Paradise...

Our summer family vacation was AMAZING!!! We went to the Flordia Keys/Everglades.I didn't keep up my journal while we were on the trip, so this is going to be my journal for the trip. I just hope I can remember everything accurately! WARNING: This post is going to be extremely detailed and probably boring to anyone that didn't go on this trip. There now everyone is warned. So here goes:

DAY ONE-TUESDAY: For me day one began on Tuesday at 0000 hours at work! If I remember right it wasn't too bad of a night at work which was good because my mind wasn't in it! I got off at 0730 and went home and slept until 1230. Then I ran errands, went birthday shopping, packed, helped a new roommate move stuff into the house, and tried to stay busy until my family arrived. They arrived at 2030 and I was so excited that I was waiting outside so that I could hear the squeaky brakes on the suburban! I quickly put my stuff in the suitcase my family brought and my dad was amazing and fixed my car! Thanks Dad! Then we ate some watermelon and nobake cookies that I made for the trip and we were on our way to Salt Lake. We stayed the night in a ghetto Ramada Inn.The best part of this was that there were two king beds in our room and so we slept 3x3!!! It was pretty hilarious!!! The sleeping arrangements were Mom, Dad and I in one bed and ERic, PReston, and Cameron in the middle of the other bed. I don't know how much sleep any of us got that night, I know I sure didn't, despite only having slept for about 4-5 hours in the past 30.

PICS of DAY ONE:

DAY TWO-WEDNESDAY (Sorry No Pics):

Day two was a travel day! We were up by 0500 and were in the air by 0750. The only incidental thing that happened at the airport was that I got searched by security and they took away my little gadget thing with a 1/2 inch blade! Whoops! The first plane ride was great because they had TV and personal screens on the back of every seat. We had a layover in Atlanta and then the boys had an earlier flight by about and hour. So they went and got the rental car and were waiting for us girls when we arrived in Miami. Then it was a matter of driving from Miami to Key Largo. By the time we found our condo it was what, like 2200-2230 or therabouts. It was really too dark to see much but some of us instantly discovered one downside to Florida-small biting bugs! They ate poor Mom alive. Despite the bugs we dropped off our luggage and headed outside to walk down by the beach and enjoy the 85+ weather and humidity! Love it! So we stayed at this awesome condo at a yacht club. It was really nice and it worked out so well for us. Thanks Mom! There was a nice little pier out into the water and the beach of course. Eric and Preston wasted no time in getting into the ocean which was so warm. They also tried out the pool for a few seconds. The bugs drove us inside and we figured out sleeping arrangements. The boys had a room, the parents had a room, and Andrea had the hidabed in the living room...which was great! Definetly the best view when I woke up each morning!

DAY THREE-THURSDAY:

So we woke up more or less refreshed and raring to explore our home for the next week. The view from our 5th floor balcony was amazing! Soon everyone was awake and most of us went for a run to the grocery store to get breakfast. I couldn't believe how warm/humid it was all the time! Any time of day or night and it was about the same. It was great! Our run was very nice and it was nice to explore the island a bit. Mom and I saw a crab scuttle off into the very thick jungle by the road. After breakfast we loaded up into the van and we set off for John Pennekamp State Park. We were soon in the water which was unbelievably warm. Dad and Cam got snorkel gear for early bday presents. We soon decided that we were all going to need snorkel gear for this trip, so after about two hours in the water we left the park, ate lunch (we ate at Arbys and discovered their strawberrybanana split shakes which has to be one of the highlights for Cam especially) and bought some snorkel sets for the rest of the family. We reentered the park armed for war! The snorkeling was very awesome and we rented fins which made it even better. We saw lots of cool fish, grass, and STING RAYS! Totally out of the blue but it was so awesome. There were also some large fish-tarpon that were sighted as well as some barracudas. We really, really enjoyed this first day in the water. The boys also got to climb some palm trees, and they saw a really "cool" car that I don't remember what the name was. Mom unfortunately struggles a little with salt water and got sick from snorkeling which was very sad. We probably stayed in the sun a bit too long because we were all sunburned the next day! That was the main highlight of Thursday, hopefully I'm not forgetting anything.

