First TR - a little Disney, a lot of fun, Christmas 2014

[ependydad...Doug 176]

So I left off my last update with an early morning assist for Santa. Once all was well and good, here's the kid's gifts from the North Pole:

 

Backing up a little, you can see our tree and the gifts the kids got from us:

 

As you can see- Christmas in a tiki hut is glorious. :)

 

The kids busted open gifts in what was likely the fastest ever for our household. In years past, it has taken 3 or 4 sessions as they get tired of opening stuff. Not that we get them a whole lot- they just get bored of opening stuff. Weird, I know. But, not this year- they tore some gifts up. (Well, that's not entirely true- after we opened gifts from us and Santa, we broke for breakfast and then Grandma and Grandpa got their gifts out of the trunk for a 2nd session.)

 

Son opening something from Santa

 

Daughter opening something (I'm cheating here- this was technically from the Grandma/Grandpa gift session)

 

My son and wife checking out a book of some sort:

 

 

 

And then, this is literally the only food picture that I recall taking. This has been a tradition in our house since we started staying home for Christmas Day (when my daughter was born). Breakfast is Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls.

 

 

A pro tip- add a cooking stone (or some use an unglazed tile) to the bottom of your oven floor. It spreads the heat more evenly. Additionally, my wife uses parchment paper on the bottom of her pans/cookie sheets. These were literally the best cinnamon rolls that we've had in many years and I can honestly say it wasn't because of the tiki hut!

 

I believe that each kid had 3 or 4 (we made 3 containers!):

 

 

My daughter has always written Santa a letter (or dictated it to me for me to write when she was little). I'm not sure if you'll be able to read it- you might have to click the link to to go to Flickr and then zoom in. She's a cutie.

 

 

Santa and our elves always write back (or cough, dictates it to me to write it, cough):

 

 

Then we tried for some family photos. First, the kids:

 

(his forced cheesey grins makes me laugh so hard)

 

And then them, my wife, and I:

 

(See, not everything in a tiki hut is better- the back lighting made for difficult photos! Ok, such a small price to pay...)

 

And then them and the grandparents:

 

(Love these two to pieces!)

 

And then my FIL and I braved the winds and we kayaked (on Christmas day!):

 

 

Here I am, looking super awesome. Funny story to this kayaking- I'm extremely safety conscience. Before heading out, I grabbed a first aid kit, extra clothes, put my phone in a waterproof pouch, grabbed a rope (misc uses), a sponge and took an extra paddle. Care to guess what I left back at the camper? You guessed it- my life vest. I *always* wear my life vest and this day, I plum forgot to even TAKE it. Fortunately, there's about 30' of deep water and then rest is less than 2' deep.

 

 

Here's my FIL. I think this is a great picture of him:

 

 

After we came back from kayaking, I talked about the various things that we saw under the water. My daughter wanted to swim out across the deep water to the shallow area to see what we could see. We grabbed our pool noodles and she put on a life vest and off we went snorkeling (on Christmas day!).

 

 

For dinner, we had the 6 of us and then my wife's aunt and grandmother joined us. They actually joined us for almost all dinners. We cooked the turkey in a roaster in the tiki hut (is anyone keeping count how many times I mention it?!). Filling balls (aka stuffing) were made in the camper's oven. I did up the mashed potatoes on the camper's outside stove while the gravy was made on the inside stove. The only flop was that my wife tried to make sweet potatoes in the crockpot (oh darn, I don't like them anyway!). We microwaved frozen corn. And, we definitely cracked open a can of cranberry sauce. I'm very sad that you can't open both sides and have it come out in a can shape any longer.

 

But alas, not a single picture was taken. I wasn't slowing down to INHALE my food. My wife didn't make Thanksgiving dinner and I was really missing out on her holiday cooking.

 

We did sit around later on the boat dock and in the tiki hut and I opened a bottle of 'shine that I got for Christmas- blueberry apple pie. If you look close, you'll see that it is in a WDW shot glass from our trip over the summer:

 

 

This was actually pretty good drank 50/50 with lemonade.

 

So that was our Christmas day. It looks like next up is almost 50 pictures from going into Key West over the next few days. If I remember right, it includes a bunch of touristy stops, some wild stores, funny shirts, more family gatherings, and the tightest parking garage I've ever been in.

