A good trip to the Florida Keys

Well! I'm back as of Wednesday from my trip to to the Keys. It was lovely. I saw pretty much my entire family excepting one sister and for a family as large as ours, that's pretty good. (I have 6 sisters and two brothers.)

Palm Frond

John and I had a really good time. The big part of the trip was the Annual Swim Around Key West, which was really the main reason to take the trip at this time of year (because, seriously, who goes to Florida in the summer?) My dad is the head honcho for that event which is fitting since he's done the course the most of anyone in the world (I can only assume.) Unless someone else out there has swam around the island of Key West more than 52 times? Haha. Well, I kayaked for him the whole way around as his support boat and let me tell you....It was tough. I've kayaked this course many times, I'm thinking at least 20 times. This time was one of the hardest. The wind was strong and the waves were rough. Half the time I had to kayak backwards to keep from blowing away from my swimmer and the other half the time I was struggling to keep up with him.

I know a lot of the other kayakers had a hard time too and I'm sure it was tough for the swimmers as well. The outcome, all in all, was very good, though; 71 of the 73 solo swimmers who started the race that morning finished it. If you're interested in more details or just want to read more about crazy people who pay to swim 12.5 miles in choppy waters the website is here Swim Around Key West.

Ocean View from US1

The rest of the trip was tea parties and poetry contests about our silly pet cat The Jette. I'm proud to say I came in second place in that acclaimed and celebrated contest. We took walks and swam in my family's canal and took naps on the deck in the bright hot sun. My only regret is that I took very few photos. The trip felt like a bit of a whirlwind and I was too busy enjoying every moment to even think about picture taking, even though I pretty much had my camera with me all the time. So enjoy these few photographs for now and maybe next time I get a chance to visit the Florida Keys I'll actually take some pictures of my family and their beautiful surroundings!

Driving down from Miami

Sister, Julie

Sunset Clouds

Seven Mile Bridge

Big Pine Key has Key Deer

Pictures of people taking pictures

My sister and  her husband's purple house

And their colourful neighbourhood

The Swim Around Key West!

Me (in the bandana) Georgia, my sister (in the center) and my Dad (the guy with the white stuff) get ready for the Swim

Me in my kayaking gear

Julie looks cooler than me

My dad all zinc-ed and ready to go

My brother, Billy

My nephew Atticus

I'm in the blue kayak

What's a trip to the Keys without some key lime pie?

My sister Jane is a giant (Actually, the door was just really small...)

Some of my sister's pretty decor

Buoys and Seahorse

Billy

Molly

Georgia

Island off the coast

Atticus and Jane play near the tiny door

The trip was great, but it's good to be home. A New England summer will beat a Florida summer any day, and I have a feeling that this summer is holding great adventures for me....How about you? Any big summer plans?