Winter Break. January 2022. Day 2. Relax. U R OK.
We were awoken suddenly at the sweet sound of the voice of our eldest yelling “Robyn, Robyn!” I ran in, but it was too late. She had awoken the pack. Well, it was 6:50am.
We couldn’t let Robyn deal with them just yet, so into our room they came. Tzvi fell back asleep and every 20 minutes he would wake up and yell at the girls to be quiet. Room service arrived around 8:30. We didn’t have much of a plan, but I ordered cereal, fruit and coffee. The special K was stale, so I called to “inform” them, and they took it off the bill.
As mentioned, we’re staying at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel in South Beach.
Hallie building her ice palace.
We looked at a lot of hotels and chose this one because (1) it wasn’t insanely expensive (Miami is crazy expensive, especially during Yeshiva week) and (2) it looked more family friendly than a lot of the other hotels we looked at. The hotel is pretty nice, everything seems modern and the rooms aren’t too worn out. They’re not that big, but also not the smallest rooms we’ve had. I guess they weren’t anything too special though because apparently we didn’t take a single photo of the rooms. So instead, here’s a stock photo from their website.
The hotel is large and very crowded. I feel like in the past couple of years we’ve mostly visited places that are more spread out and less crowded, but alas, this is Florida. Mask mandates, physical distancing and science aren’t legal here. The hotel is actually packed because there is an Arbonne conference happening this weekend, so the hotel is full of young women, and middle aged women who think they’re young women, who all want to sell you skin care products. I’m spending all weekend on edge that some woman is going to sneak up on me and say "Hey girl!” Then she’ll explain how the vaccine is a conspiracy to sneak nanobots into your facial muscles, but with Arbonne’s algae extract and peony root at least your skin can be redensified and contoured.
We slowly got dressed and ready and headed out around 10, but not before Tzvi had to make “one” work call. We went downstairs and got an Uber and headed to Zak the Baker! The ride was 20 minutes or so, so we had to bring the car seat. Madeleine was pretty cranky on the drive, but that’s because she was exhausted. When we got there the wait was only 5 minutes and we got a table in the back with a perfect spot for the stroller where our children could bother as few people as possible. We ordered a bunch of pastries – a cinnamon roll, a croissant, a chocolate croissant and a blueberry muffin. I got tuna on toast which was pretty good, Hallie got a bagel with cream cheese that she didn’t like (“I don’t like the cream cheese”), Madeleine was super cranky and picked at everything and ate nothing, and Tzvi got a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich that had fried lox bacon.
Eventually I picked Madeleine up and she just fell asleep on my shoulder. I don’t even know the last time she did that.
After “brunch” we walked across the street to Wynwood Walls, an outdoor street art gallery spread across several building exteriors. It was perfect for our kids who just wanted to run around and go crazy. Madeleine woke up on the walk to the gallery, and was in a better mood after that.
We probably spent an hour there, even though anyone else could’ve done it in 20 minutes, and then Ubered back to the hotel and tried to figure out what was next. I went to get the COVID tests I had shipped to the hotel and the nice Fed Ex man waived the $10 storage fee. I did my test and it was negative. You have to do the test on camera while a guide watches you and walks you through the process. It was pretty easy. I don’t know how accurate it was, but it was easy.
We sent Robyn to have some free time and I put Madeleine for a nap. About 6 minutes after I put her in, Tzvi realized his airpods were in her room so he went to get them, angering the beast. She eventually fell asleep.
Tzvi took Hallie to the pool while Madeleine napped. [Tzvi: The pool was pretty crowded but we got seats right next to the pool. We swam for a while. The water wasn’t that warm, but it was swimmable. Then we walked down to the beach and played in the sand for a bit. Hallie wanted to be buried and be a mermaid.]
The scene at the pool:
The scene at the beach:
Madeleine had a decent nap, and when Tzvi and Hallie returned we went for a walk on Lincoln Road. We basically just walked up and down, bought a little Britto figurine, got excited when we saw a Laduree, got sad when we saw the Laduree was still under construction, and went to CVS for some essentials (pretzels, pringles, cheerios and a deck of cards). Then we got back to the hotel, did Hallie’s and Tzvi’s Covid tests, and heated up dinner.
We had ordered take out from Brickell Kosher Deli, which we’re not really sure whether it’s an actual deli or just the Chabad. Anyway, we ordered way too much food – chicken, brisket, challah, grape juice, rice, potatoes, and vegetables. It was all actually pretty tasty though.
The girls went to sleep, Tzvi and I did a lap around the hotel for no real reason, played some rummy, and went to sleep. I don’t know why but I’m having the worst sleep here. I keep waking up throughout the night. I think it’s because I’m so sensitive to noise and thinking the girls are waking up.
Nice Day.