[Katman1356...Jason 1,140]

 I'm very sad that you can't open both sides and have it come out in a can shape any longer.

 

Here is a trick for you. I still get mine out in glorious can form. Use a sharp knife or other object to poke a hole or two in the bottom of the can. Turn it upside down and tap it a few times. If it doesnt come out right away give the can a squeeze on two sides, rotate 90 halfway and repeat. voila! can shaped Cranberries. 

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Nice update! I love the letter. I could definitely do Christmas in a tiki hut. 

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

3 Cans Of Cinnamon Rolls! You Need A Couple Teen Boys. My 4 Oldest EaT A Can Each! Thanks For The Stove Tips. Any More Tips Would Be Great.

[momof3kids-Yvonne 596]

My kids do the Christmas letter too. This year just the 12 year old did one. Santa also writes back, but this year it was just a short thank you for the cookies and milk. I think he was running behind schedule. Probably spent too much time relaxing in your tiki hut.

[sherryberry 35]

That campground is awesome! I would freak out if I saw the iguanas though! Yikes!

[Beckers 1,136]

Just did some Major catching up, love the family pics on Christmas and wow! What a nice site in Key west!!!!

[lklasing 16]

Just made my way through this whole report and absolutely love it.  Since I'm about a month behind, there are too many things to comment on, but I'll say that I totally agree that Christmas in a tiki hut appears to be absolutely glorious.  Also, and more importantly, thanks for sharing Paige's story with us.  You have a beautiful family and the history that you have just makes your family even more special.  Congrats to Paige and to all of you for 10 years!

[BigTom 76]

Love that campsite in the Keys. We are headed that way in July and thought about changing campgrounds until I saw the price, will have to stay with the State Park.

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Okay... LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the picture of the four of you, in your cute Christmas pjs, in front of the tree :)

 

And hey... celebrating Christmas by swimming on a warm sunny day.  Sounds AWESOME to me! :)

 

Thanks for the tip on the oven!  We have an old (I think it's original with our 1960's era house) oven that does not cook super well... I'll have to try the tiles!  

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Here is a trick for you. I still get mine out in glorious can form. Use a sharp knife or other object to poke a hole or two in the bottom of the can. Turn it upside down and tap it a few times. If it doesnt come out right away give the can a squeeze on two sides, rotate 90 halfway and repeat. voila! can shaped Cranberries. 

 

Jason, we'll give it a shot. My father-in-law and I literally had this discussion at Thanksgiving and Christmas this year about how it's just not the same unless it's in glorious can form!

 

Nice update! I love the letter. I could definitely do Christmas in a tiki hut. 

 

The letters are cute. My daughter used to dictate it to me in the car on our drive home from my in-laws (we do Christmas Eve there every year we're in town) and she would fall asleep on the drive. She is such a cutey- she had something set out for each reindeer, Mrs. Clause, and her elves.

 

3 Cans Of Cinnamon Rolls! You Need A Couple Teen Boys. My 4 Oldest EaT A Can Each! Thanks For The Stove Tips. Any More Tips Would Be Great.

 

LOL! I can only imagine. My kids are such big eaters- I can only believe how much worse it'll get, never mind having teen boys! I'm full of tips- they're just not always good. :D

 

My kids do the Christmas letter too. This year just the 12 year old did one. Santa also writes back, but this year it was just a short thank you for the cookies and milk. I think he was running behind schedule. Probably spent too much time relaxing in your tiki hut.

 

Ha! I hope he didn't get toooo delayed. He had quite the cookie spread this year.

 

That campground is awesome! I would freak out if I saw the iguanas though! Yikes!

 

The funniest part is that my father-in-law is very anti-reptile. We joked and joked about it with him and then one day he saw not one, but two different iguanas!

 

Just did some Major catching up, love the family pics on Christmas and wow! What a nice site in Key west!!!!

 

Thanks, Beckers. The Christmas pics really turned out nice. :)

 

Just made my way through this whole report and absolutely love it.  Since I'm about a month behind, there are too many things to comment on, but I'll say that I totally agree that Christmas in a tiki hut appears to be absolutely glorious.  Also, and more importantly, thanks for sharing Paige's story with us.  You have a beautiful family and the history that you have just makes your family even more special.  Congrats to Paige and to all of you for 10 years!

