Day 7: Beach, Pool, and Old Neighborhoods

I woke before sunrise, so I decided to head to the beach which was only a few blocks away. As I left to get my morning latte, I saw Steve heading up for a run on the beach. The streets were quiet as I passed many construction workers heading to work on one of the several large housing towers nearby. Arms loaded with bagels, cream cheese, lattes for me and Kathy and OJ for the rest, I made my way back the condo. Kat was awake, but Christopher (a night

owl) and the boys were enjoying the opportunity to sleep in. While our condo didn't exactly live up to its online description, the location was great, only a few blocks from the beach, and we looked forward to enjoying the pool later in the day. The water pressure and temperature were also greatly appreciated amenities.

We planned to spend the day separately - the Swains took a long walk on the beach and enjoyed lunch at a restaurant on the pier while Ben & I joined Christopher for his walk down memory lane. He spent 4th grade in Coral Gables, a suburb south of Miami. Our first stop was David Fairchild Elementary, followed by his home and the nearby Venetian Pool. Ben found an open gate at the school, so Christopher gave us a tour of the grounds. Before seeing the pool, we considered it as an option to spend our last day in Miami, but after seeing the crowd of kids, we decided against it. Back to the condo we went to join the Swains at the pool.

The evening ended with the boys off to Subway for dinner as the grown ups landed at the Porterhouse restaurant. After a few minutes, I smelled smoke so we decided to move to the outside tables. As we left, Christopher snapped a photo of the cigarette dispensing machine - a sight none of us had seen in years. While there were also smokers outside, the gusty wind meant I couldn't smell it. We laughed at the situation - menus blew off the check-in stand and we lost a few stray lettuce leaves. There was an interesting design around my plate left by the dressing that was blown off my salad as it moved from plate to mouth. We picked up dessert from an Italian bakery we passed and headed home to join the boys. Kathy and I retreated to our bedrooms while the boys & dads enjoyed watching American Ninja Warrior together. Our flight leaves at 7:30 pm tomorrow, so we have a few more hours to enjoy Miami before we head buck to Seattle.