What's S'Happening with the Stockwells: Getting a Jump on Summer

Well, well, well. I realize it has been quite awhile and I have lots to write about! Most recently (and most importantly)...our great winter (or slowest spring on record) escape to Florida! We spent last week in the Key Largo area, soaking up some serious sunshine, having lots of quality family time, and drinking too many Reef Cups with friends. It was an amazing getaway in every way and it is oh-so-hard returning to reality this week. We spent the first half of the week just our foursome in a perfect little condo in Key Largo. The spectacular view, comfortable bed, and distance from work made Mom and Dad happy, while the fact that you could throw a stone from our door to both a pool and an awesome playground made for two over-the-moon little men. After a looong day of travel...

The start of our journey: on the bus from Portland to Logan. The boys were thrilled with pretzels and Ice Age.

...a late dinner at Taco Bell, an even later grocery shop, and a waaay too late arrival, we enjoyed 4 1/2 days in this beautiful place.

View from our balcony

We (correction: Ben) spent most of our time at the Kawama Yacht Club doing this

...and this, which is really really hard with a 50 pounder.

Who doesn't love a sandy, sunny playground, with a yellow tire swing to boot??

Daily "getting our wiggles out"

Beautiful evening walks

...complete with rock jumping

...and trying to get some decent family photos

On one such evening walk, we stopped to watch a man filet a tuna he'd just brought in. When he was done filleting it, he generously let us have it! Fresh, delicious fish tacos - YUM!

We also had the pleasure of a visit from Uncle Mark and Aunt Sandy on Monday. Uncle Mark stepped right in and gave Ben a break from being the human catapulter.

And on Tuesday, we took the Key Largo Princess, a glass bottom boat, out to the coral reef. We saw lots of beautiful things that are hard to capture on film, but the highlight was probably this shark, which was much bigger than it looks here (bottom left corner):

I was so nervous that this guy would be seasick on the rocky boat, but he was a trooper and loved the whole thing.

This one, on the other hand, thought the combination of a rocky boat and some Dramamine created the perfect conditions for a little nap.

The condo complex where we stayed also had a saltwater lagoon, which was perfect for sandcastle-creating and dock-jumping.

Ethan and Mommy out on the dock.

People-watching. These boys are fascinated by big kids.

After eating about as much grouper and snapper as we could handle, as well as picking some up for the road, we departed Kawama on Thursday for the Ocean Reef Club, where we met up with a bunch of Colby friends. We did this same trip five years ago, to celebrate our friend Kelly's 30th birthday. Five years and several more children later, we all gathered again to celebrate her 35th. We're still collecting pictures from others on the trip, but here are a few from our phones.

Four little monkeys swinging in a hammock...

The kids had so much fun playing together (when they weren't fighting over the uber-cool plasma car). One of my favorite of their activities was when Ethan and Adam would put on puppet shows for the ladies.

A little post-breakfast Curious George

Of course, the boys began their corn hole training with Master Daddy.

And the ladies even got out for a wine tasting night...

while the men did a fabulous job holding down the fort. Here's a photo text I received while at the wine tasting: all four kids raising their hands in response to the question "Who wants more broccoli?". I think I'll choose wine tastings over the dinner hour more often!