Fourth of July KW Style

Nicholas on the beach

Beth and Sam

Nicholas and Daddy

While waiting for the show,
Nicholas did what he does best:
plays with his trains.

By the way, the whole matchy matchy red shirt
thing was really a coincidence! It was not planned!

Happy Fourth of July! (Happy Birthday to my cousin, Stephanie, too!) We went to a local beach to watch the fireworks, and it was so cool to see the different colors reflect on the water. About a hundred boats lined up in the ocean to watch from the water, and often people on the boats and on the land shot off their own fireworks while we waited for the big show.
Being near the water brought back so many memories of when I was a little girl. I'd go with my family to Town Lake in Austin, TX, and the fireworks were so close that I thought they'd land on me! I was pretty terrified of them for a few years! Eventually I realized they couldn't get me, and now they are my favorite part of the 4th festivities.
It was fun to watch the fireworks through Nicholas' eyes, too. He really enjoyed them and would comment on each one (Did you see that Mama?). I loved looking over at him laying on Sam's chest to watch. (I'd get in my mom's lap to watch them when I was his age.) It was like time was copying itself!
So here are a few pictures of our Fireworks show in Key West. Even though we feel so far away from everyone, it was really cool to celebrate with so many others from all over the country. It reminded me that no matter where you are in America, you are home.





P.S. If you listen closely, you can hear Nicholas say at the end, "Now we can go home!" So silly.

Fun in the Sun

Our friends, the Delphs, invited us to one of their favorite places in the Keys: a sandbar about 6 miles away from Key West. You feel like you are in the middle of the ocean, and then the water becomes only a few feet deep. In all of the pictures, we are sitting down. There is a little deserted island where you can go camping - so cool. We had such a blast visiting, swimming, and collecting sea shells. It was a really great day.

Sam, Beth, and Nicholas

Kelly, David, Piper, James, Daniel, Sam, Beth, and Nicholas

Daniel, David, Billy, Kelly, Piper, James, Nicholas, and Sam

Key West is somewhere that way!

Our Running Trail

Here are some pictures of the "boardwalk" by our house. It's a concrete sidewalk that goes around for about 4 miles.

The view of the water when you leave our house.

Looking to the right of the picture above.

Sam and Nicholas across the street from the East Martello Museum

I'm posting these pictures for two reasons. First, I love this part of Key West. It is so beautiful in the morning because the sun rises right here, and there are always people out walking, running, biking, and roller blading. I like to come out here to walk/run in the morning or evening, and we often take Nicholas here so he can run run run and then crash into bed. Second reason for the pictures is this was an unusual night. We brought our camera on our walk and noticed that the water and sky were the exact same color. There was no wind at all, so the whole place was still and quiet. You couldn't tell where the water ended and the sky began. It reminded me of the Neverending Story and The Nothing. It felt a little creepy, but mostly really cool. And very very hot.

Nicholas Pants

Nicholas likes to call everyone "Pants." Mama Pants, Daddy Pants, Nicholas Pants. It comes from two things...first, because he can't say poop unless he is really talking about it (he thinks it is really funny to say the word poop), so he says pants instead; and second must be from Sponge Bob Square Pants.
Anyway, Nicholas' humor lately has been opposites. He likes to say I am his "sweet boy" and Daddy is his "sweet girl." So it wasn't too surprising that when I asked him to get dressed the other day, he thought it would be funny to put on his clothes the opposite way. When he walked into the room to say he was ready, I laughed out loud, and he was pretty proud of his little joke.

Cayo Hueso

History Lesson for the day....

Cayo Hueso is the Spanish name for Key West. It means "Island of Bones." When Ponce de Leon first arrived at Key West, the island was littered with bones from the Indians who had lived here.

Shipwrecking used to be a major contributor to the KW economy back in the day. People would watch the water from the top of a tower, and if they saw a shipwreck, they'd ring the bell and yell "Wreck ashore!" Everyone in the town would run out to the wreck. The first boat captain to make it to the wreck took control of the ship (whether those aboard wanted him to or not), and people removed everything they could from the ship to sell, trade, or keep for themselves. Usually the ship was not completely underwater. Actually, the majority of the time, a "wrecked" ship had only slight, but mostly fixable issues, the major one being unable to move because the boat had crashed into something (often placed there by KW locals). Although highly unethical, shipwrecking provided interesting salvaged items...including pianos with ivory keys. (I couldn't imaging dragging that out of the water!!) At one point, Key West was one of the richest cities per capita because of the shipwreck "industry."

Sam and Nicholas went around town recently and took a few cool pictures of our little island. Nicholas is pictured ringing the bell at the top of the Shipwreck Museum's tower.

Just a few new pics

Nicholas on the train

Beth on the train

Nicholas at Sunset

Nicholas with our intern, Oanh

Rachel, Beth, and Chelsea (two of our interns)

The Aquarium

Ahhh! That fish is eating my child!

Nicholas and a starfish

Sam touching a nurse shark

Hungry nurse sharks

Great white shark eating lunch

Nicholas and Beth

We spent the day at the aquarium getting to know some of the things we swim with when we're at the beach. Nicholas was brave and touched some of the starfish and sea cucumbers. Sam and Beth got to pet a nurse shark. There were tons of really cool fish and huge turtles (one with "Bubble Butt Syndrome." It really is a thing). Now we'll actually know some of the names of the fish we see when we snorkel!