Category: family

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #9

March 4, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.1 Comment

Number Nine: Tranquility

Tranquility is thousands of little twinkle lights wrapped around the palm trees.

Tranquility is a bright little beach house away from home.

Tranquility is relaxing on the back porch with someone you love.

Tranquility is having time to paint your toe nails orange.

Tranquility is a cozy spot under the covers, sharing secrets.

Ahem.

Tranquility is not hearing your 7-year-old call from the bathroom,

“Mommy! There’s a dead lizard in here!”

Tranquility is not hearing your husband say, “It’s not dead! Where did it go?”

Tranquility is not hearing your daughters race downstairs shrieking, “It went into our bedroom!”

Tranquility is not hearing your husband calmly but seriously calling, “Honey, you better come up here.”

Tranquility is not seeing your husband, down on all fours, sheepishly looking up and quietly admitting, “I can’t find it. It’s just too fast!”

The Florida chameleon is tiny and fast but not exactly a threatening creature. It’s fun to spy one on the sidewalk or in the garden or even on the porch. But the thought of one creeping around in your bedroom while you sleep? Clearly that’s not a tranquil thought for most.

At bedtime, Laurel was especially worried about the chameleon sleeping in her room or crawling into her bed. Michael and I couldn’t offer her complete assurance that the lizard was gone. All we could do was pray that Laurel and Linnea would sleep well and not be disturbed by any lizards. So that’s just what we did.

“Do not be anxious about anything (even lizards in your bedroom), but in everything (even lizard emergencies), by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. (No lizards in our beds, please God). And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding (of where exactly said lizard might still be hiding), will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

Philippians 4:6-7

By the way, we never saw that little chameleon inside again, thank God!

Click here to find out more about Tranquility Bay Beachfront Resort in Marathon, FL. We highly recommend it, lizards and all.

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #8

March 3, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.1 Comment

Number Eight: Seascapes

“There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number — living things both large and small. There the ships go to and fro…” -Psalm 104:25

Watching the ocean waves come and go is so theraputic. This stretch of beach — which belonged to the resort — was on the Florida Bay side of the island.

The beach had not yet been combed, so the area was full of an assortment of seashells and a few sea creatures, too. A hermit crab had already laid claim to a seashell Linnea liked. She was quick to surrender it when she observed that it had legs.

Seven Mile Bridge is the longest bridge on the Overseas Highway.

We cautiously drove across it several times, and the awe of endless sky and sea never diminished.

A section the old Seven Mile Bridge, part of the historic old railroad running from Miami to Key West, runs parallel to the Overseas Highway.

The old Seven Mile Bridge takes you to Pigeon Key, a ghost town full of railroad history.

The new Seven Mile Bridge can take you here:

Bahia Honda State Park is one of the prettiest parks I’ve ever visisted. Once we discovered it, we made three separate trips there because it has such irresistible views of the Atlantic Ocean.

Just two more to posts left in this Top 10 series, and you won’t want to miss the funny story coming up next!

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #7

March 2, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.2 Comments

Number Seven: Swimming

What vacation with small children would be complete without a swimming pool?

The lagoon-style pool at the resort where we stayed was amazing. Michael and I couldn’t get over how beautiful the landscaping around it was. So green and tropical, and so different from the snow-white landscape of the Frozen Tundra that we’ve been staring at since November.

We also couldn’t get over the iguanas that strolled around the pool on the warmest day of our visit. Creepy! Of course, that was the day I didn’t bring my camera to the pool. We did count at least five iguanas — one even had orange spikes! The girls didn’t want to go anywhere near those creatures, but they didn’t freak out as much as I thought they might. We also saw many tiny lizards — Florida chameleons — near the pool and elsewhere around the resort. But that’s another story…

Back to swimming. Linnea loves her goggles; Laurel has a love-hate relationship with hers.

Linnea loves leaping into the water.

Laurel still needs a little help getting into deep water.

Her little toes just didn’t want to let go!

But pretending to ride on her own personal sea turtle was great fun.

The 70-something weather was a smidge cold for Linnea, who crept out of the pool to warm up for a while. This is the same kid who often complains about being hot when she is outside wearing her snowpants. Go figure.

And then there’s Laurel, never happy to leave the pool.

Our Florida Keys Top 10 nears the finish with Number Eight coming up soon!

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #6

February 26, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.Leave a comment

The Florida Keys Top 10 continues with Laurel’s favorite today.

Number Six: Sand Castles

“God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.”

