Sledding with Daddy

James loved the snow and sledding a few weeks ago. When we made him come in he started sobbing and begged to go back outside. Must be that Minnesota blood!

The Pool

We only made it to the pool one day of our vacation. The other days were just a little too cool for us to get in swimsuits. James is becoming a swimming pro in his swim ring. It was a gift from Gia(G-mas's new name) and Papa and has been a great thing for the pool!

Kayaking and Key West

One of our days in the Keys we drove to Key West to check out the town and also do some kayaking. Since Todd participated in the dolphin dip I participated in the kayaking. Another few months and kayaking would have probably been to uncomfortable so I was eager for the opportunity! We were out in the water for about 1 1/2 hours. We got to see many species of starfish, jellyfish, and conch. Conch is really popular in the keys and they live in huge seashells. Fried conch and conch chowder were the most common things found on menus. Todd tried the conch chowder for dinner one evening and liked it, but said it was more like a spicy gumbo than a chowder. Interestingly, we found out on our kayak tour is that US conch are considered a protected species so all the conch people eat in the Keys come from another country. Kind of strange if you ask me! Here are some pictures from our kayak adventure and Key West.

The Beach

James LOVED the beach and the sand. He wanted to be outside the whole vacation. I took so many beach pictures, but these are a few of my favorites!





J

Dolphin Dip

One of our days in Marathon we visited the dolphin research center for a dolphin dip. I didn't get to participate since I was pregnant, so I just took lots of pictures. Everyone throughly enjoyed playing with the dolphins!

Florida

We left the day after Christmas for the Florida Keys. We weren't sure if we were all going to make the flight but thankfully we did! Seth spent the night at our house to ensure that we would be able to get to the airport. Good thing, because the Lee's Summit snow plows had not done much plowing in our area. Even after 24 hours we would have had a hard time leaving our neighborhood. Abby and David had driven back to the Longhouse near Lawrence Christmas night and their car got stuck in the snow when trying to leave the next morning for the airport. They had almost given up hope after 20 minutes of shoveling, but the car finally budged. They were really lucky that they made the flight along with their bags!

James did really well on the plane. We got a Sit n Stroll before we left which functions as a carseat, airplane seat and stroller. I really like it however if James grows a couple of inches he will be too small to be able to be strapped in. Two of my other trip favorites were the Foogo travel cup and travel Magna Doodle. The Foogo cup keeps liquids cold for 6-12 hours so it was great for travelling with milk. The "doodle" as James calls it was a HUGE hit. He doodled for hours over the entire trip. So much better than crayons at this stage!

After a full day of travel we made it to Tranquility Bay in Marathon. This is the view of the tiki hut/bar from our condo.

View of the Gulf of Mexico.

Our condo

James wasn't too sure about the beach at first. He must have forgotten all the fun he had in Michigan last summer.
More trip posts to come!