Key West Trip

The kids had some time off for Thanksgiving break so we took off for the beach! We had never been to Key West before and thought we'd try something new. We had an amazing time! We woke up super early to drive to Washington DC for our 6 am flight. Everything went smoothly, although by the time we arrived, both Carter and Lily had lost a tooth haha!

We arrived around lunch time, so we went downtown to the MoonDog cafe. The kids all had breakfast food (Lily's Elvis french toast was really yummy). Everything was delicious!

While waiting for our table we saw a chicken perched on the roof of the bakery! Chickens roam the island freely and are part of the Key West tradition.

Then we went to the Ernest Hemingway house. It was really interesting and the highlight for the kids was meeting all the cats! He had a six-toed cat and now the house has over 60 descendent cats that live there! 

Master bedroom....the headboard is from the gate of a Spanish monastery. At the end of the bed are a midwife's chair and birthing stool. Hemingway said they made good seats for fishing!

A cat-sized version of the house! There were cat shelters all over the grounds

We saw the cat on the gift shop counter right away. We didn't notice the one on the low shelf until we were leaving!

Across the street is the old lighthouse, not used anymore so it is a museum. Great views from the top!

Sunday we went to the branch which was nice (lots of visitors) They blessed the sacrament in English and something else...maybe Creole? That afternoon we took some family photos and visited nearby Smathers beach. There were at least two weddings and one vow renewal happening nearby as sunset approached.

Lily found a coconut

Monday we went on a kayak eco-tour. We didn't get any pictures because we had to leave everything behind. But it was a wonderful experience! Not only were we trying a fun new sport, but we learned a lot about the Key West ecosystem. We paddled through tunnels of mangrove trees and saw iguana, jellyfish, a manatee!, horseshoe crab, cormorant, kingfisher, turkey vultures, and more! The guide was on a paddle board with her dog; sometimes the dog got excited and jumped in the water and the guide only fell off once when it was a surprise! Afterwards we got lunch and some groceries and chilled out the rest of the day in the condo and the pool.

Tuesday was our visit to the Turtle Hospital and swimming with dolphins!

The hospital treats sick and injured sea turtles. It was pretty incredible what they have set up for them!

The highlight of the whole trip was swimming with dolphins. Here we are getting ready.

It was so cool to feel the dolphins and get to interact with them! We got to feel their backs and their bellies. We started off with two male dolphins, Bala and Tatum.

First we all got to hold their flippers and then grab on to the dorsal fins of two dolphins and have them pull us through the water!

Then we got to get kisses and pet their heads

We did a group hug and got to feel their heart beat!

Then we switched to a different set of dolphins, Maya and Indy. They pushed our feet with their "beaks" across the lagoon. Some of the kids in our group got pushed up pretty high like Brielle so it looked like she was water skiing!

It was such a cool experience!

That evening we went to the famous Key Lime shop and got frozen key lime pie on a stick and walked around the historic seaport. Super festive and cute!

The next morning we took a boat out to the reef to snorkel! Unfortunately, I got pretty sea sick and the water was kind of choppy for snorkeling. We'll have to do shore snorkeling somewhere so the kids can see how cool it is. We did see some fish though, as well as a jellyfish and a sea turtle.

We ate at a restaurant near the seaport and saw an iguana and chicken walking around/inside the restaurant haha!

Brandon's yummy lunch

Then we went to Fort Zachary Taylor, which was held by the Union army the duration of the civil war. It was later decommissioned and now it's a national park. The kids had fun with the replica cannons. Afterwards we went to a nearby beach which was fun, but pretty rocky, we're glad we had water shoes!

Our final morning was Thanksgiving day! 

We got up early to get everything packed and loaded then headed downtown for breakfast. We saw the Turkey Trot runners go down the main street while we ate crepes and waffles.

Brandon's banana split crepe was pretty epic!

We stopped at the butterfly conservatory before we headed to the airport. It was lovely! About the same size as the Hershey butterfly garden. It had a pair of flamingos and some other cute birds too.

Once we got back to DC, we ate at Fogo de Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse and got to have all the delicious meats and sides we wanted!

Overall it was an amazing trip! We tried 4 kinds of key lime pie, saw countless critters, got a few bug bites, and had a wonderful time!