Vacation!!

It was time for the Egle family to have some fun. Obviously, based on my previous posts, Noah was not having enough fun, so he absolutely demanded we go somewhere to escape Michigan's winter (which hasn't even been decent enough to provide any snow for snowmen or sledding, yet!). He made a few phone calls to Grandma and Grandpa Asai, and next thing we knew, we were on a plane, headed to the Florida Keys.

All buckled in and ready to go!

Of course, since Noah was calling the shots, he demanded that we have yet another Christmas celebration. So, we did. It was complete with wrapping paper and boxes... all the essentials!

Noah tried his best to fit into the box, but to no avail.

That wasn't really the biggest highlight of the trip, though. As true fans of Noah will remember, he is quite the water baby. At least, he was back in the summer time, so we assume he still would be. He assumed he still would be, too. That's why he demanded we go somewhere warm, and on the water.

Noah's parents were happy to just be warm and near the water.

Noah's grandparents felt the same way.


Noah, though, wasn't so impressed just to be close.

We stayed at a nice condo complex.

The condo was perfect for resting... and head-hugging.

This was a great time to hang out, rest, let the grandparents and grandbaby mingle... We played games. We watched movies. We napped. We ate delicious food. We tried on each other's shoes...

Noah was particularly fond of Daddy's shoe

We also took full advantage of the condo's pool, too. Noah wanted to just sunbathe for awhile, but Grandma and Mom made him get in the water. He didn't mind too much.

Noah was captain of his ship, and he paddled it all over the gigantic bathtub.

Nice view at the water by the condo

Delicious meal we made at the condo

But we didn't stay at the condo the WHOLE time. One of the fun side trips was a Seaworld-like park called Theater of the Sea. When we arrived, we immediately boarded the "bottomless boat ride."

Waiting to launch...

The main attraction of the bottomless boat was the dolphins who swam along with us.

They could jump high

The middle of the boat, obviously, didn't have a bottom, so we go a nice up-close look.

Jumping through a hoop...

They had all sorts of sea life on display... fish... turtles... alligators... crocodiles... sting rays... rodents.... even parrots, which aren't exactly sea life, but hey - who would complain about a chance to see a cool bird?

Noah liked the turtles.


You won't complain seeing this cool bird, will you?

How about this one?

Noah felt a special bond with this sea lion, named Wilbur.

Parrot fish... it IS a fish, not a confused bird

Has it been awhile since there was a picture of Noah?

Maybe he was scared because of the sting ray!

There he is! Playing frisbee with Daddy!

Theater of the Sea had a nice little beach area where we hung out, after seeing all the sea life. There was time for frisbee playing, and...

...sunbathing, and...

Look!! What's that???

Sand-castle building!!!

Note the roles: laborer and supervisor

Making sure the workers do things right!

Meanwhile, Daddy was off looking at fish again!

Eventually we went back to the condo. We did stop several days at the local fruit stand, though. Hard to beat fresh tropical fruits, right? We tried a new one for us, called sapote (sa-PO-tay), or chocolate fruit. The inside of the fruit looks brown and a little gooey, just like chocolate. It's sweet, but I don't know I'd go so far as to say it tastes like chocolate, though. fortunately, Noah hasn't had reach chocolate, so he didn't know the difference.

Just as messy as real chocolate, though!

One day, we went to a beach at a key called Bahia Honda, or something like that. Why on earth would we do that? Well, we read that a respected tour book had called it "The best beach in the continental United States." Pretty cool, eh? The coolest part about it is in the pic below:

A cool crab...

The actual beach? Eh... better than Lake Erie, without a doubt, but I can't say much more than that.

Noah didn't mind, though. He finally got down and dirty!

He finally remembered that sand wasn't something to fear, but rather to enjoy. And enjoy he did...!

This was more of a team effort than previously

As you can see from the lack of pictures of beautiful sand and water, we mostly used Bahia Honda for staying warm in the sun and building castles. So, it served its purpose, but didn't blow us away. My hunch is that the quote was really something like, "We wouldn't call this the best beach in the continental United States," but the beach people left off the beginning for marketing purposes. We continued down the road down to the most southern key: Key West.

Noah kept his cool, showing his style

Key West is more of the trendy, hip, happening, expensive place, when compared to Key Largo. And... they had a much nicer beach than Bahia Honda...

Noah never missed a beat, continuing his cute sand-exploring ways

Striking a pose for the next Sports Illustrated Baby Swimsuit Calendar

After his modelling session, it was back to work...

Role reversal

Prettier view than the "Best Beach in the US"

Noah had no time to enjoy the pretty beach... work, work, work!

He would've stayed on the beach literally all day and all night shovelling the sand into the bucket, dumping out the bucket, sometimes shovelling some sand out of the bucket, sometimes throwing sand into the bucket. What a great game! Looks like the Egle house may end up with a sandbox at some point.

Favorite new word/sound: "Ooooooo!!!!"

Key West is the most southern point in the US. So, we made the obligatory visit to the southern tip of the key and saw the little tourist stop...

90 miles from Cuba

Doing shots...

A cool store in Key West was the hot sauce store. Grandpa Rick and I spent some time sampling hot sauces from all over the country. Including one so hot that a tiny drop from the tip of a toothpick was enough to make my forehead sweat and make me hiccup uncontrollably.

Near our condo was a fun restaurant/bar: the "Glass-bottom bar." Food was delicious, but more importantly, Noah got to help feed the fish under the floor!

Hard to see the fish in this pic, but they're there!

The Keys are, of course, known for Key Limes and Key Lime pie. So, we sampled a few different varieties. It was impressive, and kind of fun, how much difference there was between the different versions. It seemed like everyone sold Key Lime Pie... restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, fish markets... One place we sampled it was the Glass-Bottom Bar:

"No, Grandpa! It's bad for my teeth!"

The weather was gorgeous for basically our entire trip. The last day, it got "cold" and was only in the 60s, but who can complain. Noah kept entertained by learning to use a camera...

Noah's first-ever photograph

Noah's second-ever photograph

And Noah wouldn't leave out Grandpa as a photographic subject

Another "cold" day activity: rock throwing!

Noah would've sat on Mommy's lap all day, throwing rocks into the water. The bigger the splash, the better... especially if it splashed onto him!

Hanging out on the clothing-optional beach at the condo. You can see what we opted for.

One of our favorite parts of the trip was going out for delicious sea food. It was so fresh... so much better than what's available in Michigan.

At one restaurant, Noah got his first glow stick... definitely a highlight!

We strategically chose our restaurants and timing to be able to have some gorgeous views while eating... it definitely worked out nicely.

Terrific vacation. Warm weather. Great food. Nice beach. Gorgeous sunsets... and on our last day, an early one, a gorgeous sunrise: