Key Largo

Our last family camp-out was last year on Jared's birthday last March. --So far it seems to be a once a year event for us.
This year we planned to fulfill two goals at once by visiting the Keys and having the camping trip too.
Key Largo is three hours from home. Key West is another three hours further. We chose a campsite at Pennekamp State Park in the first Key, Key Largo.
We were pushing the end of Florida camping season a bit by going in the middle of April. Our wet towels and suits hung up to dry all night and still weren't dry in the morning. The days were hot! Thank goodness we spent most of the time at the beach! There were lots of tourists. We enjoyed talking with some friendly people, and especially one girl from Germany who joined us for our haphazard campsite dinner.
It was a great moment when the kids finally fell asleep in the tent. The rain fly was off so we could keep cool and there were no bugs! We came home with a few slight sunburns and LOTS of bug bites from sand flies. (We are still recovering from that.)
p.s. I never posted about Jared's birthday at the end of March. It was the big 30. We did celebrate although not as much as last year ironically. It seems lately that I been caught up in lots of little things and not have been not as good at the big things.

Here's our group. The campsite didn't have a firepit, so the kids made one!



Tessa took a nap on the beach while the boys played.
I got to relax for a few hours! It felt like a vacation!


We tried to learn about the Keys and absorb some the atmosphere while we were there.
We sometimes forget what a paradise we live in right now, although our minds are definitely on the "good-bye's and last chances".

The water was very clear and perfect for seeing the underwater life. Michael spent literally hours at a time snorkeling.

One beach had some authentic cannons and shipwreck pieces from a1716 Spanish fleet underwater. There were also lots of big and little fish, crabs, and a lobster.



We were grateful to come back to all the conveniences of home after our adventure.
We'll see where next year's camp-out will take us!