March

 The boys love taking breaks from their school work to go down to the pond and fish. Thankfully both are learning to bait their own hook and Caleb can take the fish off. 

Lacey's favorite activity- soccer! She is obsessed 

Creed and I snuck down to Florida for three nights the middle of the month. We flew into Miami and then drove over to Port of the Islands, a small community on the Gulf Coast, south of Marco Island. We stayed with Rick and Sharon at their condo- it was great getting to catch up with them and Creed & Rick got in lots of fishing.

Saturday's catch- A huge triple tail (that fed the four of us two dinners!)

and a nice grouper (that sadly, wasn't big enough to keep).

Sunday afternoon Rick took us out on his boat. We went down the canal (7 miles!) and made it to the Gulf. Along the way we spotted alligators and a few dolphins.

We ended up beaching the boat on a little island and explored it for a while. 

So beautiful!

That evening we drove up to Marco for dinner at Snook Inn.

Monday Creed and Rick got a full day of fishing in before Creed and I had to drive to Miami to catch our flight home that night. 

Lacey's happy place :)

We decided to get a little bass boat so Creed could teach the boys how to fish Lake Cumberland. 

On Sunday, March 21, Luke and Briana officially became a family of three with the arrival of Tilly Marie. We are all in love!

Squirrel!

The Rest of February

We spent many evenings with epic family Connect Four tournaments.

The Border Collie is evident as Lacey LOVES playing soccer. 

Her pointer comes out as well :)

On the 25th, this guy turned TEN years old. 

Lacey spent two weeks at obedience training and we were so happy to get her back on the 26th. She sure was happy to see us, too! 

Florida Getaway

On February 12th, we left cold and icy Louisville and headed down to warm and sunny Southern Florida. We spent the first three days in Jupiter visiting Uncle Drew at his new place. PeePaw and Grandma Beth met us down there too!

Searching for lizards quickly became a favorite of Luke's.

On Saturday we went to one of Jupiter's beautiful beaches. While it was pretty windy that day, we didn't mind with sunny skies and mid-80s temperatures.

The following morning the big guys got up early to go fishing, Caleb and Grandma Beth rented a jet ski, so Luke and I decided to check out Loggerhead Beach. 

Luke made some friends...

Meanwhile, Caleb and Grandma Beth were having a blast (and getting soaked!) on a jet ski.

On Monday we made our very favorite drive- US 1 South to the Keys. While Creed and I have made this drive many times, we were so excited to share one of our favorite things with the boys. We had lunch on Key Largo and then our next stop was Robbie's Marina on Islamorada to feed the tarpon. 

That afternoon we checked into our hotel and the boys spent their time swimming. Marathon Key is our favorite to stay on and this trip we tried a new hotel- Skipjacks. It was perfect and it quickly became the boys favorite hotel. They especially loved the deep saltwater pool!

The next morning we chartered a fishing boat and took the boys on their first salt water fishing trip. PeePaw and Drew drove down and they went with us as well.

Caleb and I both took 1/2 of a Dramamine so he was feeling a little sleepy.

Luke's first grouper

Even though we were in 40 feet of water, the water was so clear that we could see the bottom.

The next day we decided to check out Sombrero Beach and we loved it! It wasn't crowded and it was protected so we could swim way out without worrying about waves or a current. We had a fantastic day and all got a little too much sun! 

The view from our hotel. We were amazed with all the people that live on their sailboats!

Thursday morning we packed up and headed south again...

and we went all the way to Key West!

Luke finally caught a lizard!

After lunch we checked in to our hotel and swam for a few hours at the pool. Then we got cleaned up and we went to Mallory Square to take the boys to their first sunset celebration. The boys were amazed with the street performers, we did a little shopping, and then had dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant on Duvall Street.

Friday morning we were all sad as we shook the sand off our flip flops and stuffed "summer" clothes back in our suitcases. We spent a couple hours at the pool and then headed north to catch our flight out of Miami. (We actually called and tried to push our flight back two days but the Sunday evening flight was sold out.)

We stopped in Key Largo at Gilbert's Marina for lunch, which happened to be hosting the Miami Poker Run. The boys were loving all of the incredible boats!

It was THE PERFECT vacation. 

While home was experiencing ice, snow and below normal temperatures, we were blessed with sunny skies and above normal temperatures. It was awesome to get to see where Drew lives and spend time with PeePaw and Grandma Beth, but it was also exciting to show the boys why we love the Keys so much. You know it's a good vacation if after a full week, no one is ready to go home yet. :)