Enjoying Island Life....Key West Style

We have been in Key West since Monday afternoon. It has been two years and one month since we were here before, so it is fun remembering bringing John Harrison to Key West when he was Elise's age. David's brother Jonathan is here this week -- John Harrison loves his uncle a lot and one of the first things our little boy says in the morning when I bring him downstairs is "uncle?" We are renting a townhome here that is about a 5 minute walk from the beach---one of the reasons we chose to rent this place was because of its location and due to the private pool in the (small) backyard. John Harrison has his own bedroom (wonderful!!). The house is beautiful and has high end finishes. My only complaint is that with the DSL internet, it takes an extremely long time to upload pictures to the blog......I guess I will do most of my blogging late at night when upload times seem much quicker. Anyways...the island is fairly small and biking and walking around are really popular. We have been walking almost everywhere we go except for a few times when we have taken cabs.

It is so much fun seeing John Harrison enjoy the pool and beach. Last summer all he wanted to do while we were at the beach was run all over the place (constantly) or have us take him in the water to "swim"....he would never be content sitting and playing in the sand or along the edge of the water. We had a lot of fun, but stayed on our toes trying to make sure John Harrison was well supervised and safe and didn't bother other beachgoers. This summer, it seems like he could be content for hours playing in the sand with his sand pails and shovels :). Elise seems pretty happy at the beach as long as she is fed and doesn't get too warm or tired.

With all the walking I knew we'd be doing on our trip, we decided to take the plunge and buy a double stroller (something I never thought I'd do!!). After doing a bunch of research on the topic, I opted for a Phil and Ted's Explorer---the stroller can be used as a single or a doubles stroller and a jogging stroller. Overall, I really, really like it. The second seat can either fit behind/underneath the main seat or on top of the main seat---we have been putting Elise in the doubles seat in the underneath configuration, so people will do a double take when they realize that there is a baby hiding underneath:). It is pretty funny to see various reactions when Elise is crying -- people look at John Harrison and see that he appears happy and not notice that there is another seat with a baby in it.

Both kids are asleep so I better take advantage of a few hours of sleep before Elise needs to eat...