 

Thanks! I'm better able to now talk about the 10 years. It's been a great "reset" for me of what is really important and what and when I need to get worked up about things.

 

Love that campsite in the Keys. We are headed that way in July and thought about changing campgrounds until I saw the price, will have to stay with the State Park.

 

Yeah, the price is pretty yikes. I've only heard good about the state parks down there- so I don't think you can go wrong in the keys.

 

Okay... LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the picture of the four of you, in your cute Christmas pjs, in front of the tree :)

 

And hey... celebrating Christmas by swimming on a warm sunny day.  Sounds AWESOME to me! :)

 

Thanks for the tip on the oven!  We have an old (I think it's original with our 1960's era house) oven that does not cook super well... I'll have to try the tiles!  

 

Thanks! The Christmas PJs are also a tradition. This was one of the few years my wife didn't get her and I new ones. The Christmas swimming was very much constrasted by our coming home to a cold snap. Sure brought me back to reality quick!

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Ok, so the holidays done. We did explore downtown Key West a bit. Lots of funny sights and sounds. You can tell it's a party town, but it's also a pretty amazing "everyone is accepted" kind of place. So, let's see what I can make of that.

 

First things first, I heard nothing but horror stories about parking - especially a big truck like my dually. So, I was nervous and mapped out the parking lots, garages, etc. The first day we drove in, we were a little further out than I would have preferred, but we found a spot right on the road. It was the opposite way, so I busted a u-turn just in time for a light to turn green in one direction and an ambulance to be coming in the other. A little hectic, but I got turned around, over a curb, and literally into the best parking job on the first try than I ever could have done. But, you can see- not entirely setup for a truck with a big butt:

(on the line is in the lines, right?)

 

We parked just across the street from this place- sadly, didn't try eating in there.

 

Our first dinner was at Blue Heaven. With a group of 8 and them not doing reservations, they open for dinner at 5pm and we shot for right about then. It worked out, but we still waited a little and hung out some. First, the kids posed on a horse:

 

And then we played some ping pong:

(clearly a point for me)

 

It was 2 against one, here's my teammate:

 

And here's us- from left to right, son, wife, aunt, grandpa, great grandma, daughter, grandma:

 

And look! I took another food picture (y'all are so spoiled). Here is our shared dessert- Key Lime Pie:

 

After dinner, we went to Duval Street and did some window shopping. I love tacky shirts (but sadly am not that guy who will actually buy & wear them). This one pretty well describes me to a T:

Squirrel!

 

A neat Walgreens is a converted movie theater:

 

Daughter tried on some shades:

 

I debated a new shirt (looking FIERCE, I might add):

 

At ice cream, I snapped a pic of daughter and Grandma but no pictures of ice cream:

 

And then we retired for the night. We saw a few things that made us chuckle and as the evening wore on, it got nuttier and nuttier on Duval street. We had a good discussion of what drag queens were with our daughter.

 

Coming next will be a few pictures from a date night with my wife, a day of sight seeing, a beautiful sunset, and more from around Key West. But now, I have to host a conference call!

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

 

 

 

Tell me honey... do these tires make my butt look big?  

 

:)

[ependydad...Doug 176]

I'll try to knock out another quick update. Up next was a carefully planned date night with my wife. First we'd go to the movies to watch "Into the Woods", followed by an early appetizer-like meal at Bo's Fish Wagon, and ending with a boat ride and fancy-schmancy dinner at Latitudes. It was an evening fraught with mistakes.

 

First, before we left- my in-laws were at the pool with the kids. My son threw up in the pool! They were dealing with that as we rolled out.

 

Next, I ordered movie tickets online for the wrong night. Which meant I got to pay twice to see Into The Woods. I didn't like it to pay for it once, but to spend $50 for 2 of us to see it was just insult to injury! My wife liked it, and that's important.

 

Third, Bo's Fish Wagon's food was pretty disappointing. The Conch Fritters were chewy, the fries overdone, and whatever the 3rd thing was- already forgotten about. Sad because this quirky place got good reviews from friends. But, we ate it all and were surprisingly full which meant dinner at Latitudes was off.

