Miami and the Keys: Oct 17-26

I had a conference to attend in Miami, and Claire and Sam went with me. The plan was to go down the the Keys after the conference for the rest of the week. We left Nashville on Saturday the 17th. Saturday was mostly a travel day, but we did eat lunch in South Beach and ate dinner at Bubba Gump with the Corns. Sunday we went to the zoo with Kristen, John Michael, Addie, and Landon Corn. The zoo was awesome! They had more animals than I have ever seen at one zoo. Sunday night Claire got sick and felt yucky all Monday. On Monday, Scott (Sam's good friend) drove down from Ft. Lauderdale to hang out. We ate dinner together at this Italian restaurant (with a Roman soldier). It was by far the best Italian I have had in a long time. Claire felt a lot better on Tuesday so Sam and I (along with the Corns) went to South Beach to walk on the beach. Wednesday Claire got sick again, so we took our time checking out after my conference ended. We also took our time getting to the Keys. Claire got sick in the car on the way down to the Keys, so we stopped at Marathon Key and got a motel. The motel was old-school keys. We ate a a nice beachy restaurant and walked a little that night. On Thursday we drove down to Key West. Claire seemed to feel better so we walked around the town and watched the sunset. I received sad news that a co-worker and firefighter died in a car accident while transporting a patient on Thursday night. It was tragic. I chose the hotel in Key West and it was awesome. It was called the Southernmost Hotel on the Beach. It had a private beach (apparently tops were not required) and great rooms! We left Friday afternoon to travel back to Ft. Lauderdale so we would have an easier time Saturday getting to the airport. We stayed in one of those week long suites and our room was bigger than my first apartment. Claire started eating again. The whole week we had been giving her water by the dropper and crackers. On Friday night she actually ate a meal and kept it down. The plane ride was rough at first. She wailed the first 30 minutes, bu then she slept pretty much the rest of the way!

Sunday Claire broke out in a rash all over her body, so I took her to the doctor. We talked about how sick she was over the past week. The doctor recommended no milk products and benedryl. Sam left for California Monday morning. Claire had her 15 month check-up on Tuesday. She weighed 21 pounds. Dr. Couden took blood (that was horrible to watch-they took it out of her arm and she was in so much pain) to check for allergies. The test came back stating she was not allergic to anything. She has continued to break out in hives, but the Dr believes it is probably due to the stomach virus she had.