Our Vacation to Paradise: Day 2

{Day 2: Key West}

The next morning we woke up bright and early in Key West.  I had assumed the gentle rocking of the ship would tenderly lull me into a deep and peaceful sleep.  

Not. So.

I think I slept a combined total of less than approximately zero minutes.

Ugh.

 As it turns out, you can have no sleep and still have a wonderful day in Key West.  

We started with a little sight-seeing/shopping/touristing.

We spent about 45 minutes trying to decide on souvenirs for the kids and somehow ended up with 2 dolphin postcards, 1 package of random sea shells, a turquoise star fish, 2 turtles made out of shells, and a bag of goldfish crackers (the flavor blasted kind.  and oh. my. heavens.  have you tried these?!?  life altering.  for reals.)

Eventually, we met back up with Luke's family and got ready for our Parasailing Excursion.

Now, before this little vay-cay, I was not extremely informed on parasailing.  

Full disclosure: I thought it was some glorified form of waterskiing.  

Nope.  It's not.

Basically, you strap yourself into a harness which is attached to a giant parachute which is attached to a thin rope which is attached to a ski boat that is in the middle of the ocean.

It     is     A W E S O M E.

Surprisingly, while we were up there, it was strangely relaxing.  

We could see a million miles in each direction, there was nothing but the clouds to keep us company, the water was crystal clear, we were having a grand old time, and then...

WE. SAW. A. SHARK.

Let me reiterate this.

WE. SAW. A. SHARK. 

(I'm pointing it out to Luke in this picture; who saw it, and acknowledged that he saw it, but who now has had a crisis of faith and is claiming that maybe it was just an enormous fish that was shaped like a shark and looked like a shark and swam like a shark.  I, however, would like to bear my testimony that  IT WAS A SHARK.) 

Of course, it was seconds after this that the captain decided to start reeling us in.  And, of course, Luke had told them that we would LOVE to be dipped in the water on our way down.  I was positive that the shark was going to take a leg off. (See how I'm holding my feet out of the water?!  I almost started climbing the parachute.)

Seriously, though.  Parasailing was one of the highlights for me.  I'd do it again right now.  Minus the shark.

After that, we headed to the shore for some quality beach time.  Naturally, Luke and I decided that a Key West handstand picture was necessary, so we  kicked right on up on the end of the dock/pier/boat ramp. (?)  It has been probably 3 years since I have kicked over, but wouldn't you know it... I kicked over right there on the end of that pier and earned myself a one-way ticked into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Once we made it back onto the ship, we washed the ocean off and headed out to find some fun.  

And boy... did we ever.

First stop was an on-stage Hip Hop class.

Here's how that went... 

Oh, if only we had video.

Not.

Then we headed out in hot pursuit of the elusive plastic ship trophy.

One round of TV show trivia, and it was his.

So proud.

That night just happened to be Formal Night, so we got all jazzed up for our fancy schmancy dinner (which was divine.)

 It took 5 minutes and 6 self timer shots to get this photo:

 And it was super windy and I had several Marilyn moments.

 After that, we watched some break dancing show and then...

 we went to a karaoke bar.  Oh, yes we did.

And we sang - on stage - "Baby Got Back."

(Granted, we were the only ones there who remembered a thing about it the next morning, but still.)

Definitely one of our proudest family moments.

And then we went to bed and woke up the next morning  in Cozumel!

To Be Continued...