Sweet 16

Hutchinson Island

Jan 21 & 22

Brie had two wishes for her 16th birthday.

Her "impossible dream" was to ride a horse on a beach.

We spent the weekend here on Hutchinson Island,

where this was the view from our hotel room....

this was the impossibly blue-green water....

and the beach, where it wasn't sandy, looked like this...

The weekend began with plenty of playing in the water...

This is a video of Tim & Ellie out swimming in the waves...

Brie's birthday morning began with an almost-sunrise walk on the beach with her folks...

the traditional "breakfast stack"...

...and a lovely gift (see her handmade necklace?) from her sister.

And then...

on to the Dream Come True!

💙💙💙

Brie's horse, Diva, gave her a hug after their ride on the beach together.

💜 We love our sweet sister!  💜

...and her second wish for her birthday?

Much easier to make happen!

Even though she had to wait a couple of days,

she got her birthday cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory!

Happy 16th birthday, sweet Gabriella.

We are so thankful for the gift of you

and so proud of the young lady you've become.

💜

The Keys - Part 2

Florida Keys

...One Day More!

Jan. 16, 2017

The day began with some Sea-Dooing with Dad in the Gulf of Mexico.

We were a little disappointed about not getting to see any tropical fish

while snorkeling at the beaches...

...and then a group of parrot fish decided to hang out with us

while we waited for turns on the Sea Doo.

They're so beautiful! 💙

Just this...driving for miles over the water...was amazing!

We drove to the National Key Deer Refuge in hopes of 

spotting some of those cutie endangered deer found only in the Keys,

but instead we found...

...alligators...

...funky-looking turtles...

...funny dudes hiding in cool trees...

...and then, finally, in someone's yard (of course)...

Key Deer!

Isn't she so cute!?

We finished the day at Bahia Honda State Park, 

known as the best beach in the Keys.

(The Keys are actually not known for having great beaches,

but rather for great snorkeling... when you take a boat out to the reef.)

😏

The girls did some swimming and "snorkeling"...

(Ellie..."Hey! I could see. I even found a cool shell!")

...and we saw a manatee just on the other side of those rocks!!!

We can't even believe we got to be in such a beautiful place.

And yes, we really took the following pictures.

It's just that beautiful.

During our weekend in the Keys, Brie said,

"I feel like I somehow got into the wrong story book!"

It did feel unreal... a different world than we're accustomed to...

What a lovely story book to visit.

The Florida Keys!

The Florida Keys

Jan 14 &15

Can you even believe it!?

We got to spend the weekend in the Florida Keys!!

What an amazing, unique place...the most tropical place the kids have ever been.

We stopped at the Bird Sanctuary where we saw these relatively common birds

who had been rescued and enjoyed reading their recovery stories...

...but the highlight of the place was Fred.

Frederica had been the personal pet of Laura Quinn, and after Laura passed away, 

Fred remained at the Sanctuary to welcome and entertain visitors.

We hit Sombrero Beach to watch the sunset.

...and Tim and Ellie actually got in the water, although it was too cold for normal people.

 

The next day, we headed to Key West!

We first toured Fort Zachary State Park...

The U.S. Army began construction of Fort Taylor, named for President Zachary Taylor, in 1845. With secession and the beginning of war in 1861, Fort Taylor remained under federal control -- one of only three fortresses in Florida to do so -- and served as the headquarters for the Federal Navy's East Gulf Coast

 Blockading Squadron staying on 'active duty' status through 1947.

In 1968, a large supply of Civil War-era guns and ammunition were discovered in the Fort's buried arsenal. In fact, Fort Zachary Taylor held the largest collection of Civil War-era cannons in the United States.

-from floridastateparks.org

The cannons were cool...

...but this guy was the highlight of our tour.  😉

The one thing we all really wanted to do in the Keys was snorkel.
We had read that this beach at the fort had the best off-shore snorkeling.

...it just so happened that it was cool and windy, so the water was cold and murky.

Tim and the girls made a go of it, couldn't see a thing under the water, and froze...

like skin turning not-ok colors froze.

The warm car was the next longed-for destination, but we didn't want to leave Key West just yet,

so we stopped at Smather's Beach...

...where this pelican was the highlight.

These crazy bird-lovin' peeps just hung out with him
and observed him for the longest time...

The sun sets on our second Keys day...