So, Miami.  I mentioned that I don’t really like Miami, right?  I do like the fact that you can get Cuban coffee in Miami and it’s really good Cuban coffee.  I didn’t actually have Cuban coffee on this last trip, but that’s ok and in just a second I’ll tell you why.

When I travel with the little kids, I try to remember that they expect a "food experience" and not simply to be fed.  Regularly.  The older three children found being fed at all was enough of an experience for them, so traveling with them was pretty easy.  Not so with the little kids.  I’ve had to adjust and adapt and plan, and that’s ok.  Sometimes it’s even fun. 

On our first real evening in Miami, I realized we had somehow NOT planned any "food experiences" at all.  I realized this after the kids had gone to dinner with their father (to celebrate Father’s Day) and TW and I had no plans for dinner.  Not having dinner plans isn’t uncommon for us, but it caused me to realize we had no dinner plans or lunch plans or breakfast plans for the entire trip.  Ack!  Bad!  Little kids will expect food experiences.  Regularly.  And the bagel place and Starbucks down the street really won’t cut it for the whole trip.

Be proud of me, I didn’t panic.  I surfed our options while sitting in my chat at 6pm on Friday night.  I found some ideas.  I found someplace for TW and I have to have dinner.  Potential disaster and mutiny averted!  We headed out.

Cafe Demetrio, in Coral Gables, was a good find for us.  Great coffee, (I had the signature coffee drink and TW had a caramel latte), and I mean really great coffee.  Decent food, not great, but definitely decent – with enough vegetarian options that we didn’t feel stuck with the grilled cheese (though that’s actually what I ordered, heh).  We sat in the garden and eavesdropped on the locals – fun and challenging since my Spanish is not so great when folks are speaking a mile a minute, which is what people who speak Spanish do.

Saturday arrives and a better plan than my original breafkast plan comes to me.  The Original Pancake House, duh!  The little kids weren’t with us when we went last month and surely there was one nearby… yep, just a wee drive from the hotel and almost on the way to our first touristy stop of the day.  We arrived in time for brunch and it was a good choice.  Pigs in a Blanket were a hit with J and E while RJ enjoyed her Dutch Baby (though she thinks she would like the Apple Baby better) and enjoyed my Crepes even more. 

I had planned a trip to an Italian Market for lunch but as we were heading toward our next stop, TW spotted The Cereal Bowl!  Change of plans, people!  The Gainesville "cereal restaurant" isn’t so hot but we had high hopes for this one and we were NOT disappointed, at all.

TW made a wee error in judgement and TOLD the children we were going to have cereal for dinner before we actually arrived at the restaurant.  Oops.  This led to much grumbling and many disaparaging comments about our food experience choices from the Prince.  Until he walked in, looked over the counter, and realized this was HIS KIND OF PLACE!  You see, Prince J loves to roll his own.  Whether it’s sushi or burritos or wraps – if he can choose the filling, then he is a happy young man.  He likes to create, to be IN CHARGE.  The Cereal Bowl made him very, very happy.

It actually made us all happy.  E was a little confused about the concept.  She wasn’t really sure about mixing so many things together, so she just went with a few cereals and a couple of "safe" toppings.  RJ, on the other hand, went all out.   Prince J, in his typical manner, calculated slowly and carefully and was pleased with the results.  I even ate oatmeal – for the first time in 23 years – and I liked it.

The Cereal Bowl was such a hit, they begged to go back and they plotted their next creations for hours, and we did go back for breakfast the next day.  E was more adventurous and ate more cereal than I thought a child of her size could hold.   

Oh, we also visited Swenson’s for ice cream one evening and Johnny Rockets for lunch on our way out of town. 

Good food experiences were had by all. 

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