Key West

We got to spend a SUPER FUN week in Key West with Grandma and Grandpa Strutt. It was the most perfectly timed vacation and felt like a reward at the end of three very exhausting months. We ate a lot of great food, swam every day, and soaked up hours of Florida sunshine. It was equal parts relaxing and fun.

Didn't take the kids long to adjust to the new climate
Three cheers for shorts, sunglasses and sandals!!

 View from the condo!

Cora has proven herself to be not the best traveler, so I was a little nervous. Both kids did pretty well with all the traveling, but Cora just doesn't sleep well away from home. It was actually much better than I was anticipating, but we had a few rough nights.

Jonah's theme for the trip was: "I'm going to be the driver!" When we boarded our first flight, he immediately turned left and headed into the cockpit....announcing that he was going to drive the plane. Oops! After we landed in Chicago, the pilot did invite him into the cockpit and let him "drive the plane." But then he got a little nervous when Jonah started pushing buttons, and that was our cue to leave.

We met Grandma and Grandpa in the airport in Chicago and all flew to Ft. Lauderdale together. It was nice to have a few extra laps during the longer leg of the trip. After a night in Ft. Lauderdale, we hit the road to Key West. Highway 1 connects all the islands, and at one point the bridge spans 7 miles of open ocean between islands! It's a fun drive.

Once we got down to Key West, we quickly got into a groove of: out and about for the morning (with Cora catching a nap on the go), swimming after lunch, back to the condo for naps for the little ones (and sometimes the big ones), then out again for dinner. I won't give a total play-by-play for the whole week, but here are some highlights.

We spent one morning at the Key West Aquarium, which was built to help bring Key West out of the Great Depression, and became one of Key West's first tourist attractions. They had several animals you could touch and/or feed. Cora wasn't a fan of anything that moved, but Jonah love it!

Grandma and Grandpa took charge of the kids one afternoon so Brandon and I could go sea kayaking. It was a blast! We ended up being the only ones on the tour, even though it was a gorgeous day. We followed our guide out to (and through) the mangrove islands just off the coast. Most of the trip had us in shallow water, 3-6 feet deep, and we were up close and personal with several nurse sharks, jellyfish, sea stars, crabs, and even a sea turtle!

The next night, Grandma and Grandpa took the kids again, and Brandon and I got to go out on a date! We ate at a fun place called Seven Fish. Afterwards, we decided to take advantage of our childless-ness, so we set out to catch the sunset over the ocean. We started walking west and ended up at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. We stopped at the booth near the entrance and discovered you had to pay, even to walk in. As we were discussing with the ranger, two ladies rolled up in an electric golf-cart thing that tourists rent to get around the island, "We're just going to do a loop!" one of them hollered. The ranger informed them they had to pay, even to "do a loop," which they were not happy about. We were still standing there when an SUV pulled up behind them and waved a season pass, "I'll pay for them!" the driver said. Finally, the ranger just let us all in. Woohoo! And then the ladies in the golf cart offered us a ride to the beach - which is a good thing because we probably would have missed the sunset! And then afterwards, they brought us all the way back to the condo!! Saved us quite a bit of walking.

We went back to Fort Zachary Taylor later in the week, during the day this time. Brandon rented some bicycles (well, technically, mine was a tricycle) and a trailer to pull the kids. Cora thought it was fun....until she had to sit in it. We dropped her off at the condo with Grandma and Grandpa and headed back out with just Jonah and made our way to the park. Fun way to see the island. The state park is supposed to have the nicest beach on the island, but it was super windy the day we went.

A definite highlight of the trip was all the wonderful food we ate. Lots of fresh seafood and lots of key lime pie!! The kids got lots of practice in patience as we waited for our food. Cora pretty much ate sausage for breakfast and french fries for dinner every day. Jonah was a little bit more adventurous with his eating.

Soft shelled crab.....literally an entire crab, deep-fried

Pepe's, Grandpa's favorite breakfast spot on the island.
(First morning/pre-sun, we're still Kansas-winter-white!)

I'm a Hawkeye
Just like my Grandpa

Hogfish is a local specialty, so the last night we scoped out
Hogfish Bar and Grill so Brandon could try it out.

For our last lunch in Key West, we went to a really fun place, Latitudes. It is located on Sunset Key, a different island with no access by road. You have to take a ferry to the island, but you are rewarded with a seaside lunch and beautiful views. The food was also wonderful.

Jonah ordered chocolate ice cream for dessert. It came with whipped cream, berries and a chocolate stick - all of Jonah's favorite things! We also got a key lime tart to share.

Waiting for the ferry back to Key West

The whole ride over on the ferry, Jonah kept insisting that he was "gonna drive the boat!" Well, the captain must have been listening, because on the way back, he invited Jonah up to the front of the boat and let him actually drive the boat - while it was moving! The captain took over before we had to make a tight squeeze between the dock and a very large cruise ship back on Key West, but Jonah was pretty pumped he finally got to drive the boat!

Of course, another one of the highlights of the trip was swimming! With all that pool time, Jonah made pretty good progress in just a week. At the beginning of the week, he could barely propel himself at all, but the end of the week, he was swimming all over the pool (with puddle jumpers on). The kids mostly preferred the pool, but we did make them get in the ocean at least once. This is Brandon and my third trip to Atlantic Ocean together - we've also been in it up in Bar Harbor, ME and the coast of North Carolina. I think the waves were a little wild for Jonah's liking. Cora liked the water, but not the feel of sand between her toes.

It was a great week, and we are so grateful to my parents for inviting us to come along! So many fun memories. But of course, if you ask Jonah what his favorite thing we did was, he will most likely say....

Play with Grandma's iPad!

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!