June 4, 2014

Today we went out for a sailboat ride. It was really nice-beautiful, the right wind, sunny/cloudy, warm. We anchored and swam in the ocean for awhile. But we came back with wicked sunburns that are going to slow us down a little bit.

Joseph steering the boat-after he lost his sunglasses into the ocean, before swimming in the ocean.

Joseph reading the in cottage living room. The blue window to his left is a bedroom.  The windows at his feet go to the outside.

Our dining area in the cottage. Note the outboard motor on the floor in the right hand corner of the picture. Also, the large boats and fish on the walls.

This is the porch on the back of the cottage. It's a comfortable place to sit outside by the water.

The view from the porch. The boat all the way on the left is ours to use this week.

June 3, 2014

Today we went swimming on the other side of the island, we went to Crane Point museum/nature center and hit curry hammok state parks trail.

Barge with a crane installing a pier near a newly built house

Did I mention that the barge is named "Bodacious"?

Look at us being cute

It must have been near feeding time because this fish was staring us down from its pond

A tree snake that Crystal denies its exsistance

A spider too big for its own good

The Adderly house

A very angry green heron with a broken wing in the sanctuary

Moments prior to this photo this bird swallowed a fish bigger than its head

Posing near the ocean

Awwww

A pretty awesome banyaning tree on the grounds

This was the trail in Curry Hammok state park

A hermit crab that was just chillin' on the trail

Part of the way through the trail the thong on one of my flip flops broke making the trek very difficult but we succeeded none the less. What we didn't manage to capture via photograph is how creepy the trail was. Dimly lit, giant man eating tree rats, and poorly maintained and marked trail made every moment seem as if we were lost.

June 2, 2014

It decided to rain most of today so unfortunately there aren't any good sunset pictures but we went past the dolphin research center and that kind of made up for it.

Carol and Norm Waggy getting into a tandem kayak

Embarking on an adventure beside the mangrove

There are trees with these beautiful flowers everywhere here

Dolphins being bribed with fish

The trainer here was explaining how the dolphins keep track of their babies

This iguana can't read

June 1, 2014

Today we slept in. It felt so good to be in air-conditioning and to have more than two hours to sleep!  We went grocery shopping, out to eat for some yummy seafood, and out on the sailboat for a short trip. Sadly, Joseph's beloved hat was accidentally knocked off and took a swim with the fishies.  We then tried very hard to find a walking path nearby, but got very very lost and confused and frustrated. But in the end, we're on vacation at the ocean, and what can go wrong there?

A view of the parking lot at our lunch spot. Why aren't parking lots in Indiana this pretty?

Mom, Dad, Joseph on the boat. Joseph sporting both his sunglasses and his hat, both of which took a swim later.

View from the boat.

Cormorant outside our cottage. This bird swims like a fish, it's cool.

Flying to Florida-May 31, 2014

(Editor's note: The following few days' posts are a recap of our vacation in June 2014)
Today Joseph and I left for vacation. We flew out of South Bend too early in the morning, after only 2 hours of sleep.  This was the first time for Joseph on an airplane that he can remember, and he didn't love it. But we did o.k. and got to Key West in time for lunch with mom and dad at an outdoor cabana right on the beach.  Then we stopped at a butterfly garden before checking into our cottage for the week.  Joseph was feeling very very sick for the majority of today, so it was a little rough around the edges. But hopefully he'll feel good the rest of the week.
Here are a few pictures.

Views out the window of the plane

The islands.

The blue butterfly in flight is the same as the brown butterflies folded up. Cool, huh?

Butterfly Garden

Joseph was adjusting the settings on my camera to try to get a better picture of a butterfly when this one landed on the camera. Ironic.

This is a button quail. See how big it is compared to the brick it is standing on? This is an adult bird. They were wandering around with the butterflies.  If you're curious, ask Joseph about them, he read up on them last week.

Dad admiring a butterfly on his shirt.

Mom and dad looking at a very large moth. See the orange both above and to the right of the purple flower?

A picture of Joseph and I as far south as you can drive in the continental US.

We're staying on an island with many many lobster traps!

A view of sunset from the island we're staying on.

June rainstorm

A dragonfly

A rose

This is the leaf on our new redbud tree. My mom says that a happy caterpillar is getting very chubby.

The water.

Look at the rain bouncing off the roof.

A tree and a reflection.