PICS of DAY THREE:

The views from our balcony!

Home Sweet Home!
Inside of the condo.

Flowers I found on the run.

Pres with the boogie board.

Dad's BIG fish he saw while snorkeling!

Dad and Ann

PRes up a palm tree. He brouht those coconuts home and ate them later that night. Oh, and Mom made a really yummy tropical drink to sip on while we played games that night

This is my favorite beach of any that we were on. It really does look like paradise!

Susnest that night from our balcony!

DAY FOUR-FRIDAY:

Happy Birthday to Dad!!! Yes, we got to celebrate a birthday while on the trip. Dad woke up an dwent on a run by himself that morning- he is amazing! We ate breakfast then loaded up in the van to make the 100 mile drive to Key WEst, the southernmost key. It was a fun drive. We stopped at anything that caught our eye and saw everything from hippies in a trailer park onthe ocean, to dolphins at a place we almost stayed at. We ate lunch at 7 mile bridge a historical point where the bridge between keys really is 7 nmiles long. Imagine driving on a bridge with nothing but water on both sides. It was awesome! When we reached Key West we found a beach and went snorkeling again. This snorkeling was a bit different and so it was awesome to see new things. We snorkeled aorund this pier and saw tons of fish, tons of conch shells, and mom got sick again. We wanted to bring some conch home but there was a 500 fine and too many people around. Oh, and on this day we decided to stop trying to be "cool" and we all wore white tshirts while snorkeling to keep our backs form getting any more fried! So instead we went and walked around on thepiers by the ocean and looked at the strange, fun, and exciting sights. We ate dinner at a pizza place that was very yummy. Then we walked down to the piers again and watched the sunset. It was a lot of fun. There were all of these peddalars and street performers and sailboats going by every few minutes and a gorgeous sunset. Dad got his groove on to the local music and you can see the picture below for proof. On the drive back home there was an amazing thunder/rain storm. There was lightening every night we were there which was awesome. We got home around 2300.
PICS of DAY FOUR:
Like I said, hippies!!!

Happy Birthday DAD!!

We stopped at this fishing store where we saw an iguana , oh and lots of cool fishing stuff.

What wonderful parents i have!!!

The family at Key WEst.

PReston and I crashed a wedding at a fancy club by takind pitures of their awesome plandscaping! JK the weddin was in back!

Two of the conch that we saw and the two we tried to take home. This is the only tangible proof we have that they existed!

Living the Dream!

Cool octupus mad eof blass bottle necks that we saw in an art gallery.


Dad's moves.!

DAY FIVE-SATURDAY:
Saturday was a chill day. We kind of just stick around the condo. Eric, PReston an dI went swimming at our beach, Pres an dI went on a walk, Mom and Dad went grocery shopping, and Cameron watched TV. In the afternoon. we went to the "Anything that Floats" Race. It was very interesting. The locals tying pieces of junk together and then racing them in the water. Towards evening it started getting a little stormy and so we did what all normal people do and went snorkeling on our beach. This was another fun experience. WE saw more fish, an dLOBSTERS! Lobsters galore. The boys tried really hard to catch some so we could eat them for dinnerbut they move quicker tha one might hink! We also met a nice man originally from Cuba who gave the boys some tips on how to catch lobsters. That night Mom made us a yummy dinner and we chilled.

PICS of DAY FIVE:

Our beach. (Or as Preston would say in imitation of what-his-bucket, THE BEACH.)

Oh we also had a reapeat of the ARby's shakes on day five!

