The Keys

A few weeks ago, my parents decided to surprise my brother's family and us with a last minute vacation to the Florida Keys. Of course we were thrilled to leave the cold snowy weather we'd been experiencing and head to warmer climates, and we flew down last Sunday.

As it turned out, the Keys were experiencing record low temperatures just prior to our visit. Luckily the temperature did rise throughout our stay and we were able to enjoy t-shirt and shorts weather most of the time.  

The guys spent one "unforgettable" day fishing in a rented boat on the ocean.  While they did catch Yellowtail Snapper, Grey Snapper, Puffer Fish and Grouper, my brother also caught a case of seasickness.  Fishing in the sea turned out to be quite a bit more grueling than anyone had anticipated, so they decided to forgo additional days of fishing for more family time, which was just fine by the rest of us. 

Unfortunately, my brother was not the only one under the weather for some of the trip. My poor little niece Lexi had a stomach bug which seemed to hit most at night. Lily, Corey and my mom also experienced some sickly moments, but fortunately, they were all still able to thoroughly enjoy the trip. 

We spent two beautiful days at the beach.  One day we went to the beach at Bahia Honda State Park. The sand at this beach was awesome! It was almost like clay, it was so fine and stuck together wonderfully for building sand castles and such. There was a neat little sand bar just off the beach that we could wade to get to. The other beach we visited was Sombrero Beach on Marathon Key (the same Key our rental house was on).  This was another picturesque beach with lots of nice sand only it was a little coarser with more tiny shells. Lily loved the beach, venturing into the water even though it was quite chilly.  She also really liked feeding the seagulls and playing at the playground next to Sombrero Beach. 

My photos in this post are a mix of cell phone shots and a few taken with my nice camera. I didn't take my DSLR on the beach for fear of sand particles making there way into my camera. Luckily my iPhone does a pretty good job.

While Lil didn't have the dogs to feed while on vacation, she was able to find other animals willing to share her snacks.

At the aquarium in Key West, checking out the "Touch Pool".

At the butterfly conservatory

Finding a creative way to keep Lil's head propped up while she napped.

and at the National Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key

Thanks Mom and Dad, for a great vacation!

P.S. This was not the first time Lily had visited the ocean.  She got her first glimpse at the ripe old age of one week. 

This was in San Francisco, of course. That is "The Rock" behind us.

*edit to add. I just realized that I am wearing the same white sweater in the last two photos. It was really cold in SF that day, so I had it layered under my sweat shirt. You can see it peeking out of my hood.  I wear it a lot, obviously!