How Had I Never Been to the Keys??

My family moved to Florida a month after I turned six years old. Prior to that, dad was in the navy and we bounced around along the eastern coast. So I consider myself a Floridian. I grew up in the little town founded by my ancestors, and that my dad and uncles were born in- I’m pretty darn close to native, okay?

Having lived in Florida for so long, I had never ever been to the Keys! Before I met Chase, I’d never been farther south than Tampa. I finally had my opportunity last month and it was magical! I seriously didn’t want to leave- and I live in Naples, a beach destination. 

Chase and I headed to Key Largo for a long weekend, but it wasn’t a romantic get-away. We were meeting up with a huge group of his Gheenoe buddies for their yearly rally. (Insert eye-roll) I anticipated a lot of fishing, boring fishing talk, and more fishing. Fortunately, it was so much more than that.

We did fish every day, but without the boys creating chaos and spilling things, it’s remarkably relaxing and fun. I caught several barracudas (apparently they’re not highly prized, but I thought it was cool), along with various types of snapper. The prize goes to hubby, though. He managed to catch Himself!! Yep, he was reeling in a fish when it spit the hook and wrapped into his nose. I was no help because the sight made me queasy and nearly throw up. Poor guy drove all the way back to shore with a huge lure dangling from his face and sat like a Rockstar while the hook was cut and worked out of his nose. On the plus side, everyone knew who we were after that and it helped spark a lot of conversation. 

 We stayed at a very tropical little resort right on the water that was an assortment of free-standing little cottages, vintage trailers, and a couple two story houses. They were all painted bright colors and interspersed with random life-size, painted animal statues. Unique. 

Note the standing bear to the left side of the home

We stayed in this charming little trailer- words I will never say outside of the Keys.

Greeted by zebras to the left, and the beautiful, clear water straight ahead

Because I have a hard time with spontaneity, I researched all the best restaurants in the area and found a popular tiki bar type place I wanted to try. Chase thought it was too ‘touristy’, and based on the billboards of margarita glasses and key lime pie that we passed, he was probably right. Fate was with us though, because we missed the turn and while making the u-turn, we saw a little hole in the wall pizza place. Chase is never one to turn down pizza and I conceded the battle. Turned out to be some of the best pizza and garlic rolls I’ve ever had! Huge and dripping with chunks of garlic and butter, those garlic rolls were to die for. Paired with homemade pizza and locally brewed beer, that was a delicious dinner. If you’re ever in Key Largo, stop at Tower of Pizza. 

I’m not done with the Keys yet, so I’ll continue in my next post about how I almost got eaten by a tarpon. Not that I’m dramatic…

With Love,

Susanne

A Random Post About the Weekend

Saturday was the kind of weekend day I love. No commitments and we can do as we please. So we lazed around until noon, made a leisurely lunch- well, I supervised while Chase did all the cooking. (Clean-up is always harder than the actual meal preparation when my enthusiastic husband is in the kitchen.) 

Then, we went into town to visit our second home, Home Depot. $200, a vehicle full of plants and mulch later, and I believe we’re ready for spring. Since Dara thinks it’s her mission in life to destroy and eat my favorite plants, I decided to try my new calamondin in a pot on our newly screened porch. Have you ever heard of a calamondin tree? Probably not. They’re sometimes called ornamental orange trees or some nonsense like that. They’re actually very tart and perfect to squeeze into sweet tea. In a couple months I should have some ripe- come join me for a glass!

Back to my day. Chase wanted to get a hair cut, so he volunteered me to entertain the boys. We strolled through Petsmart and had a knock-down drag-out fight over which cat toys we were going to purchase for our non-existent cat. The answer was none. But I had to do the walk of shame out of the store holding two hysterically wailing children.

Fortunately, we had a quiet ride home, except for that darn movie, Rio 2. Yes, we're still watching it- here's my previous post about this issue. And yes, I'm considering hiring a hit man to 'make it go away.'

