Glass Bottom Can Kiss My...

On Thursday we took a glass bottom 2 1/2 hour reef tour leaving from Key Largo's Camp Pennekamp State Park. I followed the cruise director's advice and took 2 dramamine in plenty of time for it to take effect, but effect my body did not take. I didn't see one fish on this cruise as I spent most of my time on the top deck trying to get any fresh breeze and watching the horizon attempting to get my world to stop spinning.

But enough about me, the rest of our gang fared pretty well.

While still near the shore, with not much to see.

Father/Son bonding

Rock-a-bye Baby

Chillaxin

Here is how we spent the majority of our time:

Millie posing because if you have it - flaunt it!

The only natural curls a King-girl can get, one of the plusses to humidity.

Dance party. (To the Beat of my Heart, a Millie standard)

Yummy Blue Bell ice-cream, we miss that so from our AZ days.

And we discovered a delish new flavor - Caramel Kettle Cruch.

The Lagoon with the pier in back that Emily and Jason swam from.

BTW - Emily won.

BTWW - We walked down another day to let the kids jump from the dock but the nurse shark circling around persuaded us to change our plans.

The pool where we lounged many an hour, ready many a page of books and magazines, ate many a chips & salsa, and heard many a Marco/Polo callings.

Jason and the girls in the sea kayak

Jocelyn watching Jason and the girls in the sea kayak while lounging under a tiki hut.

We miss it already!

Day 4, Key West

Tuesday morning we took a break from swimming and drove an hour and a half to Key West. We started with a french breakfast at Banana Cafe where all 3 girls ordered a grande nutella and banana crepe and licked their plates clean! Then we were off for a 2 hour "train" tour through the historic streets of Key West that was really interesting for the adults, but with the heat and all the names and architectural details, the kids weren't so into it.

We headed to Louie's Backyard for lunch and then made our way over to the southernmost spot in the United States. This is about the point when the heat and humidity made me want to crawl under a rock, literally. But we pulled through and looked for spots of A/C while we waited to embark on our Sunset Booze Cruise.

We couldn't pass up this photo op.

While on the boat, they let the kids help hoist the sail, I'm not sure what they would have done without them!

Do we look sticky?

Ariel wannabe

Dance party on deck 3

Finally, sunset!

You might see this picture again on our Christmas card.

After a long, hot, humid day we couldn't wait to get back to our hotel, but our 80 mile drive took FOREVER because at night half of the drive we could only go 35 mph because of the "Key deer" that are endangered that might cross the road. We literally thought that drive might never end!

Florida Vacay - Day 1

We started our vacation taking the "red eye" from Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale thinking it would work perfectly. We would sleep the whole night and before we knew it, our 6 hour flight would be over. No such luck. We had no jackets and the plane was freezing, we had no blankets or pillows so we were incredibly uncomfortable, and the kids were so excited it took 3 hours for them to settle down. But alas, we rallied and made the most out of our first day.

Not too shabby for 3:30 CA time, 6:30 FL time, waiting for the rental car.

After a few cat naps and baths, they cleaned up pretty nicely for our first night out in the Florida Key Islamorada. Elli, Addie, Millie, and their Aunt Emily (Notice my inlaws view, while we were across the hall with the highly sought after "lagoon view")
My favorite meal of the trip at the Green Turtle with hearts of palm salad, scallops, and New Orleans BBQ Shrimp. Here we are with Jason's dad Les, Claudia, Emily, and us - me.
Our room at the Cheeca Resort was so nice, the bath was on the balcony with water coming from the ceiling. Novel, but really noisy.

Addie's Baptism

Addie was excited to get baptized, I think mostly to get to wear the white dress and get presents. But she was prepared to take this step and waited an extra month so her Roseville cousins could be there.

Above, her pictures we took before for the program,

below in the church dress she was baptized in.

Addie with Bishop Peterson

Grandma Joyce & Grandpa Kim

The Jamisons

The cousins sang a couple of songs during the program and Elli gave a talk.

Poppa & Linda

It was a wonderful day for Addie and our family, and she did get some really cool gifts!