1.30.2020

 Mornings before school...

Allie is a considerate sister in the morning, often preparing not only her lunch but making it also for her sisters who are in various stages of getting ready for the day.  

and afternoons.

1.29.2020

Any given week-day...you'll find us like  this...if they aren't been driven to or from dance, musical practice or tennis!  

 It cracks me up with the Carhart beanie trend.  Who knew I was so cool as a farm girl?  ha!

1.25.2020

A few of Allie's very special dance friends.

VDS had their Princess Ball this Saturday!  The ensemble and juniors put on this dance as a fundraiser.  Juliette had a very handsome date and Allie was able to get away from her job station to get a quick picture!  Isabelle went to a movie and a sleepover with a few friends.

1.04.2020 Biscayne National Park and Wynwood Walls

 Framily!  <3 p="">

 National Park number 2 this year and its only the 4th of January!

You can actually see a very tiny Miami skyline in the distance.

 It was a gorgeous day and we took the walk around the visitor center.  The majority of this park can be seen under or on the water.  You can see many different types of fish, crab and marine life in the clear waters near the shore.  Next time, we will do a boat tour and possibly snorkel in the waters.  

 We stopped in Miami for lunch in the Wynwood Walls area.  There was a #millersonthewall photo opportunity everywhere!  It was established in 2009 as an outdoor street art museum.  This is a neighborhood in Miami that was formerly an industrial area.  The murals and art covered the abandoned warehouses and now the area has many restaurants, shops and markets.   They feature many artists around the world and the wall art actually changes.  It was very enjoyable!  

We made it back to a rainy evening in Bonita Springs.  We were so lucky with great weather this entire week.  It went by entirely so fast and we are so lucky to have the Sofianos family as friends.  They are amazing people and that are so generous and gracious.  We are off to Indiana tomorrow but hope that we will find some time to see them soon!

1.03.2020 Bahia Honda State Park

 We had breakfast in Key West before we starting driving back.  We spent the afternoon enjoying the sunshine in Bahia Honda State park.  We had sandwiches, chips and fruit as a picnic.  The beaches are not expansive in the keys, a smaller scale, and are often very rocky.   The sunsets are just as beautiful!  

1.02.2020 Dry Tortugas National Park

 Our first National Park of the decade!

Fort Jefferson is a 19th century fortress.  It was built to protect a strategic location and stretch of water of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida.  The location was one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world.  It is constructed from 16 million bricks and had a lighthouse and buildings to maintain the fort and house the military.  It had been used for military, a marine-hospital and even a fort prison during and after the Civil War.  In 1935 it became a national monument and a national park in 1992.

Dry Tortugas got its name for the sea turtles that were found living in the waters.  "Tortugas" means turtles in Spanish.  It was actually discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513 who caught many sea turtles there.  It is "dry" as there is no fresh water found on the island.  

We had an amazing day exploring Fort Jefferson and the Dry Tortugas National Park!  The weather was beautiful and the kids had so much fun snorkeling and enjoying the beautiful water!  We set off early to catch our ferry from Key West.  The waves were only 1-2 feet so the ride wasn't too rocky to the island.  On the boat, they had a self serve breakfast.  It took about 2 1/2 hours to get to the key.  We had a 20 minute information tour about Fort Jefferson, got lunch on the boat and then had some beach and snorkel time.  They had free snorkel gear as part of the package and so we were all able to spend sometime looking at the reef and fish.  We then spent the last hour exploring Fort Jefferson while the girls did the Junior Ranger program.