Tour de Florida: Part Three

After a lot of good times in Orlando we loaded up the rental one more time and headed south to the Miami area. Philip's Mom's family all live there, and we wanted to make sure and see them while we were in Florida. Philip really wanted to make sure and see his 95 year old Grandma Penzenik since with her age and poor health, it might be his last chance.

We headed straight to her day care facility upon arriving in town and spent about 30 minutes visiting with her. Her mental state has deteriorate significantly since we saw her last and she did not recognize any of us. This was really hard on Philip and is one of the very few times I can say I've seen tears in his eyes. She did say one time "I remember the name Philip," but mostly just told us to "help her," or "take her to the restroom" or "get her out of here." It was apparent that she can hardly see and that her hearing has declined significantly, so those may have been factors in her inability to recognize Philip. We were happy to see that she seemed to be pain free, had good mobility (still walking) and seemed well cared for. She had lost some weight since we saw her last, but otherwise appeared to be in pretty good physical shape.

So, we just held her hands, hugged her and sweet Levi sang her some songs. Levi was precious and gentle with her and patted her arm, smiled and spoke to her so sweetly. He kept telling her "I'm your great grandson, Levi" and holding her hand. We didn't even tell him to sing to her, he just spontaneously broke into song. The sensitivity in that little boy just melts my heart. Joel however didn't want to have anything to do with the situation, but what can you expect from a 1 year old :).

After our time at the adult day care center we picked up Philip's favorite Florida fast food, Pollo Tropical, and headed to our hotel. We had a delicious picnic dinner on the balcony outside our room and then headed to the beach for a walk.

Our last day in Florida happened to be my 30th birthday. Even though it was a little hectic I'd say it was a pretty neat way to spend my "special" day. We woke bright and early and after a fancy free breakfast, headed to the beach for tons of fun. The boys were beach pros by then and loved the deep soft sand and bigger waves of the Atlantic side of Florida. We splashed and floated in the waves, dug holes and built castles in the sand and enjoyed the sunshine for almost 3 hours before heading back to the hotel for baths and the check out. We grabbed lunch with Philip's Uncle Mark (his Mom's brother) and Grandma Penzenik before heading to the airport to catch our flight home.

I am so glad we made the extra effort to see Carol's family and make one last trip to the beach. We made memories there we will never forget. The experience in the Miami airport however was crazy, and we decided if we are ever back in the area we will fly out of Fort Lauderdale and never Miami again! Florida, we enjoyed touring your sights and we love you because you are home to so many people we love! I'm sure this won't be the last time the Boyers tour Florida :).