 

 

Here's my beautiful wife.

 

 

I wanted to do some tourist-trappy things. We went looking for Route 1's Mile Marker 0.

 

 

And since our fancy dinner was off, I figured if we were only 90 miles to Cuba- we might as well find a Cuban sandwich. Sandy's Cafe says they make the "original cuban sandwich". You can either order at a window on the street or go into the laundry mat and order from a window there. The food took forever, but we were talked at by a guy who has done it all, it seemed. He left us laughing (even well after we left!).

 

 

At some point, we got the worlds most awesome cookie and ice cream from Mattheessen's Candy Kitchen. It was huge. The shop keeper encouraged us to sit outside and eat it- I'm fairly certain we were free advertising for him. I'll have to see if my wife has a picture of it and post back if we did. So yummy.

 

A little more walking around and sight-seeing we ended up for 3rd dinner at Caroline's Cafe. I had this:

 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Nice job parallel parking the truck in Key West.  I was there with my Excursion over the summer, so I know what an accomplishment that is.

 

TCD

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Nice job parallel parking the truck in Key West.  I was there with my Excursion over the summer, so I know what an accomplishment that is.

 

TCD

Oh, the picture is a lie from that perspective- it was one lone spot between 2 driveway entrances.

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Tell me honey... do these tires make my butt look big?  

 

:)

My wife always appreciates it when I say I like my trucks like I like my women- with a big ole booty.

[Helmsey......Todd 134]

Great updates, I love the Christmas morning pictures and the kayaking. I bet not many people can say they had the kayaks out and went for a swim Christmas day :)

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Oh, the picture is a lie from that perspective- it was one lone spot between 2 driveway entrances.

 

Oh.

 

Are you sure you were legally parked?

 

Most spaces like that are marked as being for residents only, and require a parking permit.

 

TCD

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Oh, the picture is a lie from that perspective- it was one lone spot between 2 driveway entrances.

 

Oh.

 

Are you sure you were legally parked?

 

Most spaces like that are marked as being for residents only, and require a parking permit.

 

TCD

Yeah, it was out on a main road, not one of the streets with houses. We were parked in front of a church or business or something. There were definitely no signs or indications that we weren't. If we were illegally parked, we got away with it. :)

Great updates, I love the Christmas morning pictures and the kayaking. I bet not many people can say they had the kayaks out and went for a swim Christmas day :)

Thanks! I'm trying to already talk to my wife about going away on our off year (this year). I really dislike cold!

[BigTom 76]

I always park at Mallory Pier, It cost a little, but usually pleanty of room for our dually and is convienent to touristy places..

[ependydad...Doug 176]

I always park at Mallory Pier, It cost a little, but usually pleanty of room for our dually and is convienent to touristy places..

 

We parked there a couple of times. I drove in one evening for dinner and couldn't find parking anywhere (there included). I drove around for a good 35-45 minutes before I finally broke down and used the parking garage behind the Westin. That was amazingly cozy width- and height-wise... but that's for a later part of the trip report. :)

[ependydad...Doug 176]

It looks like I left us off with date night with my wife. We spent the next couple of days doing more sight-seeing around Key West here and there. Let's see what I can cover in 30 photos.

 

First off, parking at Mallory Square next to the cruise ships. During the day, this is a pretty good bet- there are spots that I can backup over stones and I'm don't stick too far out into the roadway. A few spots up from us was this beauty:

 

While waiting for our trolly tour, I met the man of my dreams. He's a fisherman and he says I look beautiful in my Mickey Mouse t-shirt:

 

I'll need to loop back sometime later with my actual camera photos. Everything that I have so far is from my phone. So, no photos from the trolly tour.

 

We hopped off of the trolly tour around lunch time. We stopped at a cool little panini shop. The adults like it, the kids not so much. We stopped at Five Guys for them. I took this picture of it simply because it made me laugh that we traveled so far to eat somewhere that I can get to in less than 2 miles.

