We Go To Florida--Day 7 Beaching It Up

Blythe began the morning with a lovely swim in James and Alisa's pool.  She had her breakfast then hopped in while the rest of us prepared to go to the beach.  How nice would it be to have a pool in the backyard and be able to use it practically every day of the year?  Blythe will tell you it would be pretty nice.

Today we headed south to Key Biscayne, and a beach on the tip of the key just east of Miami.  You have to cross a causeway and bridge to get there, and it took us a while to drive, but it was a fun drive, we saw lots of interesting things including brightly painted houses, an overhead train like the L, and a car accident.

Because it was a Monday, the beach was not very busy.  There were people around, but we found a spot near the water and set up for the day--umbrella, chairs, blanket, and towels.  We'd packed a lunch, sunscreen, and sand toys, and were excited to be in the 86 degree water.  Apart from eating lunch, the kids were in the water practically the whole time.  Me, too.  Kent, James, and Alisa stayed mostly under the umbrella, but they did get in the water.  James and Kent paddled way, way, way out in the water, hoping to see something interesting as they snorkeled.  I don't think they saw much, if anything.  They kept floating away in the direction of Miami and had a long-ish walk back along the beach.  At least they weren't floating in the direction of Cuba.

This lighthouse it at the end of the beach.

You can tour it, but we didn't.

It was closed by the time we left.

This was practically the only sign of sea life we saw.

It's a crab hole the children viewed with their face masks.

They took seven pictures of this hole.

James and Kent did eventually put on their swimsuits.

 This was the best we got of all of us.

 

I wanted a family picture of all of us in the ocean.

I asked Blythe to join us, but she chose to float away.

I was going to cut her out of the picture, but having her in the corner is something.

Like evidence that she chose to be contrary.

  

Silly boy!

Headed for Miami

Blythe is pouting because I won't let her swim after Kent.

  It's going to be Ethan's birthday, and we took this picture to send to him. 

We played and played in the water until about 3:00, when we decided we needed to get back to beat traffic.  We didn't.  We stopped for a frozen yogurt before leaving Key Biscayne, and that might have caused us to be in the thick of it all.  It was a slow return trip, but again, we saw interesting things and talked lots and lots.  Our rental car was big enough to accommodate all of us plus beach stuff, with Brandt stuffed into the optional third row seat.  He was a good sport to sit way in the back.

We had dinner and then went for a south Florida treat, Italian gelati at Jeremiah's.  They have gelati, or Italian ice, which they layer with either vanilla or soft serve ice cream.  It is sweet, cool, and so tasty.  The gelati flavors were yummy and the whole dessert a fun twist on ice cream.

Mango madness, lemon, and Bahama freeze layered between vanilla ice cream.

Brandt with root beer and cookies and cream