Gingerbread houses with Grandma
Enjoying our FAVORITE key limes shakes from "Robert Is Here" fruit stand and shake shop in Homestead, Florida en route to Key West. It was a whirlwind 2 day trip and lots of fun (and work with 3 little kids:) Don't you just love the look of "bliss" on Darren and Jared's faces? Just had to include the pic, sorry babe
Aquarium at Key West - Justin admiring the turtles and sting rays in the touch pools
So as we walk out of the aquarium, we see a sign that says "Chocolate Dipped Key Lime Pie on a Stick - Named One of Food Network's Top Ten Desserts"
Mom made sure we did NOT miss this "experience" and treated us. The picture is horrible, but they really were AMAZING! What is not pictured below is the food on the street we had to partake of as well (conch fritters and coconut shrimp) to have something else on our stomachs before the huge, solid bar of chocolate, fat and sugar from the Key lime pies on a stick! Definitely a tingle of the taste buds.
Then we did a "divide and conquer" by Darren taking Rachel and Jared to the Key West lighthouse, while Mom, Justin and I went across the street to the Ernest Hemmingway house. With her background in English and literature, I knew she would love it and it was a gorgeous estate. While chasing Justin around the upper balcony of the building, Darren calls my cell phone to tell me he sees us from the lighthouse. Below is the picture he took of Justin and I waving from the Hemmingway house.
On our drive back, we stopped at the Everglade National Forest and walked the nature trails enjoying the beautiful weather and unique Floridian habitat - LOTS of alligators, heron, turtles and just all kinds of indigenous creatures. See how close you can get to the alligators?
(One lying in the shadows in lower left of picture)
A cute picture of the kids mimicking all the birds we saw with Pringles potato chips for bills
You can see 19 alligators in this picture, can you find them all?
Various island fruits we picked up on our trip to sample the next week - mangoes, coconut, papaya, star fruits, guava, huge Florida avocados, mini apple-bananas, etc. The more obscure being canestel (the yellow hershey kiss shaped fruit in the middle - has a custard texture and flavor) and then the sapote (see below). Mom's favorite was the passion fruit and the rest of us are diehard key lime lovers! Oh and Darren got several of those huge papayas (big yellowish orange thing in the right side). He could eat an entire one in a single sitting...no joke. Also note other holiday favs of Sees chocolates and under the See's box is the cherished box of Aunt Mary's homemade caramels....mmmm-mmm good!
Sapote (also known as the chocolate fruit)
You wait until it turns completely black, then you open it up and eat it with a spoon. Kind of tastes like a fruity chocolate pudding. See below.
This year the kids spent hours pouring over magazines to make selections for their Santa wishes. Here is the final cut. Jared's is on the left - so adorable. It reads, "I waunt this--->>>" and points to the picture. Rachel's is on the right and cut to the chase as well, "Dear Santa, Can I have this stuff?" No fluff, no messing about.
Amazing Christmas Eve dinner with Aunt Becky and Uncle Daniel and present opening with cousins Maya and Elijah - so cute!
Living room Christmas morning
A friend gave Rachel a monarch butterfly cocoon to signify her "new beginnings" at the time of her baptism. To add to the magic of Christmas morning, the beautiful butterfly emerged!
Paleontologist Jared diligently working to find dinosaur bones
Rachel had two friends from her school in Utah visit Florida for the holidays. Their grandparents live just down the road, so we went to Gumbo Limbo nature center for a fun adventure day.
Grandma Matthews and Rachel and Jared at the look-out point at Gumbo Limbo. To the east you see the ocean and to the west the intracoastal waterway.
Playing at the beach during winter vacation
Just a cute picture in the backyard - those two boys are best buds
and really get each other going!
