Key Largo

Today we took a drive down to the Florida Keys. 

Corey toyed briefly with the idea of driving all the way out to Key West, which I think would have been fun if it was just Corey and I, but we decided against it, thinking it would be too long for the kids. Once we got to Key Largo, we searched google to find a beach to go have lunch at. Melodie was in my car and found Harry Harris Park which was just another 10 minutes ahead of where we were at. It had a playground. Sounds perfect. So we decided to do that. We pulled up and they indeed did have a playground. And some blue dinosaurs! Peter was happy. 

He sat on the brachiosaurus, then moved over to the triceratops. I sat in the shade and watched him. 

The rest of the kids had gone over to the cove and were having lunch at a table. It was a bit windy and our sandwich bags blew away. I went to fetch them. The kids all went to the water to try out the snorkeling gear we borrowed from Uncle Mark. 

They felt like they were doing something.

I think they saw a few fish, and they collected a few hermit crabs. I watched for any vacant table that was closer to the beach. Soon one became available and I made a few walking trips to move all of our towels and shoes and stuff over. 

Kids came back for round two of oranges and sandwiches. 

Wes decided he wanted to climb a palm tree. We watched a training video by Kap, and Lily went to find palm leaves to make Wes a figure 8 thingy for his feet. Didn't really help much. I guess we need wild hibiscus.

We tried to make it look like he had gotten up high. 

His sisters were laughing at him while also trying to encourage his efforts.

You can do it!

Hey! That is a pretty decent attempt! Way to go Wes!

Wes has a new goal to work on when we get back home. If only there were palm trees in the SL Valley.

Soon it was time to go. Natalie was the last one to leave the beach again. 

We started home, then decided we'd go in and see Far Beach, which was behind us earlier when Mel googled beaches. 

It was at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, supposedly the best in the state. We were not impressed and were glad we had spent the day at Harry Harris. They did have a decent restroom to use, but the beach wasn't great. And this sign made it hard to relax.

Yay - "Caution: watch out for alligators" Yikes! I mean we know they are here, but seems like they shouldn't be at a public "Family friendly" beach. The rocks were super bad to walk on too - coral rocks. Ouch.

But we stood around for a few minutes and did see one iguana, and then we headed back to the car. We paid to get into this place, so we'll just pretend we paid for the beach earlier where we got our money's worth, and that this one was free.

It was a nice drive back, I didn't miss the exit like I did yesterday (which added 30 minutes onto my drive home). Back at the room.

The kids all went swimming, except Peter had fallen asleep on the drive and continued his slumber as he collapsed on the floor.

Last night we watched a movie as a family, the Three Amigos, and we continued the tradition tonight by watching Jurassic Park. 

Peter was awake for that and really liked watching the dinosaurs! A pile of beach stuff on the table in front of them. I need to wash all those towels, yay. 

Killer man eating dinosaurs didn't phase Peter a bit. 

They watched the movie, I listened in, but mostly I've been sitting at the computer close to them catching up a bit on the blog. I finished two weeks in February that I was behind on, go me. I still have more memories to catch up on to finish Feb and March, but it feels good to get a few checked off. 

It was fun listening to the movie with them. Corey sat on the floor facing the tv screen with them, but he was also at his computer doing some work. It was a fun day at the beach and we are probably going to stay up too late finishing that movie, but that's ok. We don't have any commitments tomorrow, I think we'll go to Miami beach again. Tomorrow is our last full day here and then we check out on Thursday and drive to Orlando.