Another week has passed during our vacation. It has its ups and downs, with the “ups” being that Liliana gets to do oral feedings more often and the “downs” being that the weather has been either really hot and sunny or pouring rain.

Maybe it’s because Sean is here to help with the kids or we’re able to have a lot of different food here, but Liliana’s been trying out a lot of things. She’s had mango frozen fruit bars, avocado, fresh mango (she actually swallowed some of it), Fruit Loops, wings, ribs (which she doesn’t like), and condiments. Liliana really likes ketchup and barbecue sauce (even if it’s spicy!), and will either use fries or her fingers to dip into the sauce. If she’s using fries, she’ll use a fry until it gets soggy, and then will get a new fry for dipping.

Even Damien is eating a few new things. He’s eaten fresh mango and has started eating baby cereal puffs. He can’t handle them whole, so we have to break them into smaller pieces before giving them to him. One thing is definite: he’s gotten heavier!

We did a lot of water-related activities this past week. First, the Miami Seaquarium, then a glass-bottom boat in Key Largo, and then just yesterday we went to the beach.

The Miami Seaquarium was okay; it was very hot and the strollers we rented weren’t very useful. Liliana saw sea lions and manatees, and even a shark or two. We weren’t able to watch many of the shows there, but we did manage to catch the last half of a Flipper show, which Liliana enjoyed.

The glass-bottom boat was also mediocre. Sean said that it would’ve been more fun if our kids were a bit older, but even then topside views of fish aren’t all that exciting. To get there, we drove through torrential rain; on the way back, we had beautiful blue skies. Typical Miami weather.

The beach was fun. We joined my older sister and her family, and the kids built a “Great Wall of China” out of sand with the help of my younger sister and Sean. Damien had his first experience with sand (and yes, he did try eating some) and overall it was pleasant, even though we weren’t there long. There were some dark clouds that looked like storm clouds approaching, so we had decided to leave before it started to rain; Sean thinks we could have stayed longer because we didn’t drive through any rain on the way back to the house.

I do have pictures, but they’re on Facebook at this link: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150752378415501.728438.711395500&l=d9c10fd3ab&type=1

Here are my favorites:

Got to go!