bienvenido a Miami

Finally made a trip out to Miami to visit Aubrey

was a very special occasion, baby Isaiah's baptism and I was a very proud godmother :)  Was nice to see the whole family!

 since the baptsim was the first weekend in November it fell right in between Dee and Tip's birthday, so we made a cousin trip out of it :)

started off with shopping and our first coffee toast, we were very excited for yummy cuban coffee all weekend and the hotel told us this little whole in the wall place called munchies had the best and it was from the few places we tried

then lunch for our first cuban meal at Havana 1957

 Aub said we had to have ropa vieja...I love the rice, beans and plantain mix with anything :)

Aub's and Tariq hooked it up for us and got us a good deal at the Ritz on the beach, perfect location on the beach, close to all the shopping and great places to eat

We celebrated the birthday girls at Larios, Gloria Estefan's restuarant, loved the birthday fire dessert!

 I love plantains with rice, which the goal of the trip in addition to seeing the babies, was to eat cuban food and drink coffee all day every day, yum!

then had to have one of these when we were walking down along the road in south beach, so we pulled over to try :)  was actually pretty good

then we checked out the Clevelander and Mangos

morning coffee and sandwhiches, teeny break from cuban food :)

back to the room and surprised with birthday balloons, champagne and chocolates

GNO day 2 was with Aubrey, Alison and Daria

Appetizers and desserts at Yucca and then fun at sls...you know trying to take to many pics :)

didn't hit the beach til the last day, but we made it, windy hair and all

Melissa got her hand stand in

and we found the most perfect true shirt for Dee :)

went for our last mean at Puerto Sagua, for rice, plaintains and oxtail this time

was proud of myself that I was able to fit all my stuff in my big Philip Lim purse, best 60 bucks I've spent, this bag holds a ton.  I fit all my stuff for the 2 nights.  We were flying spirit and I refused to pay any extra fees, second time I've been able to beat their system...hee!  Wore my heavier shoes, packed a pair of booties, 4 dresses, pjs, undies, beachwear and toiletries.  I only do this on Spirit!

it was a nice relaxing, just fun trip with the family, so glad we made it work to all go!

 Love you guys!

Las Vegas Living...

always looking to find fun, different things to do here...heard about the ice-cream challenge and finally did it.  At RM Seafood in Mandalay Bay, they have 16 scoops of ice-cream flavors that you have to guess...

I've heard they have random crazy flavors but I think because we had the kids they were a little more tame...so we each took a tasted and agreed on a flavor to commit to

we only got 6 right :)  Was fun, worth the $18 bucks

this year zappos sponsored the rooftop ice-skating at the Cosmopolitan, so we checked it out on the first day they provided it :)

decided that because I knew December was going to be crazy, let's just take a family photo here and make it our Christmas picture...done and done!

 Zappos Zamboni

 New Container Park in Downtown Las Vegas, pretty cool place, an alternate hang out to our usual Town Square :)  Downtown LV really has some neat places to go to now, it's exciting to be part of it

 cute lil boutiquey shops all in these containers

 fun playground for kids

crazy slide that adults can go on too, huge dip, I went on and turned over in the slide on the first dip, so screamed the whole way down and came out head first...kids said I am banned from the slide since I scared some little girls that were waiting to get on :)

food there is good too, fan of the Pinches Taco spot there

Thankful...

got in the Fall spirit by getting some inpiration at the Bellagio...always fun to check out their set ups throughout the year...never knew what the Cornucopia meant.  I actually took the time to read this time, Cornucopias otherwise called Horns of Plenty are symbols of abundance from the Fall Harvest, love it :)

with Father Nature

did go to the Bellagio Buffet, one of my favs...I love their waffles and love any place that serves lox

couldn't leave without a visit to Jean Philippe

 too  many pretty desserts to  choose from

 I went with the nutella brioche

Thanksgiving prep always starts with turkey cookie making...this year tried smore candy corns too, but decided the originals are better for the brighter color

 Thanksgiving Lunch was at our house

 found this cute table cover for the kids with

so Jaylin is all into Cake Boss, so tries to do as much baking as she can...her first experience with fondant :)

 cutting the bacon wrapped turkey I made...blue spots are the toothpicks I used to hold the bacon in place, makes the turkey look sketch, but it turned out pretty good

Dee, Nin and Auntie Rose

after getting stuffed, just lounged, boys got stuck on watching cars :)

Thankful

and that weekend, couldn't wait, got our Christmas tree up!