 

After a while, we split up. My wife was going to get my son to nap. Her parents, Grandmother, and aunt all wanted to go to the Hemmingway House. And it left my daughter and I go to the Butterfly Conservatory. Being that we were at the opposite end of Duval Street, we hailed a pedicab to take us there. Obligatory selfie with dad:

 

I've shared this one before, but she's super cute and I'm sharing again. Here she is just inside on a butterfly bench.

 

Another obligatory selfie (clearly, she's amused at having to take these with me!):

 

Being a butterfly conservatory, let my first photo of the animals be a turtle:

 

But now, here are some butterflies. Up first is the elusive blurry butterfly:

 

A close cousin to the blurry butterfly is the out of focus butterfly on a tree:

 

Next up, we have the Fiend butterflies, because they're all over the food (or so I've heard):

 

And then here are the blurry butterfly babies:

 

Finally, we have the extremely rare Not Blurry butterfly:

 

Then we meandered our way back. First, we got in line for the Southern Most Point. The closest that we got was the plaque for the Southernmost Southernmost House where she was clearly less than amused at being tricked into getting into line AND for another obligatory selfie:

 

Some souvenirs are too true to purchase:

 

We waited for the trolly which was clearly operating on a Disney Bus schedule. It was to be there no later than 5 minutes before the hour and arrived promptly at 25 minutes past that. We caught up with the rest of the crew and headed to the pier with the throngs of other people to catch iconic and absolutely one of a kind photos of the sun setting:

 

All of your Disney favorites were there. We had selfie sticks, iPad guy, and the "I showed up at the last possible minute so I'm going to squirm my way to the front to block your view and photos"-man.

 

I, however, took a different route and let some fence get in my way:

 

It seems like this was the end of one of our days sight seeing.

 

---

 

We went sight-seeing another day and had a very yummy dinner at Kelly's. The building it is in or the one next to it was special because it was where Pan Am Airlines was originally headquartered. Apparently they got their start as a passenger and mail service airline to Cuba.

 

It's rare that my mother-in-law gets an adult drink, so she got photo'd. No idea what it was, but apparently it was delicious:

 

Random pictures of our crew. MIL and FIL:

 

My wife's aunt and grandmother:

 

The blue light was terribly on the eyes. And here's my daughter getting back at me for all of the selfies- "see food".

 

And lastly, my wife, son, and my wife's aunt again:

 

Afterwards, we walked a bit to get over that "holy stuffed" feeling. Firstly, Key West has some unique shops. My vote for best window display had to be Leather Master of Key West (nswf if you decide to google it):

 

We swung by the Life is Good store:

 

I wish I would have been bold enough to just stop and video this poor unfortunate soul. They were in a Fiat (I think) and somehow had gotten up on the sidewalk...

 

They had a park decorated for Christmas:

 

Friends of ours were especially excited that we were RV'ing to Key West because that meant we had a freezer and that they could request Kermit's Key Lime Pie on a Stick. My wife's aunt also wanted some, so we walked to their store and bought a bunch.

 

In a previous post, I mentioned that I parked in the Westin Garage on another night. I spent a good 30+ minutes driving around looking for parking the night that we ate at Kelly's. The entrance was cozy and the garage said it was < 7' of clearance. My truck is 6' 6" per the specs! Sadly, these pictures just don't do it justice:

 

The entry through the gates was pretty awful itself. Tight on both sides. The worst part was that it was 5 floors of parking decks and no elevator. We also have the mega huge stroller that isn't light by any means. No pictures of either of those.

 

I'm starting to round out to the end of the trip. Up next the camper got a bath, we celebrated New Year's Eve quietly, we got on the way home where a cold finally got the best of me, and the end/sadness arrived with me winterizing the camper.

 

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Regarding the Five Guys stop our rule when we travel is we do NOT eat in any restaurants we have at home. Found some really good places that way but also some bad ones. If we had the kids with us I am sure the rule would change.

[ependydad...Doug 176]

Regarding the Five Guys stop our rule when we travel is we do NOT eat in any restaurants we have at home. Found some really good places that way but also some bad ones. If we had the kids with us I am sure the rule would change.

I generally have the same rule- in fact, it is so odd for us that is why I took the picture. :)

Except for Dominos. Their app is just too danged convenient. It isn't great pizza, but it is consistent no matter where we are.