Where are we now?

From the beginning of May to mid-July we have (or will have) spent time in the following places:

• Philadelphia
• South Florida
• Michigan
• Baltimore
• Charlotte
• Orlando

I'm going to need a(nother) vacation...

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 :)

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!

I'm baaaaack!

We're back.

We really enjoyed our condo, rented through the Armed Forces Vacation Club. It was clean and nice, and good sized for the 8 people we had there. It was a really good deal for a week, and they have rentals all over the US and the world (CONUS and OCONUS for all of you military people - lol). We think it might be helpful for our next PCS, as a condo could have a kitchen and space... Everyone that we talked to through the AFVC was really helpful. I'd recommend them!

On the down-side, we really hadn't done our homework as to which condo to choose from the AFVC's site. We chose one that was in the middle of Sevierville, a town my sister described as "redneck ghetto-licious". It wasn't THAT bad... but let's just say that the view out of our window was Wal-Mart.

We had a great time with my sisters and my nieces, and later in the week, my parents. All of them drove down from the great north. More updates and thoughts to come later :)

This is for you, sisters. Maybe they'll come out with it on Guitar Hero sometime soon. We could only hope.

Day 5

Seestors.

Dh and I (he hates it when I make him do cheesy poses like this)

Water. Lots of water.

View from (near the top) of the Chimney Tops trail.
Yeah, I'm a little afraid of heights.

Ferns. Cold, snow-covered ferns.

This is how I thought I would have to come down the mountain.

More rivers

Katie went to the top (shown here)

DH was able to coax me to about here (note: not the top).

We went to the Black Bear Jamboree (a cheesy dinner show).
Calli loved it and could not divert her attention, even to eat her dinner.
I still have the songs stuck in my head. It was cheesy, but very entertaining.

Day 4

DH and I decided to give my sisters a bit of a break and send them to the resort's "Pamper Me" day (which turned out to be people trying to get them to sell Arbonne... but whatever). Dh and I took the nieces to "craft time". I think one of them was pretty excited about it.

See, she's painting the bird house!


Unfortunately, this one got more paint on her face than on her bird house.


Awww, sisters...


Later, we all went out for ice cream (a typical outing for our family). This is the "Princess Smile."


Niece + sister


Dh and I as Ben and Jerry


Niece #2 and younger sister


Both nieces. Be thankful we didn't explore all possible permutations.



Who would have thought the VeggieTales version of "You Are My Sunshine" could ever be so endearing?

(Oh, and excuse us, dh and I put the girls in their seats. I didn't notice until later one of the girls' shoulder straps is off! Sorry!! We're not trying to pull a Britney Spears on you! I guess we have a bit to learn before we have kids of our own!)

Day 3

Hiking the Cucumber Gap Trail Loop

Tia Kt and Mari

Hiking next to the Little River

Ten minutes later, Mari's asleep!

Happy hikers

Jenny and Calli

Showing Mari moss on a tree

Cool picture of Mari and me

Nice people who helped us across the stream (pictured below)
They waited for us there, just so they could help us - nice people!

The stream

Tia Kt swinging from a vine...

All done hiking.

View from our condo (in the non-walmart direction)

Sunset in the walmart direction. (Good cropping on my part.)