So last night was... interesting. I mentioned in my prior post that Will had a bit of a difficult time going to sleep, but eventually he went down. We were all actually in bed by 9:30 and I don't think I saw the clock hit 9:35. We were all exhausted. Will actually only woke up twice between 9:30 and 4:00. Then, at 4:00, I coughed. I choked on spit or something and actually sort of gagged... but it was loud. Lo and behold, I woke up Will. I thought it wouldn't be a big deal and I would just nurse him and back to bed he would go. I was wrong though. Apparently he thought that my coughing was an alarm clock and it meant it was time to get up for the day. I tried to contain him in the room for a while but he was fussing off an on and talking when he wasn't fussing. Kenzie was starting to romp around so I knew it was waking her up and I already knew that Steven was awake, as well. So, I elected to leave the comfort of our hotel room and head down to the lobby so that my family that wanted to sleep, could. About 4:45am I was downstairs in the lobby making friends with the person on duty at the front desk. At least she was friendly. We chatted for a bit and Will flirted but you could easily tell he was still tired. He knocked out for about 5 minutes around 5 and I thought I was home free. He only wanted to cat nap though apparently and was up again. Finally, after rocking him and walking around the lobby, he fell asleep about 5:20. I stayed downstairs for a few minutes to make sure he was really asleep then ventures back to the room. I laid him down about 5:30 and he slept until 7:30. We actually woke him up when Kenzie woke up and didn't want to go back to sleep. We figured we would get going for the day.
At that point, we were ready to eat lunch. We happened to park right next to a pavilion with about 6 picnic tables. We set ourselves up right there and ate our lunch. It was really nice. We were sitting next to a mangrove forest. It was peaceful... except for Sammy the Squirrel who decided we were good targets for his pickpocket scheme. That was seriously the bravest squirrel I have ever seen. One minute we are eating lunch peacefully, the next Kenzie is screeching (though she wasn't scared) because the squirrel was sitting on the bench next to her less than 2 feet away staring at her. It was actually pretty funny. We kept having to shoo him away so we could finish our lunch. We also had a bird with a hurt leg watching us eat, but he hung back for the most part.
We went downstairs for breakfast again. It was a bit better today. A better selection. Kenzie was being super picky though and didn't eat much. Will continued to flirt with everyone that walked by us.
After breakfast we packed everything up, put on our swimsuits, and checked out of the hotel. We were officially ready to leave Marathon and start the ending portion of our trip. Will ended up sleeping the entire way to Key Largo. Kenzie stayed awake and kept us company. While Steven was driving I busted out my Doc McStuffins' skills and managed to fix "Pink Penguin" (we are super creative with names at almost 3 years old if you can't tell). Kenzie was super excited that he was finally fixed. I was super excited that I wouldn't be picking up stuffing any longer.
When we were almost to Key Largo we put in an order online for Publix subs for lunch. They were ready by the time we got to Publix and we picked up those along with a few other items for our picnic lunch. We made it to John Pennekamp State Park around 11:30. We first changed Will out of his pjs as he had worn them the entire drive up. Then we went to the visitor's center because they have an aquarium inside. Kenzie was so excited by the large aquarium in the center of the room. She ran around it telling us, "Mommy, Daddy! There's more fish! There's more fish!" She thought every time she saw a fish that it was a new one. I didn't have the heart to tell her that they were the same fish swimming in a circle.
After lunch we lathered up the kids with sunblock and prepped to head out to the beach. Pennekamp is known for its snorkeling, but we knew that wasn't going to be an option with the kids. It turned out though that even without snorkeling, the water was, by far, the best for small children. It is protected by a reef, so there are zero waves, no undertow, and it is fairly shallow a good ways out. Kenzie initially asked Steven to carry her into the water, but once she realized she could touch the bottom, all bets were off. She was running around, swimming, and jumping up and down. She even requested that we bring in her "surf board" which is actually just a boogie board so she could lay on it and we could push her around. Then she requested that each of us (including Will) took a turn on it so she could push all of us around. We spent about an hour in the water. Will spent his time splashing me or bouncing up and down in the water. It was so nice. It isn't a normal beach though with actual sand, so Kenzie was a bit sad that she couldn't dig with her shovel. She would have rather been in the water anyway.
