Florida Keys 2010

Last week we left for our first real family vacation. It was just us going somewhere just because we wanted to. We had frequent flier miles and were able to fly for free to Miami. We found a great family resort half way down the keys called Hawks Cay. It was really perfect!!! We stayed in an awesome 2 bedroom townhouse with a spa tub on the deck. The tub was the perfect addition because while Maeve was napping or I was reading, Noah could just play for hours in his own pool!!!

The resort had so many options... a saltwater lagoon, dolphin waters, a fishing pier where we fed fish, an ice cream shoppe, a children's pirate pool, three other regular swimming pools, a playground, mini golf, life sized chess and checkers.... it was awesome!!! They also had tons of daily children's activities like water balloon tosses, shark necklaces, tie dye, and more.

We took one day and headed to Key West to see the southern most point and walk around the town. We took one day and went to an animal theater (which I was upset with after I realized what kind of place we were at),we went hiking through mangrove forests, and we spent some time at the beach at a state park.

Noah had a list of animals he wanted to see while we were in Florida: dolphins, egrets, alligators and flamingos. He saw them all but flamingos (apparently the hurricaines in 2005 wiped out much of their population). We also saw tons of other birds, tons of fish, a pelican, a sand dollar, crabs, frogs, tons of lizards, a sea lion, an iguana and lots more...

Both kids were amazing on the airplanes and in the car. We had a very happy and sunny week.

Somehow during the week both Noah and Maeve decided to take some leaps and bounds. Maeve became much more confidant in standing and took a step here and there. She started saying more words, and she started climbing in and out of the pool and up and down steps.

Noah randomly started doing addition and subtraction with his fingers so we were able to run with that and teach him how to add and subtract. He also has been doing swimming lessons since 6 months of age but has recently hit a stumbling block and wasn't willing to try anything new. Some other kids at the resort were diving for items in the water and Noah wouldn't take off the floaties. We finally convinced him to dive to the first step, then the next and next. Then we threw the items far in the pool and he was able to get them. Once he realized he wasn't going to drown he just took off swimming everywhere across the pool. Of course, then it was a battle to get him out!!!!!!

We were not ready to come home and wanted to stay and enjoy the sunshine and water forever....

If you want to see all of the pictures click on our flickr account!!!