle. Right on the ocean, or bay, I guess. Lots of really neat hand-crafted items at little stands and shops and restaurants all crammed together. It was pretty sweet. VERY touristy, I think we walked through a school group (made me think of choir tour in San Diego) and it made me want to get some Miami memorabilia, haha!

Sterling and I decided that this fountain must be routed from the bay, because it is deep enough that there were waves on the top. 

 Do we really live here? 

Sterling said he wanted to ride that yacht/mini-cruise boat, whatever it is. I told him we road one like that on choir tour that had a restaurant and we ate and danced and had all sorts of fun. He was jealous, haha. 

Way to photobomb the picture, Seagull. That reminds me of another story, Sterling was picking up some chocolate milk and Will and I were hanging out at a bench right beside where this picture was taken, and some black bird (raven? crow?) came up to eat some of Will's crumbs. Will was FREAKING out, major!!!!! I couldn't decide whether to shoo the bird away or comfort Will, so I was trying to do both, when a nice homeless man came over and kicked at the bird and shooed it away. Then he told us not to leave crumbs so the birds wouldn't come back. Obviously, he's never had a two-year old try to eat, but it was SUPER SUPER nice of him!

I love how the ocean is RIGHT THERE! 

A stand was handing out free samples of Greek Yogurt, it was pretty great!

Eating our yogurts. Also, the pineapple in the back is SO pretty. On the front of that place they had a huge fruit cornucopia that was really pretty.

I don't know what that beautiful building is, but I want to go visit it now! 

Walking around we discovered live music and people dancing! Of course Ruthie was DYING to join in. Will was asleep in the back of the stroller, so we took turns dancing with Ruthie. The old Latin people that were dancing? AMAZING.

Licorice in hand. He may be related to me, haha.

Ruth was unimpressed by our dancing abilities, so a nice old man took pity on her and danced with her. She was still pretty shy, but it was so adorable!!!! He had some serious skills.

See the cool fish above their heads?

Too bad we packed a lunch, Sterling and I both thought this hot dog stand looked so great! It looks like it walked right out of Enchanted, right?

Happy girl!

This was right after the bird incident, I think. Beautiful white sand. 

We got some ice cream, courtesy of 7-Eleven, and I was FREEZING. It was pretty breezy, and only seventy degrees, and my teeth were CHATTERING. I think Miami is ruining me! I'll never be able to live somewhere cold again!

I thought this ice cream truck was pretty stellar. It had music and everything.

We ended the day at the play ground. Ruth loved it, I was freezing, and Molly fell asleep.

She fell asleep and her lip dried to my jacket. Sterling thought it was hilarious, so we had to take a picture!

Look at Will! Ruth was a crazy climber, but Will didn't do too shabby either!

Looking out the metro window.

Ruth sat by two teenage girls on the way home and kept making faces at them and laughing hysterically. They were good sports about it and laughed at her the entire time. They were probably happy to get off on their stop so they didn't have to entertain anymore. Haha. 

All in all, it was an awesome day! Quite the adventure and what a beautiful place! We definitely would enjoy going back and all we had to pay for was my two dollar, one day ticket! You are beautiful in January, Miami.