Key West

Well, half of Key West anyway. My camera broke halfway through our trip. The rest of the pictures will have to wait to until my mom's camera gets home.
So...Key West. Where to begin? We woke the kids last Thursday at 4am and drug them out into the cold. They were both confused and later cranky. I'll spare you the details of the flight, but at the end of it, at about 12:30pm all four of us were ready to see my parents. Within the hour my mom had made lunch and the kids were in the pool and our vacation had begun.
The next day we took advantage of the sunshine and headed to the beach. To say that Lilly loved the beach would be an understatement. To say that Jack even liked it a little would be a lie.
Jack didn't mind the beach actually, he enjoyed digging in the sand and picking up small shells and debris, but as soon as the waves came up on the sand and touched his toes he was done.

Lilly, however, did everything on the beach that you would expect out of a three and a half year old. She ran down towards the water and then away from the waves. She collected rocks and shells and coral. She dug a hole in the sand, filled a bucket and dumped it on Bryan. She even walked out into the cold water, with a little help from her Papaw. And, of course, Lilly showed off her beach style with her sunglasses.

After the incident with the water on his feet Jack found some refuge with his Grandma and she kept him safely out of the water.

See, into the water with Papaw.

In the shade, up by the picnic table Jack decided that the beach could be fun. All you need is a couple of shovels, and to stay clear of the water.

No problems with the water in the pool, though. Must be the waves that Jack doesn't like. Cause he sure loves the pool. Even on the day when the rest of us thought it was too cold to swim Jack wanted in the pool.

So, we all went to the butterfly conservatory instead. The kids, and because of that the adults, had a great time with the butterflies. It was almost like there was too much to see with only two little eyes. Jack was pointing and asking, "Oh dees?" and before you could answer he was pointing somewhere else.

Lilly charged ahead, trying to see everything that there was to see and then backtracked to catch what she missed.

This butterfly attacked Jack. I got my video camera out, but it all happened too quick. The butterfly was circling Jack and he was turning and turning and twisting trying to see it, but it was moving too fast.

Our only family photo. Yep, this is just about as good as it gets. Bryan's talking, Jack's fussing, Lilly is smiling, but not at the camera, and I, of course, look gorgeous.

This little fence was the perfect height for Jack to peak over.

My own little butterflies.

Butterflies really wore these guys out.

Sunset and sailboats off of Mallory Square.

Jack really started to embrace the laid back Key West lifestyle. He decided that during each activity he should be as comfortable as possible. On the bike ride back from dinner one night he took his shoes off, through them down on the street and then put his feet up.

Then, after his bath he kicked back to enjoy his milk before bed.

One cold morning Lilly and Bryan headed out together for a trolley tour. I'm not sure how much she learned on the tour, but she sure enjoyed riding on the trolley.

That same cold night we made the trek to Duval Street, the main drag (no pun intended), had dinner and did a little shopping...Lilly's new favorite hobby.

During said shopping trip Lilly somehow convinced Daddy the sucker to buy her an activity book with scissors. Here you see Bryan supervising the use of the scissors. Lilly spent the rest of her vacation cutting paper into small pieces. She cut up so much of her little notebook that she had to convince Papaw to buy her another one, or two.

Lilly, Jack and the giant sponge man.

Again, Jack took on the Key West lifestyle because that is, actually, a monkey on his back.

Lilly insisted on this picture with the turtles outside of the restaurant where we ate lunch.

This is about the time that my camera broke. We had a great time in Key West and hope to go back again (hint hint Papaw and Grandma). Hopefully, in a couple of weeks when my parents get home I can post some more pictures because there was a lot more fun to be had!

Super Bowl

As I am sure you aware we, not Bryan and I, but the city of Indianapolis, hosted the Super Bowl this past weekend. Evidently that is kind of a big deal. So, Bryan and I, experiencing a lack of babysitters, sat down like adults and argued, dickered, negotiated and bargained for time so that we each could be involved in the week long party that our city put on. Don't worry, I'll spare you the day by day, hour by hour schedule that we came up with and I'll just touch on the highlights.

On Friday night, after much wheeling and dealing, Bryan went downtown with some friends to see the Super Bowl Village and just walk around downtown. Zionsville, in an effort to cash in on some of the Super Bowl dollars, hosted some fun activities of their own, and even provided a free shuttle from downtown to the village and back again. The main attractions, for kids at least, were an inflatable toboggan run with a bounce house underneath and a synthetic ice skating rink. Tania and I took our kids to this while our hubbies partied it up downtown.

Like I said, the ice skating was synthetic, hard white plastic sprayed with some kind of oil. It was similar to actual ice skating, but seemed to be less slick. This was perfect Lilly and Avery. They could more easily step, and eventually slide, without losing control. They both did really well and we think the girls might be ready for real ice.

Lilly got a little cocky and even tried some of the moves that she saw at Disney on Ice, even attempting a slow spin.

On Saturday I met Brecq and Everette at Super Bowl Village, and Kristy joined us later. Of course, I had these plans for over a month and of course, Saturday is the only day that it was not 55 degrees and sunny. Oh well, the weather seemed to thin out the crowds and we were able to find an escape from the worst rain in bars and restaurants throughout the day.

Here we are on the circle, if we had turned even slightly the big XXVI that was on Monument Circle would have been behind us. Oh well, everyone has that picture.

But, only the Giants and Brecq and I got to get our picture taken with the Lombardi trophy!

I wanted to include some pictures from Bryan's escapades downtown, but he didn't take any...or at least he didn't show me any. And, I guess there was even some big football game on Sunday.