miami beach

We visited Miami Beach for a quick layover on our way to Panama.  We literally had one day there.  We woke up early, rented bikes, toured the town, had lunch beachside, grabbed a drink at The Raleigh hotel, and later met an old friend for a traditional Cuban dinner.  Most of my pictures on my regular camera were ruined, but I managed to take this one with my phone and instagramed it.  We decided that we'll come back for a longer stay with Maddy.

reduce reuse recycle

This mask gives new meaning to the word "reuse."  Maddy's school wanted to demonstrate to the children that we can reuse items instead of just throwing them away.  It's a great concept, but I'm not sure if Jello boxes were intended to be reused as masks.  To Maddy, it made perfect sense.  For me, it was hilarious (which accounts for the frown on Maddy's face...I couldn't stop laughing at her....I mean, c'mon, there's garbage on her face).  

the 4th (of july, that is)

Better late than never, right?  I don't know how I managed to forget to post the Fourth of July photos, but I'm making up for the lack of posts this summer now.  For the Fourth, the fam went to the Oakland Hills to a half-constructed house overlooking the entire bay and San Francisco.  Yes, it was a half-constructed house.  Dion's brother has been building a house for the past two years and it has yet to be completed.  He decided to have a BBQ and invite everyone over to enjoy the incredible views.  So what if we were eating on sub-floor surrounded by studs?  The BBQ was delicious and there were sparklers for the kids.  We stayed up way past Maddy's bedtime to see the fireworks displays around the Bay Area; Maddy couldn't get enough.  

panama

The trip to Panama was great.  Unfortunately, I don't have the pictures to show for it.  I'm not quite sure how it happened, but the settings on my camera caused most of the pictures to appear as though they were overexposed.  Now, I'm no photography expert, but can you overexpose a digital photo?  Doesn't that only happen with actual film?  Anyway, most of our photos were ruined, but I've managed find a few that were better than the rest.  Here are a few photos from Bocas del Toro, Panama.   (Oh, did I mention that Maddy dropped the camera a few days before the vaca?).

Bocas is a ramshackle tiny town on a tiny island.  The first few photos are of the town and the beachy photos were taken at Starfish Beach on the other side of the island.  Bocas is filled with backpackers and there are no big hotels.  It was rustic and I'm glad we saw it before the big hotels come in and ruin it.