An extra ray of Miami sunshine

Terrible pic but my phone camera bust whilst away so it was all I had!

Had a wonderful week in South Beach Miami. My happy happy place. Quick summary for posterity...

It helped having some previous experience of the place when booking the hotel with a three year old. I knew location on Collins Ave right off the beach would pay dividends and it did. It made the trip.

The first morning we stepped out onto the white sands from our hotel and the sun hit our faces with the blue sea twinkling we all felt elated and immediately relaxed.

Back to the hotel for an incredible breakfast and a very happy family plotted our week.

A friend had put us in touch with a guy 'in the know' who lives out there so we had a perfectly curated list of places we would love to eat and hang out. We followed it to the letter and we weren't disappointed.

It meant we didn't eat a bad meal once. The highlights of the trip being lobster at the Lure fish bar, Italian off Purdey St and views of Biscayne Baye and the new harbour, brunch at Soho House and a cultural visit to Downtown Miami to visit the incredible street art, shops and cafes at Winwood Walls.

Squidge was a dream. She was our little travelling companion, hardly complaining when she was hot or waiting for food in restaurants (the iPad stocked with fresh games is a saviour - Dubai last month was our dummy run!) She loved sleeping on her sofa pull out bed in the same room as us and it was like the Waltons as we all said goodnight each night. She'd jump on our bed to wake us up and give us the weather forecast as she pulled the curtain back each morning.

She swam in the pool and beach, built sandcastles, played happily with her toys on the sunbed (which prompted a lady next to us to say "isn't she good?") and was generally an extra ray of Miami sunshine.

As expected the flights were an ordeal as security was high at both ends but we'd booked a people carrier with bed seats to pick us up at Heathrow and he whizzed home a sleeping family back North in no time.

A perfect trip. We are broke and fat and jet lagged. But oh so happy.