key west

holy cannoli, where have I been?!  I can’t believe it has been weeks since my last blog post.  shame, shame.  I even fell behind a bit on pictures too – nearly all of the ones in this post are courtesy of my parents (thanks mom & dad) and some I borrowed from facebook. 

hopefully I’m back on track now.  I have still have christmas to post!

ok, where to start?  in early december, we packed up and flew down to key west (yes, another cross country flight for anabelle – a red eye . . . . I’m pretty sure the last one for a little while) for my brother’s wedding.  I was really looking forward to seeing all of my family (hadn’t seen my parents since june, which is a long time for me) and especially to meet my brother’s bride, maggie, and her kiddos.

chris and I have both been to key west before, but never together.  it was really nice to be on a family trip and to have help with the travel.

It was a busy and festive week packed full of sunshine!  the weather was gorgeous and the B&B was just right for all of us to be able to play and enjoy time together.  maggie is awesome and it was more than great to see the family/team/joyful crew that the two of them have created with their blended family.  everyone wants to see their siblings happy and I have no doubt now that my brother has truly found his ‘happy’ and it’s real!  congrats Ben & maggie!

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anabelle meeting her cousins

(sophie, jet, gigi, nicholas . . not sure where gemma was.  she doesn’t really like to have her picture taken)

my brother said he still has anabelle’s birth announcement on the fridge at home.  their two youngest, gemma & gigi, kept talking about how they were excited to see baby anabelle and to hold her.  ends up they were a bit disappointed and confused when they showed up and saw ‘big girl’ anabelle running all around.  “daddy, where’s baby anabelle?”

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ok, we’ve made it to key west.  where should we go?

friday was sophie’s 10th birthday so that morning we all celebrated with a hippie chic pool party.

happy birthday, sophie!

it’s wedding time!

my cousin, koby, and my beautiful mom & grandma

the bride & groom groovin’ with the steel drum player

on the trolley heading to the delicious tapas reception dinner.  so tasty and so creative!

anabelle peeking out to see grandpa

out and about

jet & nicholas with their cool dog tags chris got them for christmas

enjoying the beautiful butterfly conservatory

my family had to leave after the weekend, so the end of our trip it was just the three of us.  on our last day we rented bicycles and chris toured us around nearly the entire island.

and what would be a trip to key west without a picture of grandma having a blast at a drag show?!