Saturday March 22: Vacation is Over :-(

We sent Christi, Will, JP and Kaitlyn off to the cold weather of St. Louis but not before a few more experiences here in the Keys.

You can't, of course, be a boater if you don't play Mexican Train. So that was on the agenda for the usual evening's entertainment.

The AWESOME team of JP, Kailyn and me crushed the competition for the first game. This game took all week as we played only 3 rounds or so each night. But last night? Christi was on fire - winning the short 3 round game with a score of 0 points - going out all 3 hands. We all refused to play another round with her ......

Big fun of the last couple of days was the trip to the Dolphin Research Center. This time an up close and personal affair with the dolphin by Kaitlyn, JP and Steve!

Things went well with nice petting and handshakes and then the all out fun started with a splash fight!

Guess who won :-)

Yep - the dolphin. I think everyone was soaked by the time they finished.

A stop at the Island Grill for a late lunch topped off the day.


Next task was to open the coconut. This year the kids and Steve actually found two of them - both with milk inside (unlike last year when they "found" a coconut at the grocery store....) They picked what was the most likely one to be able to be opened and Steve and Will went to work.

The key was to find something vice-like to hold the coconut while Steve sawed away at the husk that covers the nut inside.




Christi was right to be concerned about the closeness of Will's fingers as Steve cut away but no trips to the emergency room necessary - thankfully. Must have been the masterful control of the saw on Steve's part!

In the end? Success - after an application of a pry bar and a hammer.

Aahhh the taste of fresh coconut......

The meals each night were super  -  seafood for Steve, Christi, JP and me. Pulled pork for Kaitlyn (she LOVED this - good thing the take out restaurant for it was just next door!) and some kind of non-seafood for Will.

A special dinner for their last night: lobster - Maine not the Florida variety.

There was no lack of eating on this vacation that's for sure and everything was so good.Nice job Chefs Christi and Steve!

Christi kindly shared her special cupcake with everyone - it was unbelievable good.







There was time for one last dinghy ride this morning and one last look for the green flash last night.

Alas, no sighting of the green flash for them this year but they are believers because they saw it last year.



Even without a green flash it was a beautiful sunset.

The end. A great time was had by all.

Now if it would just quit snowing up there in St. Louis ......