HAPPY EASTER!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled first birthday/Key West recap to bring you ......




HAPPY EASTER!

Last Easter Sunday Jack looked like this.


And Kate looked like this.



Collectively they looked like this


You've come a long way babies!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATE!!!! (subtitle - Key West Part One)

In our house it's tradition to do the HAPPY BIRTHDAYs at one year and twenty two days exactly. It's a brand new tradition. So contrary to popular belief this post is right on time.

Kate celebrated her first birthday just as any typical one year old would - partying it up in beautiful Key West, Florida! That is just how Kate rolls. We scoff at Chuck E. Cheese and their scare-the-beejezus-out-of-you human-sized dancing rodent.

Let me explain. As a Christmas gift to us, Michael Michael, Aunt Steph and the cousins this year Mima and Popo gave us the promise of a week away - somewhere - to be determined at a later date. Well, at a later date it was determined that everyone wanted to go to Key West. Mima got on booking a house and she found us a beautiful one - and she just happened to book the week of Kate's birthday! The owner of the house threw in a couple of free days on the front end of the rental so we ended up being there for ten days. That, folks, is what they call l-i-v-i-n'. You'll be spelling that out in your head Matthew McConaughey style all day long now won't you? No? Well then here:
Click me!
Now you will be.

Here is the birthday girl (I will refer to her as the birthday girl" thru this entire post. You know I'm totally jealous. 231 days until December 10, people!) on her first ever airplane flight!


Same birthday girl 5 minutes later.

Asleep before the wheels of the plane left the ground!

The birthday girl's brother with his angry bird keychain thing that Mima gave him as a "vacation present". As if the vacation was not present enough.

Note: I did not, I repeat did NOT get a vacation present. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Same brother 10 minutes later.


We met up with Mike, Steph and kids at the airport in Ft. Lauderdale. Jack immediately broke out his Pokeomon binder and set to showing Evan and Noah his card collection. They were duly impressed.


Then we gathered up the troops (no small feat when your troops include six adults, two young children and two babies) and headed to pick up our rental van for the drive down to the Keys. Evan's suitcase was a two man job.



The little guys thought the van was awesome.


So did this big guy.


It wasn't long into the drive until ...


It's typically about a 3 hour drive from Ft. Lauderdale but we had to stop at The Lor-e-Lei in Islamorada on the way down for lunch. If you ever vacation in the Keys and opt to fly into Ft. Lauderdale or Miami and drive down you too must stop at the Lor-e-Lei for lunch. The view is amazing, the burgers tasty and the beers ice cold. Here is Michael Michael and Noah waiting for their lunch and adjusting to island time.


Jack doing much of the same.



Then Jack and Evan saddled up at the bar for some guy talk. I have a feeling we'll see a lot of this in our future.


We finally got to the house 85 hours later (that may or may not be a slight exaggeration), picked rooms Real World style, and got unpacking. While we did so Kate and Noah plotted their escape.


Then Kate gave it a try whilst Dr. Evil looked on.


Then my burger came off the grill and I had to stop this post so I could eat. Back later with part two!