Beach Day!

We really enjoyed spending time with dh's family. We went to the beach one day with dh's brother, sister-in-law, and their baby.

Typical pose - checking to see if it's surf-able ;)

Taking baby C swimming

Handsome fellow on the beach ;)

How could you not love this face??

Laughing

Beautiful Florida morning!

Last of Key West, I promise...

The beautiful Casa Marina, where we stayed

Front porch of the CasaMarina

back porch -
it made me want to do a house in ivory, white, and black

The church where dh's parents were married
(now closed, silly military)

It was a cute little base chapel, and cool to see

Bahia-Honda state park

Old bridge on left, new bridge on right

Cute little island (and smudges on my camera?)

Dh, his mom, his sister

Dh and his sister

* * * By the way, if you go to Key West, be sure to ask for military discounts! They had military discounts for our hotel, for entering the Hemingway house, and for other things... don't be afraid to ask, it saved us a lot of money :)

Searching for my lost shaker of salt

More pictures from Key West

Yay for tropical places!

DH, ever the cutterman, spotted a CG ship way offshore

We got to watch it come in
I had only watched smaller ships dock, so watching this was cool,
especially with dh providing commentary about their approach ;)

We got to do some touristy stuff too :)

Pretty church and poinciana trees

Key West Lighthouse :)

Dh's mom, sister, and I toured the Ernest Hemingway house

My mother-in-law and sister-in-law

A Hemingway cat (6 "toes") on Ernest's bed

Where the magic happened - Ernest's office

The first in-ground swimming pool in the Keys

Ernest went on a trip, and when he came back, his wife had put in the swimming pool where his boxing ring had been. (Bad move #1). She had wanted a swimming pool, and in order to move the limestone that was there, she had applied for a dynamite permit, but had been denied. Therefore, the builders had to dig out the huge pool BY HAND, at quite a large cost (Bad move #2). It couldn't be filled with fresh water (as it was pretty scarce at the time) so it could only last about 2 days with salt water in the summer before it turned disgusting (Bad move #3). They then had to empty out the pool, scrub down the sides, then refill it with salt water. This cleaning process took 5 days. So, out of a week, they could only use the pool for 2 days, and the ocean was only about 2 blocks away. I guess Ernest was not very happy.

Key Largo, Montego, baby, why don't we go...

We went down to Key West with some of dh's family and had a good time...

We went on the Conch Train

Isn't it fun!?!?

Dh and his sister

Mile marker 0, the beginning/end of Highway 1

Memorial to José Marti

Pretty beach

The beautiful Casa Marina

Sloppy Joe's Bar - where Ernest Hemingway drank

Sunset

The crowd at Mallory Square

Sunset from Mallory Square -
too bad I didn't get a picture of the key lime pie we ate - yummy!

Blueberry Pound Cake

Blueberry Pound Cake - Megan Heep


1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour, divided
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 pint blueberries

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. In a different bowl, sift 2 cups of flour, baking powder, and salt together. Add to creamed mixture and beat. Dredge blueberries in remaining flour. Fold blueberries into batter. Pour into a bundt pan that is buttered and coated with sugar. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Captain Jack's

... no, not that Captain Jack...

If you can ever find yourself by a Miller's Ale House, get in there for some Zingers (boneless buffalo wings) and Captain Jack's buried treasure (ice cream, oreo cookie crumbles, chunks of heath bars, hot fudge). We crave both things and always get some whenever we can...

My sister-in-law approves!

Chicago-style pizza and time with the family

We left Michigan and headed south to spend some time with dh's family. My sister drove us to Chicago, where we met my other sister and her family before we flew out.

How old are you?
2!

My sister and her family

Me and my 2 beautiful sisters

Northern Michigan Escape

We traveled North from Petoskey to see the Mackinac Bridge - it was a beautiful drive!

Petoskey and Little Traverse Bay

Petoskey

One of the weirdest places ever - look it up.
A Polish guy carved everything out of wood and put it in a hotel.
Very strange.
It's kind of like Shrine of the Pines, only in hotel form.

One of the coolest places - Sturgeon Bay

Crystal-clear water

DH and I :)

The Mighty Mac

Visiting the Upper Peninsula - DH's first time!

Lol... Ironic, eh?

DH showing where we are
(he did this without prompting from me!)

Me eating a pasty

My beautiful Lake Michigan :)