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Keys Vacation 2015 Day 4: Marathon and Key West

Just in case anyone would like to keep track...
Sunglasses - 3
Young Family - 0

It's like the sunglasses are out to get us. The first pair we had to buy was actually back in Pembroke Pines when we thought we lost Kenzie's. We bought her a new pair and then promptly found her old ones. Oh well. Now she has an extra when she loses pair number 3 for the year.


We started our morning early. Very early. Will and Kenzie actually did phenomenally well last night. Kenzie had some trouble going to sleep, but eventually settled and they were both out. Will only woke up twice once everyone was asleep (he woke up once when Kenzie got loud before she fell asleep). Each time he went back to sleep pretty quickly after nursing. Unfortunately though, as is customary with our kids on vacation (I think it is just because they are not in the comfort of home) they both woke up ridiculously early. Will woke up at 5am and Kenzie was up at 5:30. We tried to lay around in bed for a while but were up and moving around a bit before 7. We went downstairs for breakfast in the hotel. It was an okay breakfast. Nothing to really write home about, but it was free at the hotel and when you need to buy food for three people, that helps.

After breakfast we set out to Kmart to buy Steven a new pair of glasses. See, last night as he was removing his, they just snapped into pieces. They were really old so it was bound to happen. The worst part is that we actually just bought him a new pair but he didn't bring them as he didn't want to ruin them and we had no thoughts that his current pair wouldn't hold up. As it turns out, we found a pretty good pair for cheap at Kmart.

After all of that, because the kids were up so early it was about nap time. Will fell asleep before we even left the Kmart parking lot. So... we took a drive over the 7 mile bridge and back. That killed about 30 minutes so it let Will get in a bit of a nap. When we got back to the hotel we went upstairs to get the kids changed for the pool. The breakfast may not be amazing, but the pool was awesome! The kids loved it!

Will floated around in his float for the majority of the time we were there and eventually fussed a bit when he somehow swallowed some water so I held him for a while and let him float through the water. He liked laying on his belly and kicking his legs but wasn't as keen being on his back. Too bad he has that helmet, or we could have done swimming lessons for him this summer, too. Looks like both kids will be taking them next summer. Kenzie had a blast as well. She kept asking me to help her float then let her flip over and swim to the stairs. She also kept "walking" herself along the side of the pool using her hands on the edge and feet on the wall. She would go from the stairs, around the corner, and to a bench on the side of the pool then back again. When we were ready to leave we had a bit of an issue as she was not ready to get out. Eventually we got out of there, but it was a bit of a battle. We didn't back down though and it took a while in the hotel room for her to gain control. She was exhausted.






We went to Taco Bell for lunch. Kenzie has been eating a lot of chicken. That doesn't sound like an issue, but we wanted to get her something different so we ended up at Taco Bell. We also wanted something easy and fast. Will fell asleep on the way there and slept all the way through lunch. He woke up right as we were set to leave. He wasn't happy initially. We left straight from there though to head to Key West and he eventually fell back asleep. Kenzie also slept the entire way to Key West. She woke up right as we were pulling onto the island. I think she was a bit disoriented though because she cried for a bit before we calmed her down.

Once on Key West, we set out to find the Southernmost Point. Steven and I have been there before but it has been a while. You would think that you would just drive to the Southern most area of the island, but you would be wrong. The buoy is actually not at the Southern most point because that would be on the naval base, I think. It wasn't a problem to find though. Parking was a bigger issue but we eventually found a spot.






It was HOT today in Key West. We knew we were in for a hot day when we stood outside for less than 20 minutes waiting to see that dang buoy and were all drenched in sweat. We were still able to get a picture though.

After that we went to find the parking garage near Mallory Square. It wasn't too hard to find and we lathered the kids up with sunblock before setting out (we also lathered ourselves) for the Key West Aquarium. On the way out of the aquarium I tried to put my sunglasses on and the side snapped off. Seriously? So before we went to the aquarium we stopped in a gift shop and found another pair for me. We have a family of blue eyed people. We require sunglasses. I wish we could put Will's on him but they are impossible with the helmet right now. Poor guy. Anyway, it was easy to find a new pair and then we went to the aquarium. We forgot how tiny that aquarium is but Kenzie really seemed to enjoy herself.








During that visit we actually ended up switching Will to Steven in the Beco. It was his first time wearing Will. We did a quick change so we didn't have everything exactly perfect, but it worked and it gave me a bit of a reprieve. We did the change really quickly though because Kenzie was running around the nurse shark tank as the sharks did their circles. She was enamored with those sharks. I think she would have loved to have gone into their tank with them. Unfortunately, that is what I was afraid of so we had to change over Will really quickly. We managed to catch the shark feeding. Kenzie wasn't super enthused because the sharks were at the other side of the "tank". I thought it was cool though. It was also HOT. Did I mention that already? Seriously, HOT. So, we went back inside and eventually found our way out in the gift shop areas.

After picking up a couple of souvenirs we went outside to Mallory Square to take a few pictures. We found another gift shop area after that, that actually had a really good Cuban restaurant at one end of it. We ended up sitting in the restaurant and ordering drinks and plantain chips. Those chips were awesome! Kenzie wasn't too keen on them but I had some goldfish packets with me and they gave her colors and paper, so she was happy with that. It was a nice break from the heat.




After that, it was about time for dinner. Here's where things got a bit hairy. We decided to try to walk to Turtle Kraals. Google Maps said it was a .4 mile walk. No big. So, we set out and the map changed to .6 miles. Okay. That we could handle. Then... Kenzie has to potty. So, I ended up picking her up and carrying her quickly along the boardwalk (which is not a straight shot by any means) to a bathroom. When we found one, Google Maps STILL said we were .6 away. We were committed by then though. Finally, we found it. Will had fallen asleep in the stroller on the walk so we let him stay like that while we had dinner. 

As it turns out, our car was probably less than a mile away but we had to get walking tips from a local because Google Maps was confused. Steven wore Will again and I pushed Kenzie in the stroller on the way back so we could go quickly. We elected to not try to stay for the sunset festival as sunset was nearly 2 hours away and the kids were exhausted.  The drive back to the hotel was uneventful. Will slept but Kenzie remained awake somehow. 

Once back we bathed the kids and then set out to try to get them to sleep. We had a bit more of a difficult time than last night. Will took a bit longer, but finally went down. Kenzie watched tv a bit, then hit her head on the bed headboard, cried, woke Will up... You get the idea. 

At this point, Will is down and we are all going to bed in hopes of an okay night. 

We check out of here tomorrow and head to Pennekamp. Our next two nights will be in Ft. Lauderdale at an Embassy Suites where we have 2 rooms technically. Hopefully that will be easier. : for sleeping. :)

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