My first trip to Miami!! We have a 15yo visiting us from Arizona so I thought it would be a good time to go. Our Explorer is on its last life. We originally wanted to rent a car for this trip but money got tight really fast. The boys mom is staying in Miami right now so we dropped the boys off with her, including my son. 

 

The boys mom is in Naples for the week, house-sitting for an old friend. I figured this would be a great time for her to spend quality time with the boys and let them get a break from my son. Turned out that my son and I spent a lot of time over there too. The boys swam in the backyard pool and played the Wii. While us moms were able to enjoy the ending summer with lounging around, having drinks and just talking our heads of. We both had taken a break from the online job search and the stresses of where we were trying to get.

So I have been to a few happy hour's with my boyfriend and his co-workers... so it was nice to have an evening out with another chickity. We left the kids with my boyfriend and drove around trying to find a little place to have a drink or two. We ended up on 5th Avenue downtown. It reminds me of a mini Georgetown in DC. Great shops, great restaurants and easy bar-hoping. We ended up at two Irish Pubs and found a great little wine and cigar bar. Now, I don't smoke cigars but when we went in to check it out, they had a decent little selection of wines and lots of great tasty beers. We spent our evening here laughing so hard that my face was hurting at one point. We stayed out a little to late... drank a little too much... and spent a little more money than I had wanted to. But it was a great time and I want to make it down again soon.

 

We were excited to see that we had a movie theatre only a mile from our place and that kids are only $5.50 all the time. Funds have been tight since we are living on one income now instead of two. I am glad I was able to save a little for us. My boyfriend had to work late so we decided to take a walk and check out the theatre. We ended up seeing the new Harry Potter at 7pm. It was pretty good but my 6yo son was not interested in the detailed storyline that had progressed from all the books. Without the magic and action, he just could not stay focused for over 3 hours. I was embarrassed that he was running up and down the isles but there weren't very many people anyhow. We headed home at 9:30pm... walking in the dark, covered in bug spray and then running as it started raining half way home.

 

 

So we thought it was great that the kids have to wear casual uniforms to public school. Solid color polo shirts and khaki or navy cargo shorts with athletic shoes. Very Easy... until it came to the budget. We didn't quite think about how expensive it would be to replace a wardrobe for 3 rapidly growing boys. My son got his tops and bottoms from Grandma. I took the boys out and got what we could. We will have to go shopping again as soon as we can afford it.

 

Little did I know how much of a headache it would be just getting them registered. We had been waiting for school

 

 

  

 So, I didn't really care much about my body this summer. It is what it was. But as school was approaching and the kids would be gone, I felt that now was a good time to get back on track. I have been introducing healthier foods to to the kids as well as myself.