1 Kings 4:29

If you read this earlier post about Linnea collecting seashells, you might have wondered if Laurel was at the beach at all. Well, she was. But seashell searcher she is not. For her, building sand castles was the most fascinating part of the beach.

Laurel knew she needed wet sand. So at first, she tried carrying it by hand back to the building site.

Next she tried the shovel.

Then she got brave and tried using the bucket.

Really brave, especially when you are 4-years-old and not wearing your swimsuit.

She constructed this cute, cozy little castle all by herself.

Then she had to wash her hands, with a little help from her dadddy.

Here’s another castle they made together.

As you can tell, Laurel loved the beach and didn’t at all mind having a little sand between her toes.

Nor did she mind having sand as her toes!

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #5

February 24, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.1 Comment

Our Florida Keys Top 10 continues at the home of the sunset.

Number Five: Key West

Relax. Pull up a beach chair.

Forget life in the fast lane. This is were the highway ends.

This is the southernmost point in the continental U.S.A. — Key West, FL.

Go any further south, and you’ll be swimming to Cuba!

The perfect spot for lunch was Jimmy Buffet’s Original Margaritaville Cafe.

Michael enjoyed a “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” And as the menu put it, I “sailed off to the Virgin Islands” with a yummy pina colada. In retrospect, I should have ordered a margarita in honor of my grandma’s upcoming 90th birthday. She secretly loves margaritas, but please don’t tell her I told you that!

After our meal, we strolled along the colorful and historic Key West Seaport boardwalk.

Michael admired this schooner as it took on the high seas.

And Linnea admired this giant conch shell. Too bad it wouldn’t fit in her little blue bucket. We did find and purchase several smaller seashell treasures at a delightful shell shop nearby. Another notable find during our shopping excursion was dessert! Michael delved into the best-ever key lime pie, and I devoured a dreamy ice cream cone with a scoop of fresh toasted coconut ice cream and a scoop of dark chocolate ice cream. Yum! It was so good, I don’t even remember what the girls ordered.

As we continued sight-seeing on foot, we paused at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum. As you can see, Laurel has a slightly eccentric obsession with cannons. (I have no other theory than perhaps it’s related to her much more understandable Nutcracker obsession.) This particular English cannon — a four pounder long gun and carriage — was a replica. The original was recovered from the wreck of the Henrietta Marie and was typical of the smaller guns carried on merchant ships and pirate ships during the 18th century.

We didn’t tour the museum this time because just visiting the gift shop was fascinating enough for our crew. The man behind the counter gave us a mini-tour of all the shipwreck treasures for sale. He actually let the girls hold a gold Spanish coin from the 1600s. I nearly fainted when he told us it was worth $22,000! Whoah! What was he thinking?

Later we swung by Harry S. Truman’s Little White House. Though it appeared to be a quaint little piece of history, the admission was pretty steep, so we simply admired it from outside.

Random question: Does anyone know why there are chickens everywhere in Key West? This one was on a grassy spot at the Post Office!

The sun wasn’t yet setting when we left Key West, but I promise to deliver some stunning sunset pictures before our Top 10 concludes. We’re halfway through, so stay tuned for #6!

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #4

February 22, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.2 Comments

Our Florida Keys Top 10 continues today with Linnea’s favorite.

Number Four: Seashells

She searches. And she searches.

For seashells. By the seashore.

Slightly satisfied.

Still she needs to search for more.

So she searches.

And she searches.

She scurries to.

She scurries fro.

Will she ever stop? I don’t think so.

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys #3

February 20, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.Leave a comment

Our family’s Top 10 of the Florida Keys continues with Michael’s favorite mode of transportation.

Number Three: Sailing

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” -Proverbs 3:5-6

I’d be remiss if I led you to believe everything about our vacation — or about our family in general — is all blue skies and sunshine. It’s rarely ever smooth sailing. And it certainly wasn’t smooth sailing the morning Michael set off for Keys Fisheries.

There he rented Chiquita, a 24-foot banana yellow sailboat. He was so excited.

The sailing itself wasn’t bad. We had no stormy seas to fret about. No high winds. Instead it was my attitude that was rocking the boat.

First, I must disclose that I’m married to a sailor, a boat lover, a former dock hand for the marina in our hometown. Michael loves anything remotely nautical. Me? Well, not as much. I do like to sail on picture perfect summer days with a gentle breeze. But other times I go along — often way out of my comfort zone — because I love him dearly and because I’m really good at hiding my fears of being shipwrecked or eaten by a shark.

By Florida standards, the weather was chilly that morning, especially on the water. Maybe that’s why I was grumpy. I had envisioned sailing in warm, summer-like weather when I agreed to this outing! If I wanted to be cold, I would have stayed in Minnesota.

