"Henry has a personality now," I told Michael, when I returned home from Florida. "What is his personality?" Mike asked. "Well....He's very sweet, but he won't be imposed upon. When he's bored, he yells." As I thought about it, that didn't seem like a whole personality, but Henry definitely has entered the world of real people. On March 4, 2016, Dave and I returned to Miami from St. Augustine to spend a second weekend with Jonny and Jenny. We had all sorts of adventures, including introducing Henry to Donald Trump and his assets. We explored the Trump Miami resort during a PGA golf tournament.
When we arrived, Jenny had just put Sam and Henry down for naps, so Jonny took us to a Cuban fast food cafe for lunch. It was authentic, with signs written in Spanish and great shakes and Cuban sandwiches. We tried the specialty, chocolate wheatgrass shakes. We then stopped by a Venezuelan cafe for tiny meat-filled rolls, served with three sauces--garlic, spicy avocado, and salsa.
When the boys awakened, we stopped by the Miami Holocaust monument. It was very moving. A huge bronze arm and fist thrust skyward, with a concentration camp number tattooed on the wrist. Naked, starving men, women and children struggled in vain to climb up the arm. "What does it mean?" David asked. Jonny read the inscriptions, which said that the meaning was left up to the individual. We decided the monument represented Holocaust victims' courage (the fist), as well as their vulnerability and powerlessness (the figures trying to struggle up the arm).
In Florida, there are critters everywhere, zoo or not. This fellow lazed near the Holocaust memorial pool.
We paused in the gardens nearby, which included a very pretty Japanese bridge.
On Friday evening, we ate at the Yardbird, a top Southern restaurant in Miami. We had luscious biscuits, fried chicken, shrimp and grits, and barbecued ribs, as well as a couple of healthy salads. Sam made friends with the waiters and guests.
Sam loved the puzzle of the world that we bought him in St. Augustine. With 25 pieces, it was just right.
Jonny and Jenny have a season pass to Zoo Miami, and they visit often. "For Sam," Jonny says, "the zoo is not about the animals. It's about all the other stuff." Sam loved to climb on the frog statue.
He loved to eat an ice cream bar.
He loved the "photo opportunities" that let him peek through animal faces.
He loved the mister that let him spray down his Daddy with the push of a button.
I think Sam is starting to love the animals, too. The rest of us surely did. I saw many creatures that I had never seen elsewhere, such as this plumed bird.
I fell in love with tapirs at the Seattle Zoo, and I was glad to see them again in Miami.
Zoo Miami has great monkeys. Some swung on long arms from branch to branch and others hooted and hollered.
The eland is Jonny's favorite animal.
In the evening, we hiked to an island across from Jonny and Jenny's apartment complex, the Bel Aire. Jonny and Sam threw stones, and we all gazed up at the bellies of jets roaring down to the Miami airport, a few miles away.
The Marriott Miami resorts are next to the elegant Bel Aire, on a private lake. "When else will you live at a resort?" I asked Jenny and Jonny, with envy.
We finished the evening by walking through a large utility tunnel to the Trump resort. The resort is hosting a PGA gold tournament all weekend, and we wandered past the bleachers next to several holes. We also passed the outbuildings housing luxury rooms and suites. We passed by the pool and the huge signs, in lights, with the brand: "Trump."
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