urbansuburban (a Gillefond adventure): Florida babymoon

Unfortunate circumstances took us to Fort Lauderdale/West Palm Beach, Florida for 4 days last week. Reggie's great-grandmother, Maurianne Brutus, passed away in November in Haiti, and the family was holding a memorial service for her. We decided to make it a bit of a babymoon and stay for a few extra days.
We stayed in Fort Lauderdale at the Riverside Hotel on Las Olas Blvd. It was fabulous! The website doesn't do justice to the hotel at all. For the time that we weren't with the family, we slept in, went for long walks (I wore a sundress with NO COAT- it was heaven!) and ate A LOT. I'm amazed I didn't gain 10 more pounds (or maybe I did- we'll see at the next OB appointment!)

First, the memorial. We spent the day in church and then at Reggie's Aunt's house for food, conversation, more food, and NFL playoff games on the big screen tv (no complaints here!)


A shot of the family outside the church. I'm between Reg's brother David (and Reg, obviously). His mom is on the far right. The other girl in the photo is his sister, with her fiance.

A group shot of the family. Reggie's grandmother and great-aunt are seated in the first row holding the kids. I tried to color edit the photo so that the people in the back row aren't too washed out by the sun, but I don't know how much it helped.

Reggie's grandmother. She's a stunner, as her mother was as well.

It was so wonderful to be with his family. They have always made me feel such a part of the family, not like just an in-law. I love how everyone was actually really happy to see one another and spend the afternoon together. No running off to other events, not channel surfing. It really felt great. The baby was a bit more of a star than me, I must admit. She (aka- my belly) was greeted first by everyone and received more kisses in one afternoon than I think I've racked up in a year! What a beautiful, loving, happy family she is being born into. I'm so excited for her! Reggie's grandmother is also considering staying in the US until the baby is born, or returning in April so she can meet her. This baby will be the first of the 4th generation on his mother's side. Had his great-grandmother lived, she would be the 5th generation. In a very funny moment, Reggie's 3 year old second cousin (or something- Im never good at mapping family trees) asked me why I had swallowed the baby!

This is supposed to be us posing for the recognition of the 4th generation of The Brutus-Fils-Aime-LaFond line. But it got a bit silly!

Apparently being quite pregnant is a bit of a tourist attraction in Florida. Or maybe it was just the first time that I've been outside without a heavy coat, trudging to my next destination. Everywhere we went people made comments about my growing mid-section and offered huge smiles, drunk strangers in the hotel elevator rubbed my belly, Reggie got free beer on our southwest flight and we were treated like pseudo-celebrities at the airport, from TSA handling my bag for me, letting us jump the long check in line- it was great!