We have finally perfected the art of changing everyone after being at the beach, too. So, once we finished swimming we headed for the changing room. We showered everyone off and then we changed Will on a picnic bench. Steven got changed and then I changed Kenzie and myself in the changing rooms. We were in and out in less than 30 minutes. That is probably about a 30 minute difference from the first time we did it with two kids earlier this year. We are getting better, for sure. Practice makes perfect.
Before we left Pennekamp we sat in the car so I could nurse Will. He was so tired that he barely ate anything before passing out. He was so tired that I got him into his carseat, put his helmet back on, and we headed out without him ever waking up. Kenzie talked to us most of the way out the park but we realized as we hit US 1 that she was quiet... and she was asleep. Both kids slept the ENTIRE way to Fort Lauderdale. It was a really nice ride for Steven and I. Sometimes I think we forget what it is like to ride in silence or with just the two of us talking and it is nice to have those moments. Plus, the kids sleeping so soundly told us that they were tired and we took that as a sign that they had a great time.
We are staying at the Embassy Suites in Fort Lauderdale near the port. It is pretty nice. It is an older hotel and the rooms are older but very well kept. The lobby though is awesome! There is a waterfall, which Kenzie fawned over. They have free breakfast and a free happy hour every day. We also have a suite so we have a living area separate from the bedroom. Kenzie came in an immediately set up her own personal office. Apparently she thinks this is a business trip.
We are staying at the Embassy Suites in Fort Lauderdale near the port. It is pretty nice. It is an older hotel and the rooms are older but very well kept. The lobby though is awesome! There is a waterfall, which Kenzie fawned over. They have free breakfast and a free happy hour every day. We also have a suite so we have a living area separate from the bedroom. Kenzie came in an immediately set up her own personal office. Apparently she thinks this is a business trip.
After unpacking a bit and getting settled we decided to head out to dinner. We wanted to try to find something reasonably priced with seafood, but everything we found was either ridiculously expensive or just not what we were looking for. Instead, we had a couple of gift cards for The Cheesecake Factory and there is one on Las Olas Blvd right by the hotel, so we decided on that.
Kenzie decided again that she wasn't going to be into eating so she didn't eat much. We were considering walking down Las Olas a bit but instead decided to head back to the hotel after dinner to try to catch the happy hour in case they had any food we could convince her to eat. We found a nice table by the pool (which we are super excited to use before we leave) and got a few snacks. They also have complimentary drinks. The drinks of the day were sangria and Bahama Mamas so I had the sangria and Steven tried the Bahama Mama. They were pretty good.
After partaking in happy hour, we went back to our room to prep the kids for bed. Kenzie was a bit out of control as she was so excited. Hotels are starting to make her loopy, I think. Will was a bit overtired because he had been awake since we arrived at the hotel the firs time. We got them in and out of a bath really quickly and I worked on getting Will down. We ended up putting him out in the common area so that we could move around in the bedroom and not worry about waking him. He took a few tries to get down. He was so tired that he would fall asleep in our arms but wake up when we laid him down. We tried to let him cry for a minute, but we are unsure about others in the hotel and how loud he is. Eventually, we got him down. It took about 45 minutes of trying though. I am going to be happy to get back to our home where our schedule is in place and he does so much better. I think it might be a few days of adjustment, but I'm looking forward to having that back. I'm not excited for vacation to end soon, but I miss our schedule. Kenzie is sleeping in bed with me again for the next two nights so we let her watch some TV while we are getting ready for bed. We are about to turn in ourselves in preparation for another fun day tomorrow.
We are planning on going to Everglades Holiday Park tomorrow morning. It's where Gator Boys is filmed and I am really excited to see it in person because we love that show. Then we will head to Bill Baggs State Park (Lighthouse Beach) tomorrow afternoon for swimming and a picnic dinner. Tomorrow is our last true day as we will leave Friday and do not have anything major planned. Like I said, I'm sad it's almost over but I'm going to be happy to get back to our schedule. We are having so much fun and making so many memories. It's bittersweet.
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