DAY SIX-SUNDAY:

We woke up early and headed back to the mainland for church. Coincidentally we attended a Spanish ward, so the only people who could understand a workd that was said was Eric, Preston, and probably Dad. It was a very special ward however and the people were very friendly and welcoming to us. The girls thought Eric an dPreston were something else! After church we drove to the Everglades to have a more relaxed day of sightseeing and keep the Sabbath. The Everglades were amazing, but the mosquitoes were terrible!!! Mom got bitten again and actually so did all of the rest of us. We listened to a ranger talk about alligators and their diets. Just watching his imitation of an alligator eating was enough to put one into hysterics. "When he runs out of energy he stops, waits, and then gulp, gulp ,gulp" ( with his head bouncing up and down in the air in imitation of an alligator!) It was pretty funny. Then we ewnt on a short walk and were able to see five different alligators. Three were stationary and two were swimming. It was so cool to see alligators in the wild like that! We were so colose too, so I was able to get some good pictures. We went on few other short hikes but the bugs were eating us to death. It was very beautiful however. After we got home that night Mom made a seafood dinner along with one of those frozen pizzas for those of us without mature taste buds.
PICS of DAY SIX:

Apparently they are attracted to the rubber around the window and on the tires!

We had an extended conversation on cyprus trees and what were or were not cyprus trees. I am not sure it was ever resolved!

Our hands are all reaching out. how easy would it be for SNAP, and no more fun vacation!

This is an example of hos the "true" everglades are supposed to look. Shocker to me!

Cam and his lizard, or rather one of the many lizrds that he kept trying to get bite his ear. Notice the sweat on his lip. Yes, it was hot. I was about all I could do to stop running from the bugs long enought to take a picture!

Case in point...this was a picture ruined by the sudden swatting of a mosquitoe! no joke!

DAY SEVEN-MONDAY:

Cam and I went on a run in the morning, just the two of us and that was really nice. Monday was Miami day. Oh it had rained most of Sunday and looked bad on Monday, so we decided Miami was a good way to spend the day. We drove to some famous street that was very ritzy and walked around until we found our way to the...beach! No snorkeling this time! However the kids did swim for a couple of hours at the fmaous Miami Beach. It was fun. Kind of different from the beaches in the keys because there was actually sand and waves. however, no good surfing which was a disappointment to Preston! On the drive back we stopped and ate at the Olive Garden which was another big highlight for everyone. Never ending pasta bowl, need I say more. We spent the night semipacking and trying to avoid thinking about the fact that it was our last night!

PICS of DAY SIX:

DAY SEVEN-TUESDAY:

Tuesday morning we woke up and went...SNORKELING! Surprise! No this time we went out on a boat to the reef. This was our last day of snorkeling; our last day period, and it was the awesomest ever! Thereef was unbelievable. We had to just soak it in as fast as possible in an hour. Oh the fish! There was this awesome rainbow colored, coral eating, parrotfish that I loved. There were also eels spotted, barracuda, and once again unbelievable amounts of fish in every shape, size, and color. The coral was awesome too! The shapes and beauty! It was a definet highlight for everyone I think. Mom got sick once again and spent some time on the boat but we were glad she could see a bit of teh reef before she got sick. It was so cool and thanks so much for taking us mom and dad! I can't wait to see the underwater pictures! All in all, snorkeling was a highlight of the trip for me. I loved every second spent in that warm water! I could definetly do it more often! After the boat ride back we packed up, drove back to the Miami airport, and started home. Unfortunately our flight was delayed in Minnesota, toatlly out of the way! We were all on the plane and the captain made an overhead to the effect that he didn't feel like th eplane was safe to fly. So everyone off and two hours later we wre on the way again. We got into SLC at 0130. We drove back to Ogden and I got home about 0300. My poor family had to drive home still and got home at 0530 where they slept for two hours and then realized that both freezers and stopped working during the week! Oh life after vacation is brutal! I worked Wednesday night and lets just say I would rather be in Florida!

PICS of DAY SEVEN:

Pres on the snorkel boat.

Ditto Eric.

Ditto Cam.

Beautiful house, complete with hamok, right on the ocean. Hello dream house!

Inside shot of the condo during packing up.


Long and short of it is that is was a fabulous vacation. It was nice to have time off work, be in such a beautiful place, but most importantly to spend time with my amazing FAMILY! I love you all so much and it is all I can do to stay here in Utah without you all! Love ya! Thanks for the fun vacation!