A much needed vacation

In January Mike decided to quit working part time for Skywest Airlines and I decided that I wasnt going to let him do so without squeezing in one last FREE vacation. Mike has always wanted to take the boys to Florida, so I decided to make that our final destination. We flew into Ft. Lauderdale on a Thursday night. We stayed at the Marriott Courtyard right on Ft.Lauderdale Beach (thanks to my dad, who let us use some of his Marriott points). We were on the top floor and had a fantastic view of the ocean. Not that we were in the room very much. We spent our first day at the Sawgrass Rec Park, taking an airboat ride and checking out all the animals at the park. The airboat ride was really cool, although we didn't get a glimpse of any gators. After petting the baby aligator and watching the turtles run around their pen (one really was running!), we headed back to the beach. Since it was a beautiful 85 degrees (that's right, 85 in January) we decided to go play in the ocean. After purchasing some beach towels and buckets and shovels we spent a few hours having a blast at the beach. The boys danced, threw sand, and found seashells all afternoon.

On Day 2 we headed south into Miami. We spent the morning at South Beach, walking the streets, playing at a park, walking along the beach, and huddling with strangers under an emplty hotel porch when an unexpected storm blew in. The beach was great. The water was such a light blue and was pretty shallow and calm. The sky was FILLED with huge clouds that made the light fantastic. I was blown away by Deco Drive. All the colors, shapes, and fonts were amazing. I would love to go back with more time to photograph. After the storm, we headed even further south to some places where Mike lived and to the Coral Castle in Cutler Ridge. The Coral Castle was built by one man (and a very short man at that... under 5 feet tall) over 50 years ago. We stayed there for quite some time, despite the weather cooling down and the boys only wearing tank tops and shorts. They explored every inch of the castle and got spooked by a cardboard cutout of the castle's builder.

Our last day was spent shopping on Las Olas, hanging out on the pool deck in the sunshine, and a drive north up the coast. It was an amazing trip and I'm so glad we got to go. Finally, here is a view from our hotel room.