Trip with Emilee and Matt

Emilee and Matt brightened up our holiday season by taking a trip out to see us.  Mark was studying most of the break for the second part of his written boards so I appreciated the excuse to make him take a break from studying and come have fun with us.  We had so much fun with Matt and Em so it was well worth it!  The Fort Lauderdale Boat Show Parade was going on the same time they were visiting so we brought them over to our friends' place to watch it.    We had front row seats and plenty of space and food.  It was awesome!  Thank you Morgan and Chelsey!!

 

One of the highlights of the trip was staying overnight in Key West.  Matt's mission was the Fort Lauderdale area which included Key West so it was fun to have a real expert on the city with us. We toured around the key on a trolley that was run by a hilarious driver.  We were seriously laughing the whole ride.  

When we got off the trolley we were greeted by a lot of randomness...sea sponge hats, sea sponge monsters, stray roosters--good times!

The joke is true to life!  He really does cross the road to get to the other side! :)

This is in front of the Mel Fisher Maritime museum.  The museum had all kinds of neat treasures from about the 1600s that were discovered from Spanish and pirate ship wrecks.

I couldn't believe the stuff we saw! Among the goods were engraved jewelry, Spanish coins, dishes, inkwells, medical supplies, and pirate treasure.  

This part of the day was also great because Lucy fell asleep for almost the whole time we were in there. Couldn't have been more perfect!

Other great sights we saw included Kermit's Key Lime Shoppe (sorry no pictures--just good tasty memories)...

Ernest Hemingway's House...

a huge banyan tree...

Truman's Little White House (where some of the presidents have stayed)...

The first Pan Am Airways office...

The southernmost point of the U.S......

...and Mallory Square for the sunset celebration.  The street performers that night included this guy who randomly threw candy at people...

...this guy who juggled flaming sticks while uni-cycling...

...and this guy who swallowed a sword.  He even let you touch the sword after to feel the proof--his spit.  The person who felt that sure was lucky! ;)

Mark got some great pictures of the sunset.   This sunset was definitely in the top running for best I have ever seen.  It was just so beautiful to see it go down over the water and with birds fluttering back and forth.    Here's the progression as it went down:

 

The fun never seemed to stop since the next day we arrived at Hollywood Studios in Orlando. 

This was right before our Toy Story competition began.  Whoever won the highest score chose our dinner plans.  It was the funniest thing watching the game faces go on during the ride.  It was a close call but Mark won the privilege--must have been all the dental work he does to work out his hand muscles. You should have seen the rings fly!

My favorite part of Hollywood Studios is the light show they do during the Christmas season.  This year it seemed to be everyone's favorite since it was so crowded. We couldn't even stand still without being moved by the crowd!

The next day we got to go to Epcot.  It was a full packed day with tons of fun to get done!

One of Mark's favorites was hearing the Mexican band play in Mexico.

Em's favorite was the Viking ride in Norway.  I still don't get what the trolls have to do with anything but whatever.  It made for an interesting and fun picture so I guess I'm glad they were included. ;)

Em and Matt were SO cute with Lucy.   She loved them and followed them everywhere.   They were such a great help with her!

The very last day was our beach day and I felt so bad because it was super windy and cold.  I have never seen the waves as big as they were that day.  It was such bad luck!  They were good sports though and still said it was fun. I wouldn't have been surprised if they really didn't mind the cold though.  Matt earned the nickname Frosty the Snowman while here because he seemed to always like it cold.  We turned the air conditioning way down in our hotel room one night and I was cold under my covers.  I could almost see my breath as I talked and Matt still thought it was too warm!:) 

This was definitely one of my favorite trips in Florida!  I love these guys and missed them when they left.  We are looking forward to living closer so we can see them more often!