Since our last post, we left the Miami area and headed up the east coast of Florida. Here’s a few pics.
Spent the day ar Hugh Taylor Birch State Recreation Area:

Large iguana:

North Palm Beach:

And then stuff happens. We needed to buy a new “refrigerator” for our trailer.

Yes, our one year old fridge quit working. When you are on the road, there is not much you can do except change plans in order to take care of business. We showed up at an rv repair store this morning and gave our sad story. They agreed to help us even though they are booked into April. I won’t go into the rest of the details but we are in the process of getting it fixed. But thankful it’s the trailer and not our car and for a kind rv repairman. Stay tuned.
And, finally, this is headed our way!

But tomorrow is suppose to be a beautiful sunny day and we are camped in a beautiful place. Life is good.

We took the girls to the airport today. We have had such a fabulous time together but dropping them off was not without tears.

We’ve spent the last few days in the Everglades and it couldn’t be more different than Key West. But we’ve loved every minute.
First, we went on a fanboat tour of the swamp. There are times you go really fast and do crazy turns. What a blast!

DCIM100GOPRO

The next day we rented canoes and went down a river. The guy we rented the canoes from just gave us some vague directions (lay down in your canoe and pull yourself under the bridge. And watch out for gators). We went about three miles. About one and a half miles of that involved no paddling. Instead, we layed low in the canoes and made our way through the mangroves by pulling ourselves under the low hanging branches. It was a blast!

And, lastly, with a few hours to spare, we made a quick stop in Little Havana in Miami:

We are excited to be here on vacation and determined to make the most of our time here. First, a shout out to our amazing husbands, who are at home holding down the fort with our children.

In the first eight hours we were gone, Tim sprained his ankle, Stone got a black eye, and Maverick had explosive diarrhea. We felt pretty confident about how the rest of the week would go. 😁

As we adjusted to life in the trailer park, we decided to participate in a morning water aerobics class. We were warmly greeted by the old ladies from all parts of the country. We were surprised at how much of a workout it actually was, until we realized that most of the ladies were moving their mouths more than their bodies.

We waited for a brief thunderstorm to pass before heading to a local watering hole to partake in our new favorite cocktail, the Key Lime Shooter. We also enjoyed texting our husbands to watch us blow them kisses on the webcam. They are such good sports.

Next, we headed to the docks for what would be the highlight of our trip thus far. We sailed into the ocean, snorkled, kayaked through a secluded mangrove island, and then watched a sunset as we sailed back to shore. It was the perfect way to end our first (and hopefully not last) trip to the Keys.

DCIM100GOPRO

DCIM100GOPRO

DCIM100GOPRO

DCIM100GOPRO

This morning we left our trailer park resort and headed to our next destination. In keeping with our parents’ mantra of enjoying the journey and not just the destination, we pulled into Bahia Honda State Park and enjoyed some snorkling, fishing and beach combing.

Tonight, we are settled into our new trailer park, and let’s just say, we are definitely among the swamp people. Stay tuned for more adventures in the Everglades!

And for your viewing pleasure, a few outakes…

And in case any of you are worried, our husbands are doing great, having a fabulous time, and even have taken our children on an impromptu camping trip. They are Superdads!!!!

Tracy and Tiffany flew in to travel with us for a week. They (and us) are so blessed that they have husbands who were willing to watch the five little ones so they could come.
The first night in Key Largo we took them to a restaurant over the water with views in the floor into the water. Bring back memories of the dance floor John built over the pool for Travis and Tracy’s weddings?

On to Key West.
Girls sitting on the dock in the campground. This is one of my favorite pics:

Family bike ride:

Watching the scene on Duvall St.:

Sunset at Mallory Square:

Hung out on this beautiful beach for the morning:

Fort Zachary Taylor State Park:


Tiffany laying on the dock because she wanted to take underwater pics of tarpon with the GoPro. Never a dull moment:

DCIM100GOPRO

Stay tuned for the next blog post which will be done by guest bloggers. 😀😬😬

Alligators:

Nice teeth:

Sunset from campground in Key Largo: