Whew! What a day! Today was LONG and tiring but oh-so-amazing! We finally got to do something that we have talked about doing for years. More on that in a second though.
Last night everyone slept okay. Will took a LONG time to fall asleep and then rolled around for a while in the middle of the night. Actually him falling asleep was hilarious. He insisted that my arm be around him and he rubbed my cheek until he fell asleep. Such a weird kid. Kenzie went to sleep easier (the bonus sometimes of not napping) and fell asleep snuggling Steven. She eventually moved away so he could move but kept returning through the night to snuggle. I know all to well how she sleeps. I thought I was getting the better deal with Will but both of our kids are not awesome bed sharers apparently. Regardless, we all slept okay. Steven and I were up shortly before our alarm this morning and Kenzie woke up with us. Will was so tired from his night that he stayed in bed and we got ready and packed up around him. He never budged. Finally, we made him get up to get dressed because we needed to drop the kids off with the grands so we could get out of the hotel. He actually had us carry him to their room and he got back into their bed and tried to go back to sleep. That was how we left him.
Steven and I packed up the car and headed out. We stopped first by Burger King to pick up breakfast. We knew that we wanted to be to Pennekamp early because we received a call the day before that if we didn't pick up our tickets by 8:15, our reservation would be given away to a walk up if necessary. So, we rushed and then realized as we pulled up to Pennekamp that the park opens at 8am. Oops. Probably should have checked on that the day before. We ended up going to eat our breakfast in a gas station parking lot before returning to wait for the park to open. We were still the first people in the gate this morning. We parked and headed into the concession building to get our tickets. We had a reservation but that is just a temporary hold for your spot. We still had to buy the tickets. We brought our own snorkeling gear but I don't own fins so I decided to rent those for the tour. Otherwise, we were set and ready to go. We then went back to Canon Beach and sat on a bench putting on sunblock and enjoying the view for a bit before we had to go over to get ready to board our boat, the Encounter. I think my favorite part was watching two young children argue over the "sharks" in the water. Yeah... definitely tarpon. Yet it never fails that someone is convinced they are sharks. We have heard it every time we have been at Pennekamp. Sometimes you even get someone that yells to everyone to get out of the water. After getting our sunblock on sufficiently (I had to do mine and Steven's... I thought not having kids around would save me from putting on everyone's sunblock but I think he just believes I'm better at applying it at this point with all my practice), we went over to wait to board our boat, Encounter.
We were boarded and ready to go in no time. Our boat was actually the biggest of the snorkeling tour boats. Captain Dean and First Mate Dean (they were actually different people with the same name) gave us the safety run down and then we were pulling away from the dock. Our plan was to head out to the Christ of the Deep statue to see how it was looking out there. The trip to the statue was about 30 minutes. I think he said it is about 6 miles out. We could tell we were pulling up to it when we saw about 5 other boats docked around a lot of markers. Instead of anchoring our boat, he made a turn and headed away from the area. We found out as we stopped at our snorkeling destination that the water appeared pretty cloudy and there were a lot of waves so he decided the view would not have been as nice. Instead, we ended up at the Grecian Rocks which is another reef that they often visit. He actually said it is his personal favorite. We were told to head toward the sign that said "Danger Reef" for the boats and take a right up towards the front of the boat. It wasn't long before we were off the boat and in the water.
The water was so very clear! First Mate Dean (who was a certified Dive Master) said that the water was as clear as a swimming pool and he wasn't kidding. There were some areas shallow enough that I could stand as it was low tide (although they ask you not to so you don't risk hurting the reef) and there were areas that were probably closer to about 15 feet deep. Yet we could see to the bottom clear as day. We headed out to the sign and made the right and hit a ton of reef formations. They were gorgeous! Steven and I have snorkeled before (Steven a lot more than me as this is something I picked up from him after we were married) including around the fort in the Dry Tortugas and I don't think either of us have ever seen anything so beautiful. This reef is far less disturbed than ones that sit closer to land so people can easily get to them. There were so many reef fish of all types, sizes, and colors. We stayed out in the water for almost an hour and a half. We got a ton of great pictures and videos. Finally we decided that it was likely almost time to be called in anyway and I was getting a bit tired because snorkeling is quite the work out, so we decided to head in. Right as we were about to get on the boat, First Mate Dean told us that there was apparently a barracuda just off the back of the boat and he pointed the direction we needed to go to see him so we about faced and went to look. Sure enough, there he was. He was pretty big. Probably a couple of feet. Apparently there was a shark earlier too which we tried to get over to see but missed. He was able to be seen from the boat but only one or two people even think they saw him from the water. Too bad. We tried but we weren't fast enough. The day before someone saw a turtle but no one on our tour saw any. He also said sometimes they see rays but no one saw those today either. They were all doing other things, I suppose.
We got back on the boat and took a few pictures with just a few minutes to spare before they made the call to bring everyone back aboard the boat. The ride back to the dock took about 40 minutes. We had to slow a lot more often for passing boat traffic in the channels so it took a while longer. As we pulled into the dock we saw Grandma, Grandaddy, and the kids waiting for us. The kids were waving and seemed pretty excited to see the boat come back in with us on it. I don't know if they worried we might get left out there. Kenzie wanted to see the pictures right away but we told her she had to wait.
Overall, the tour was 2.5 hours. There is an extended 4 hour one that we want to do next time we are in the Keys (with someone to help us out and watch the kiddos). Eventually we want to be able to take both of them with us. We have talked about going on a cruise, just the two of us and maybe some friends if anyone wanted to join, next year and while we typically don't do anything in Nassau, we now are considering taking a snorkeling tour if we do go. We shall see. This was just so much fun and we can't wait to do it again. Side note: Rash guards are the best inventions ever! I think Steven and I are going to have to pick up another one for each of us. We have had ours for a few years now but they are amazing. We were some of the few wearing them today on the snorkeling tour and we might be some of the few that are able to take a comfortable hot shower this evening and sleep on our backs. That's a long time to keep your back up in the sun.
Once we were back on dry land and met back up with the family, we went over to the small aquarium at Pennekamp. The kids were hyped up and really intrigued with all the fish. Both kids were somewhat tired already from their short night's sleep so they were a bit crazier than usual. After walking around the aquarium we went over to the picnic pavilions to eat lunch. This time we had subs and the kids had uncrustables. While we were eating Kenzie was mainly only concerned with getting her sunblock on so she could go in the water. Before we could swim though we had to switch over carseats and get everything settled as we would be leaving Key Largo and heading to Marathon after the beach.
It wasn't too long before we were in the water though. Pennekamp is a different type of beach. More like a calm lake or pool basically. No waves which makes Will much happier. He wasn't too happy to be taken into an area he couldn't stand in though and held tight to me. We tried to get him to ride the boogie board but he was having none of that. Kenzie was out of sorts to a point and she wanted to just hang on people instead of standing in areas she could touch the ground or hang on the boogie board. We actually had to almost remove her from the water at one point because she wasn't listening well and was getting frustrated that no one wanted her hanging all over them. I also took Will back to a shallow area at some point to let him stand and play in the water without needing to be held. Eventually Steven came up and took him back into the water. We ended up floating around for about an hour before we decided to call it an afternoon and get in the car to head to Marathon.
Changing the kids at Pennekamp is always an adventure. The facilities are nice but I tend to take on too much and ended up taking both kids with me at once to change. It wasn't fun. I know I need to let Steven help more sometimes but I have a bad habit of figuring I can just do it faster alone sometimes. Bad habit. It took a bit, but they got changed and we reconfigured the car some to get everyone in it. Steven and I elected to ride to Marathon in swim suits and this is one beach that I don't mind it. Because it isn't typical with a ton of sand, you don't come out covered in sand which makes riding wet more bearable. We initially started Moana for the kids but Kenzie kept asking to color with this cool magic marker clipboard thing I got for this trip and we figured that we would need to turn the TV off anyway for Will to nap so we ended up turning off the movie and waiting for Will to fall asleep. Not surprising, but that happened pretty quickly and we let Kenzie color for the remainder of the drive to Marathon. We did have to make one impromptu stop about 5 minutes before the hotel because Kenzie insisted she had to potty right that moment and was whining like crazy. Thank goodness for the car potty we carry around. That thing has been a lifesaver more times than I can tell you. Even now with an almost 5 year old, we have to use it for her. Good news was that Will stayed asleep the entire time we dealt with that despite opening and closing his door multiple times to get the potty out and then back in. Told you he was tired.
We made it to the hotel without issue and got up to our room. Again, Grandma and Grandaddy beat us and checked everyone in so we went right to our room. This is going to be our home for the next 3 nights so we got comfortable. We have stayed here before. This if the famous hotel that I spent 2 hours in the lobby during early morning hours (i.e. 4am) with a Will that refused to continue sleeping because that's what 7 month old Will was all about. I asked him if he remembered this place when we walked in and he said, "Yep!" Who knows. Maybe he plans to wake me up around 4am and ask to visit the lobby again. Anyway, we all got cleaned up and headed out to Lazy Days for dinner. We have been to the Lazy Days in Key Largo (I think it is in Key Largo) before but Steven and I have never been to this one. It is right in Marathon Marina and the food was awesome. Such a good dinner. The kids were not behaving as we would have liked. I know they were both tired and lately they have been having more trouble listening at times. We are working on that but I admit, we sometimes slack in areas we need to not slack in. Anyway, we made it through dinner and both kids ate well. Will was downing everything in sight. He had bread, a pouch, part of my ceasar salad, some of Steven's conch chowder, about half my baked potato, crackers, chicken tenders, fries, fried calamari, and basically anything else you were willing to put in front of him. Apparently being over tired makes you hungry too.
After dinner we walked over and checked out the docks. The kids loved the boats. Then we headed back to the hotel and checked out the docks behind the hotel. There was one boat that was probably at least 2 of our houses in size. It was massive. There was a wedding reception going on and I was jealous. What a gorgeous place to get married. We got some pictures and tried to watch part of the sunset. It was cloudy but still pretty. Then Will had to potty so I headed back with him. Steven and Kenzie followed shortly behind. We initially planned to do the pool but we were so tired that we nixed it.
We got the kids ready for bed and got them all set up on the pull out sofa. We let them watch a TV show to calm down some and then cut the lights off and called it a night. Steven had to go over once to break them up. We could hear Kenzie complaining about Will being on her side but it wasn't 5 minutes after all that and the noises stopped. I currently have both kids sleeping soundly on the pull out sofa on one side and Steven snoring on my other as I try to finish this. Let's hope everyone sleeps in. I won't hold my breath, but we shall see.
Tomorrow we have plans to stay in Marathon in the morning and then we will be heading over to Key West in the afternoon and evening to catch the Sunset Festival. I'm so excited for this. Kenzie knows about it and keeps asking what day we are doing it so I hope we have a nice sunset tomorrow. Tomorrow is one of our more relaxed days on this trip. Steven and I were talking on the drive today about how we want to start traveling more now that the kids are older. Unfortunately, funds are sometimes a downfall for us but we will make it work for now on a more limited budget and eventually will travel more as things change for us when the kids get older. However, I decided that taking a trip that doesn't involve beaches must be so much easier sometimes. I'm sure all trips have easy and difficult parts. This trip isn't difficult but so many beaches and pools make for a lot of extra work (cleaning out suits, drying clothes we might need again... etc etc). We are having a blast though and I'm still just so glad we are back here in the Keys this year. Our happy place, for sure.
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