I should also mention that I literally started off on the wrong foot. Three adult men loudly instructed me how to climb off the dock, climb up to another larger sailboat, and then very carefully climb down to the Chiquita, which sat several feet lower in the water. Turn around. They called. Hang on to that cable. No, not that one. No, don’t try to go under that rope. You’ve got to turn around. See, your legs are long enough after all. All the while I was trying not to drop my camera bag into the murky water, trying not to trip on my flip flops, and trying to oversee the safety of my two small children who were already aboard the Chiquita and way out of arm’s reach.

No. That was not a good way to start our voyage.

To make matters worse, deep down I didn’t fully trust my husband on this endeavour. Sailing with him on the lake on our very own boat is one thing. Sailing with him on the ocean in someone else’s boat is quite another. What if the boat capsizes? What if one of the girls falls overboard? Even worse, what if he falls overboard? Sharks live in these waters. And I know sharks live in these waters because I’ve just seen firsthand what their nibbling has done to the sea turtles nearby. Plus the boat’s owner just instructed us to watch for dolphins and sea turtles in our path as though we were watching for deer in the road up north. So many things could possibly go wrong.

Why does he look so calm? My husband wasn’t just asking me to trust him to keep my camera dry. He was asking me to trust him with my life. And, more importantly, he was asking me to trust him with my children’s lives, too!

Or was he?

Looking back, I see I was being a little melodramatic. I was leaning on my own understanding. Looking back, it’s easier to realize that risk is how you perceive it. Whether we travel in a sailboat or an airplane or a rental car or our own minivan, we take risks every day. We don’t really have control in what happens to us. We can’t really trust each other fully. And we can’t be calm when we lean on our own understanding.

But we can control how we respond to what happens to us. And there is Someone we can trust fully. Someone who cares about what happens to us. Someone who does have control in every circumstance, even shipwrecks.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”

Eventually, Michael set the sails back toward land. The wind was at our backs, and the sun was higher. We felt warmer.

The girls relaxed. And Michael was already relaxed because this was his favorite part of the Florida Keys.

So I let go. I relaxed, too. And don’t tell Michael, but I did have a little bit of fun after all.

Florida Keys Top 10 Series

Top 10 of the Florida Keys: #2

February 18, 2010March 8, 2010 Diana B.1 Comment

Our family’s Top 10 of the Florida Keys continues with another favorite sea creature!

Number 2: Dolphins

“Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths…” – Psalm 148:7

You can easily see why dolphins are Laurel’s favorite animal. They are quite lovable, especially as they leap out of the water smiling! Our visit to the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key was certainly worthwhile. The DRC is home to a pod of 20 Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and three California sea lions. The animals live in ninety thousand square feet of seawater lagoons with low fences separating them from the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The sea lions exhibit is under construction right now, so we didn’t get to see them. But we saw many dolphins, and two of them were babies. One was just a week old! The babies and mothers were too elusive for me to catch on camera.

This happy dolphin was chatty and awaiting a treat during one of two performances we watched.

Besides the shows, the DRC also offers, for an extra price, “dolphin encounters” such as swimming with the dolphins or having a dolphin paint a souvenir T-shirt for you. Since it was pretty chilly that morning, no one signed up for a swim, but a few folks sprung for the T-shirts. Here’s a trainer handing over the paintbrush.

The dolphins were busy little artists but not exactly talented in T-shirt design!

Did I mention it was chilly that morning? Under-dressed for the weather, we were eager to follow the masses inside the Dolphin Theatre to watch a short presentation. We learned that the DRC is on the site where the classic old movie Flipper was filmed in 1963. Many of the dolphins living there now are descendants of Mitzi, the dolphin who starred as Flipper.

After the presentation, the speaker took questions from the audience. Linnea wanted to know how deep dolphins can swim. The Navy has trained dolphins to swim several hundred feet deep, but dolphins typically say within 50 or so feet of the surface.

Next Laurel raised her hand. I always get nervous when my 4-year-old asks questions in public. When the speaker finally called on her, Laurel loudly and clearly asked, “Did you know that dolphins are my favorite animal?” The crowd thought that was pretty funny. At least she stated it in the form of a question!

Back outside, everyone cheered as this dolphin waved good-bye at the end of the show.

That’s all for now, but we’re not even close to the end of our Top 10 of the Florida Keys! Can you guess what was Michael’s favorite part of the trip? Stay tuned because you won’t want to miss this ride!

Florida Keys Top 10 Series