Getting to Miami and Hitting the Beach!!

Despite having to wake up at 4 am, Nat & Stephen were wide awake and SUPER excited for vacation!! Stephen enjoyed 'reading' the safety info and was VERY interested in what all the pictures were showing...too cute.

There was a mission group on our flight headed to puerto rico and some of the group were a little nervous to fly--especially the lady sitting right behind us. She LOVED the excitement of the kids and their squeals of "we're flying, we're flying!!!!" as we took off. She told me it calmed her nerves a lot. Later she commented to me on how much she enjoyed sitting near them and how well behaved and cute they were--always nice to hear when you are flying with kids:) Byt the way- another fun fact about our flight from Dallas to Miami was that there were a lot of MAV FANS on board!!!
I can't help it--he was SO cute taking bites of this huge muffin as he sat back and enjoyed his show--the was acting like such a little grown up!!
Posing with his chocolate mustache!
David bought this butterfly notebook a few days before our trip when we were out shopping together- she was so excited to bring it and use it for a journal. The things she wrote on the trip are SO cute and consist of a list of first, next, and last sequences that I am sure she learned in school. Love it!!
Sleep eventually got the better of him right at the end of the flight- I was surprised it wasn't sooner. That excitement had a lot of shelf life:)

As we drove through Miami on the way to the Keys; David couldn't resist playing some latin music just to get into the mood of Miami...The Colonel LOVES music and had us all laughing...


He is super silly in this one; I think he has adopted the role of family comedian and Natalie is encouraging it. And the eye thing started a week or so ago--Natalie loves it and can't seem to get enough of him doing it. In fact, several times he has said, "Natalie (in that oh so cute way he says her name) ENOUGH with the eyes." He says it in such a grown up way- very, very adorable.

The view as we drove through the keys was amazing, after we passed Key Largo we saw a lot of this out of the car window. That's a lot of beautiful blue ocean out there; it is almost hard to tell where the ocean ends and the sky begins...

As we drove I asked the kids what they were most excited about for the trip. Natalie's answer was the beach and Stephen told me, "THE HOTEL!!!!!" Here he is breaking in the room...
The flower he picked for Natalie as soon as we got to the hotel.
This was the view from our hotel window--best view we have ever had on vacation!
Getting ready to play...
Can you feel the excitement jumping out of the computer screen?
Natalie told me, "Mom, as soon as we HIT the beach, I am going to HIT the water!" All ready to go!
Is it a surprise that The Colonel wouldn't wait to take a picture? It is funny but he is the fastest and also the SLOWEST member of our family:)
'hitting the water'
Look at that clear water...much better than the beaches would've been in Galveston where we were going before we changed our plans a week before our trip.
Sombrero Beach in Marathon. Picturesque...love those palm trees!
Each day we went to a different beach, it was so fun because each one was different and unique. Sombrero Beach had the prettiest, whitest, smoothest sand. It was perfect because the kids were so excited to play on the shores in the sand that first day. The water was a little deaper than some of the other beaches and made the sand option very appealing. What a fun day we had playing away in the sand and finding white pieces of broken coral on the shores. Stephen thought the coral were bones!!
Of course the water was fun too... And SO SO warm; a nice change from our neighborhood swimming pool where Natalie's lips are still turning purple!

I love my girls exuberance and joy in living!
Sand mustache!!
Sand Angel!
This is one of my favorites!!! So fun!!!
All cleaned up and ready to go out and find some yummy fish--a favorite of my kiddos. The excitement still hasn't worn off...
So cute together.
In the Keys it is a ritual to watch the sunset every night and we fully complied on our trip. Our first night we timed it so we were eating dinner as we watched the sun go down.
This was the view from our patio tiki hut as we enjoyed the beautiful warm breeze and enjoyed the delicious fresh fish. Natalie LOVED that there was a pool here and went down and put her toes in--it was heated and much warmed than the pools here in Texas. For days she talked about living at that restraunt- she pictured it as a perfect life with the tiki hut, pool, and all you can eat fish!!
Gorgeous!
There couldn't have been a more perfect night to eat outside. Our waiter was VERY slow and we were SO happy- we enjoyed the slow pace of dinner and sitting back and enjoying the beautiful evening.
Funny boy!