Spring Break!

We went back to the Cheeca Lodge for vacation again this Spring Break -- its a perfect place to relax, the girls get to swim, and the water is gorgeous.

As soon as we arrived, Mary Clare went straight out to the beach - Ta Da!!

We arrived before Check-in so we ate lunch at one of the restaurants -- Erin remembered that she loved their pizza and was not disappointed.

It turned out that - although the Cheeca Lodge has 3 restaurants it only has one kids menu and Erin only liked the pizza - so she managed to eat pizza pretty much twice a day for 5 days.  A fairly spectacular vacation as far as she was concerned!

Roger with his "panels out" - as he said, collecting some rays.  

This was the view from our suite -- pretty sweet!  (couldn't help it - sorry!)

The girls thought these beachside cabanas were pretty cool!

One day while Roger had a phone call, the girls took a walk around the grounds -- this is the entrance to a man-made lagoon.

This is the adults-only pool attached to the Spa.

And free bikes!!

Here is Roger poolside one afternoon.

Steps from our suite was this little beach -- when the tide was out the birds would come wading and it was like having our own nature preserve outside.

Mary Clare had fun playing tennis.

The heater for the swimming pool was broken the first two days of our stay so the kids would all get in the hot tub to warm up and then get back in the pool.  It was like a kiddy- Club Med!

Earlier this year I took the girls to see the movie Dolphin Tale at the Franklin Theatre.  Well, they loved it and Mary Clare was totally inspired -- she really wants to be a marine biologist.  We decided to try to take them some place where they could see dolphins, but didn't want to go see dolphins that were really just part of an act.  In doing my research I found a place called the Dolphin Research Center  They rescue and rehabilitate dolphins and do research on them as well.  Its not perfect, but it seemed like a good place to support.  They had lots of great educational games for the kids.

This dolphin was in a large pool that was a cordoned off part of a lagoon - she was being treated for some injuries and was amazingly friendly -- she came up and chattered and squealed at us -- we were on a small bridge and she kept coming right under us.  It was amazing.  

Later we got to stand on a small deck, partly in the water, and interact with a young male dolphin named Jax.  When he was a baby he was attacked by a shark and lost part of a fin and his tail but it doesn't slow him down much!

Here was Roger shaking "fins" with him.

Isn't he cute?

And Erin.

Here he is with an older Dolphin AJ - Jax is on top.

He had a splashing contest with him.

And we got to give them a command to "Goooo Jump!!!"

There they go!

It was hard to top the dolphins but on our last day we chartered a boat and the captain took us to the Bay side of the Keys to see some wildlife.  Erin looooves penguins and he took us into a mangrove forest to see where they roost.  There were hundreds - it was amazing.

The girls had a great time sun bathing on the boat.

After our boat ride, and again the next morning, the girls really used the time to swim, swim, swim!  Here is Mary Clare perfecting her "dive" -- she doesn't actually dive - after this she jumps in, but she has good form!

Heading to the airport, the girls finally conked out!

Here is a note we got from Bo while we were away.  He had fun!