The boys are very into bowling now. Well, they like to set up the bowling pigeons and chuck the ball as hard as they can at them. Pigeons are bowling pins- I've corrected Cayden three times, but now we just gave up and call them pigeons. Poor Dara was torn between dodging the bowling ball and the excitement of chaos.

So that was part of my weekend. We went on the boat yesterday and my sunscreen application was sadly lacking. Today I'm various shades of red and really feeling it. And what Monday would be complete without a disaster? Poor little Cayden woke up and promptly threw up all over himself, his bed, the carpet on the way to the bathroom, and, of course, on me. On that pleasant note, have a wonderful week!

With Love,
Susanne

The Memory Filled Beaches of New Smyrna, FL

Obviously striking my diva pose.

If you know me, you know that I am not a fan of change. I like familiarity, stability, routine. I come by it honestly- my dad is the exact same way. As a kid growing up, the one family vacation my siblings and I could count on was going to the beach condo for the week of July 4^th. Every year. Same week. And even though we’ve all grown up, my parents still go. Every year. Same week. One of more of us usually crash there for a few days with them, but since I’ve got three kids now, it gets crowded.

And it’s the one week during the year my dad gets to do everything his way. He fries fish for almost every dinner (mom made him give that up at home years ago.) He goes down to the ocean in the morning and late afternoon, announces the tide schedule to the room at large as if that will make a difference in his routine, and puts up the same beach umbrella he’s had since before I was born. And I love it all. There’s something to comforting in routine and in knowing that no matter what has been going in in life, that week at the beach remains unchanged. My family will always be there. They will always have pizza the first night, and they will always watch from the balcony as the sky fills with fireworks on the 4^th of July.

Johnny may kill me for this picture.

The condo building they rent from every year is filled with people of the same mindset as dad. They’ve been coming for years and it’s rare to have a vacancy- especially on a holiday week. I’ve been on a waiting list for three years and finally this summer, we’ll have our own condo. A one bedroom condo for five people, but it’s still a victory. I know mom and dad are glad they’ll have a place to send the boys when they’ve had enough chaos. So this summer, we’ll begin to establish our own summer beach memories with the boys. We’ll stay up late playing in the pool when the lifeguard is gone and won’t take away our pool noodles. We’ll get up early to comb the beach for shells then walk to Mon Delice for a French pastry. We’ll play tennis….well, my sister will attempt to teach us the finer points while I hit balls over the fence and the boys use the racquets as swords. And it will be wonderful!

With Love,

Susanne

How to Annoy the Neighbors and Have a Fun Evening

One of the great things about living in southwest Florida is the weather. It's March and we took the boat out last week to watch the sun set on a beautiful beach. We packed Publix subs for dinner, covered ourselves in bug spray to avoid the swarms of no-see-ums, and joined a herd of other people watching for the elusive green flash.

My family had a great time...not sure the rest of the people can say the same. They were sitting in their boats, drinking wine and expecting a sedate, serene sunset. What they got was three screaming children throwing sand and launching shells at each other. We explored the small island and the boys were absolutely fascinated by a dead fish that had washed up on the shore. They have video games and a toy box full of toys, but out on the beach sticks became pirate swords and pelicans were 'bad guys' who must be chased.

Discussing the dead fish and whether they should take it home

Cayden's in time-out because he has no regard for who he splashes (it happened to be the people in the next boat)

There were a few hiccups, of course. I forgot Ezra's swim diaper, so I had to be vigilent that he didn't go too far into the water and cause his regular diaper to inflate like a balloon. We also didn't have a life jacket that fit Micah very well so Chase and I were subjected to all the annoyance and loud sighs an almost-teenager can summon because of our cruelty in insisting he wear one anyway.

But all in all, it was a successful evening and I look forward to many more adventures out on the boat (just don't tell Chase I said that- he'll be looking for a bigger one before the year is out)

With Love,
Susanne