What a Week!

We're home! We had an awesome time away and made lots and lots of great memories! Both mine and Rod's families have each flocked to the Keys for summertime for decades and our own kids have been down as well but never quite like this....this trip was different. They are older now and can do more, and this was their first real time experiencing boat life like Rod and I grew up accustomed to. I don't know who enjoyed it more -Aynsley and Tristan marveling and exploring God's handiwork or Rod and I as we shared & taught and took it all in from the eyes of a child.

It's been a little tough getting back into real life and off island time but you know that saying.....all good things come to an end. And after six full days in the salt and sun, our skin closely resembles leather (or a loggerhead turtle) and so we were forced to return to civilization.

We took almost 1,000 pictures during the week - don't worry...I'm not going to post them all. :-) But here is a good sampling. Settle in for the gallery. They are in no particular order...just a bit from each day. Man, did we have a good time.

The first morning we were there I awoke to this picture on the porch....Daddy and Ayns side by side, in silence, and in their own little worlds.

I was just incredibly proud of Aynsley Grace. She has donned a mask and snorkel in the pool but seriously using it in the ocean is an entirely different story. It's easy to get choked up and have a hard time breathing normally -all the while fighting the current and exploring but she was totally a natural & did so well that after Day 1, we decided to get her fins. She really took off then and that could not make her sea-lovin' Mom and Dad more proud.

She started off with Daddy - and it was super sweet - they traveled holding hands as they found treasures of the sea....

An itty-bitty lobster - you don't find these everyday and on this trip we found two!

Tristan became the anchor man and tried his best to pull the anchor for Daddy at every opportunity. By the end of the week, Rod had them trained to handle the ropes and they made great first mates.

Ayns and I came upon a starfish in about 2-3 feet of water on the way to the island. When I was young, these could be found everywhere. Not so much in recent years. Great for her to see.

This was a tiny blue crab until T ripped it's legs off...:-(

Waiting our turn for gas at the marina ....

Here, we just arrived at Looe Key. Ayns was doing so well in the water, we decided to take her to the reef. I didn't know how she'd like it- it can be a little scary -nothing like 40+ feet of water with 15 foot drop rock walls /coral heads and large barracuda and shark casually swimming around to get the blood pumping.

From the boat, we watched this cuda linger for quite some time. I took these next 2 pics from the surface.

This is what he was lingering over:

She did pretty well with the whole thing - we went on a 45 minute excursion and she held my hand tight the whole time. But she oohed and aahhed (I could hear her!) at the colorful fish, the sea fans, & the tarpon bigger than her!

When she noticed our boat in the water, she let go of me and swam to it which I thought was pretty cool that she recognized what she saw.

Tristan was not keen on getting in the water here much - he stayed on board and "fished" from bow but when I came in, he decided to grab the camera and turn it on me....

We took the kids to our special spot - El Meson de Pepe's. We've celebrated many birthdays, anniversaries, and plenty of fun times there. And the kids loved it. Here they are taking in the band as the sun sets on Mallory Square in the background.

After dinner we let them walk a bit and get a balloon...

We drove in our driveway and came home to this in the front yard:

In all our years on Big Pine / No Name Key (the home of the Key Deer), we have never seen so many bucks ! Nearly every deer we encountered was a male and most had a nice rack!

Here are a few deer shots taken throughout the week-

And deer weren't our only sightings....we met plenty of iguanas sunning too...

Hanging out in the shallows one afternoon:

Ayns is holding some coral she found:

While the kids napped on board one day, I went exploring and found a little one hiding out under a sponge - Ayns was awake when I brought him back to the boat.....

Daddy and T had their own fishing outings. Just boys as T would tell us. Here they are loading up to head out...

The catch for the morning in Tristan's words: "yellowtail and napas"

Translation: yellowtail and snappers

and a hogfish:

which made it into the saute' pan pretty darn quick:
This was the porch view every evening and we enjoyed many fantastic sunsets.

All I wonder is....when can I go back?