Florida part 1

OK- I have a little more time, now, so here are a few more photos from our travels so far. The plane ride was very easy- Lyric really did well. On the flight from Houston to Ft. Lauderdale, the Captain let Lyric and Ian sit in the cockpit and allowed us to take pictures- how amazing is that! Once in Ft. Lauderdale, we checked into our hotel(Embassy Suites) and tried to settle down enough to get some sleep. The next day (Thursday) we got up and headed to Key West. It took us about 4 hours- the speed limit is no greater than 50mph on a 2 lane road with police cars everywhere. So...we enjoyed the scenery and the ride.
We checked into our hotel- the doubletree, and then set out to take a few pictures and get some dinner. That night, the kids went swimming in the awesome pool at the hotel. On Friday, we were up bright and early for our trip on the fast cat to Dry Tortugas. Wow- what a journey- the boat ride was just over 2 hours each way- no bathrooms, other than what was on the boat, no running water, just the fort and a campground. We found some cool sea creatures including a huge conch. Back at the hotel, Lyric used the bathroom and was so excited when he came out of the water closet- he said "Guess what! I just made a conch poop!" Seriously- I guess his poop was shaped somewhat like a conch shell- it was pretty funny!
The ride home from the fort was pretty rough, several people became seasick- and we were sitting in the back of the boat outside- so needless to say, we were puked on a few times. It was disgusting- but thank goodness for Dramamine- no one in our party got sick. On our way back to the hotel, we ordered some pizza to be delivered to our room and headed for the hotel pool.
Saturday- it rained most of the day- we drove to the house in Marathon, which is where we will be staying for the rest of the trip. When we arrived, we just went grocery shopping, ate sandwiches, and hung out in the pool.
I will try to post more tomorrow- we are scheduled to go swim with dolphins at the Dolphin Research Center in the morning.


Lyric and Ian at OKC Airport


Lyric on the plane


90 miles to Cuba


Dinner at Outback- very Florida-esque


Funny picture before our ferry ride


Lyric sitting on cannonballs at Fort Jefferson on Dry Tortugas


Lyric and Jason on the 2nd story of the fort


Look through the window- just beautiful!


Thunderstorm in the distance on the way back to land