Florida Trip - St. Augustine

St. Augustine was our last (and shortest) stop on our Florida trip!

Picture below is us getting ready to leave our Airbnb near Miami.

We toured the Castillo de san Marcos and Finn collected another stamp and Junior Ranger badge... that makes 17 I think?!

We also got a pretty cool demonstration on firing the canons. The fort was really cool. All made out of sand and shells or known as coquina. And 95% of the fort is still original!!! You guys that means 95% of the fort is over 315 years old! That's pretty impressive.

We spent a few more hours walking around St. Augustine and having lunch. It really is gorgeous town and I definitley want to make this a longer stop in our future. But Christmas break was almost over and school starts again. Plus we still had a VERY long drive home.

And remember from my previous post that we had a chicken thing going on... here are some random chickens at a gas station in Georgia.

We arrived safe and sound at home... Taking three kayaks all the way down to Florida and back, driving around with them in Miami and going through (what seemed like a million) toll booths was no big deal and we will definiteley take them again!

Thanks for reading all of Florida adventures. You can find the other posts here:

Snorkeling in Key Largo

Bradenton

Kayaking with Manatees on Christmas Day

Weeki Wachee

and

Devil's Den

Florida Trip - Snorkeling in Key Largo, Miami & Little Havana

Before I begin... I want to warn you, this post is loaded with pictures! Lots and lots of pictures of sunshine, ocean and so much better weather than we are having now in February in Ohio! Now go on and read... you have been warned!

We left Bradenton early in the morning (to get out of our bad Airbnb asap) and headed to Miami. The plan was to show the boys Little Havana and the South Beach area in Miami and then head to our Airbnb that was located between Miami and Key Largo.

I was a bit worried about driving our kayak trailer through Miami and especially parking. But I couldn't believe that I found almost immediately a spot big enough in Little Havana right off  main street!

The kids loved Little Havana. Jake decided that he needed a hat and asked if he could buy a cigar for the future (no). Both of them loved watching the men play Domino in the park and of course needed their own set.

We drove through Miami but we had a feeling it would be hard to find a spot, yet alone a parking spot that was secure enough to leave the kayaks. So the next few pictures are just random pictures taken from the car.

The original plan was to head to the Airbnb after checking out Miami but on our way we spotted a sign to the Biscayne National Park. Of course we decided to stop and even though it was a short visit it was worth it. Finn added another Junior Ranger Pin to his collection.

Can you spot Miami in the picture below?

After we left the National Park we stopped at at roadside fruit stand (You know we can't skip those) and got two coconuts and some fresh squeezed sugar cane juice. The kids surprised us and didn't like neither.

The next morning was the big day we have been waiting for! Snorkeling in Key Largo. We got there early (hey! I am a good German and will live by the rule of being early for everything) and had enough time to grab something to eat. Scot spotted this little Cuban cafe and it was perfect! The food was excellent! The Empanadas were the best I had all trip (remember my bucket list item from this POST) and the rest of our breakfast was just as good.

With full bellies we drove to the port and were welcomed by Captain Karsten (from Germany) on board. We decided to go with Keys Diver & Snorkeling Tours and we highly recommend them. The really gave us a fantastic snorkeling experience and were so kind and patient with the boys.

The snorkeling tour was about 4 hours long and we were taken to 3 different reefs. The boat ride to and from these snorkeling spots were perfect. The sun felt so  good on deck and if we didn't even go snorkeling the boat ride was already perfect enough.

Snorkeling was fantastic as well. We saw so many colorful fish, lost of barracudas and we did see Jesus ;)  The only thing that was difficult to me was to keep an eye on my kids. Every time I looked in a different direction they were gone, they were just way to fast for me and I had visions of them floating away in the Gulf of Mexico. I realize that's being over dramatic but I did not enjoy constantly having to try to find them versus just enjoying the snorkeling experience. Hopefully this will get better the older they get.

On board was a little girl from France and Finn and her hit it off despite the language barrier. They played peek a boo, charades, rock paper sciccors and this weird head bumping game that only the two of them understood.

This day couldn't have been better and I know we will talk about this adventure for a very long time.

Now please can someone take me back to this sunshine???

Being in the Florida Keys we made it our mission to find THE BEST key lime pie. We asked a few locals and everyone had the same answer: PUBLIX the grocery store chain has the best one. So on our way back from snorkeling we stopped at Publix, bought a key lime pie and ate it in the car on our way home. Perfect ending to this day! And yes it was soooooo good!

Btw... we had this weird experience with chickens on this trip. Not only did we see them in the parking lot in Key Largo at Publix but then a few days later we saw a bunch at a gas station in Georgia! So weird!

And because I want to end this post with my favorite picture... VOILA! Brothers actually getting a long!

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Florida Trip - Bradenton

We left our amazing AirBnb in Weeki Wachee to spend 2 nights in Bradenton, Florida. Unfortunately our AirBnb there was a bust (after 9 amazing experiences we were doomed for a bad one).

On our way to Bradenton we decided on a detour at Fort Soto. It was an overcast day but we did enjoy a long and relaxing stroll on the beach. We collected some of the biggest shells we have ever seen and the boys tried to find crabs...

Anyone know what kind of fish Scot helped back in the water (it totally swam off again) or what kind of bird is bathing in the above pictures?

The fort itelf was meh... nothing to exciting but it made for a great stop on our way to Breadenton! We had a little lunch near the fort too that was also meh... can't only have amazing days ;)

As mentioned above our AirBnB experience wasn't the greatest but it was situated on a river with a boat (kayak) dock and that was worth it. Just a small kayak paddle away and we saw some pretty cool wildlife.

About the gator... we arrived at our AirBnB and the first thing the kids wanted to do is snorkel. They were pretty upset with us when we told them absolutley no! Until we saw this alligator and then I told them "NOW you may snorkel" haha

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On our 2nd day we decided to spend the majority of the day at Siesta Beach. Unfortunately everyone in Florida must have had the same idea. It took us forever to get to the beach, only to drive around for an hour to find a parking spot, then trying to get back out of this traffic nightmare and to a different beach. What should have been a 30 minute drive took us well over 3 hours. We finally arrived at Lido Beach and it was perfect! We found a parking spot right by the beach and it wasn't as packed as Siesta Beach! We swam and played for hours until the late afternoon.

On our way back we stopped at Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar! The sun was setting, the was was amzing and the kids behaved! We couldn't have asked for a better dinner!

What is your guess... Did Finn eat an oyster or not?

We enjoyed our time in Bradenton but couldn't wait for our next few stops! On the road again...

Florida Trip - Weeki Wachee

We celebrated Christmas this year in Weeki Wachee, Florida. I was surprise to learn how many people have never heard of Weeki Wachee.

Weeki Wachee is not only a fun name to say out loud but it’s also the home of the Mermaid Show.

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I booked a nice Airbnb (check it out HERE) to spend Christmas which was located on a canal leading to the Weeki Wachee spring.

Christmas Eve day we spent exploring the canal at the river. The canal was a little swampy and I was definitely a little worried but after a little paddle the swampy canal turned into the crystal clear Weeki Wachee River. We were hoping to spot Manatees but no such luck on this trip.

We kayaked all the way to Rogers Park and then decided to turn around because the current was moving a lot faster than we expected. Jake is in his own kayak so I am always a little worried if he has the power to finish the trip.

We found a little beach area of the river, let the kids swim and snorkel. Scot and I sat around for a long time talking and then swam with the kids as well.

We finished our kayak trip, and got back to the Airbnb. The kids played with some toys and watched some TV while Scot and I wrapped presents. We all showered, put on some nice clothes and headed to one of our favorite restaurants, The Freezer.

The Freezer is located in Homosassa, about 30 minutes from our AirBnb. They serve seafood and it’s relativity cheap but so good. We all split two order orders of Snow Crab Legs and a pound of steamed shrimp. It was amazing and we all enjoyed our Christmas Eve dinner.

We got back to the Airbnb. The kids got to open their Christmas PJ’s and we surprised them with matching PJ’s for ourselves… they thought this was hilarious. Scot also read the “Night before Christmas” to them and we ended the night watching Boss Baby, which btw was a lot funnier than I expected!

Florida Trip - Devil's Den

We ended 2017 with an amazing trip to Florida. This year we decided we are going early and spend Christmas in one of our favorite places AND bring our own kayaks.

You can read about last years trip here. This year I am going to post these not by days but by activity.

I will be posting about our experience at Devil’s Den, our Christmas Eve kayak trip on the Weeki Wachee river and our dinner at The Freezer. Our favorite Christmas Day ever and a quick visit to Little Havana and our snorkeling trip in Key Largo.

Let’s start with our Devil’s Den experience.

Every time I research new places to go, I hop on Pinterest to see what other people suggest. And Devil’s Den popped up a lot! I wasn’t sure if we are going to be able to do it but I figured I could bookmark it for just in case.

We spent the night in Macon, Georgia after a long drive the previous day and lots and lots of traffic in Atlanta. From Macon to our first Airbnb in Weeki Wachee it was about a 5 hour drive but check in wasn’t until 4pm. So, I needed to find something to do for the kids on the way to the Airbnb without adding tons of extra driving time. (We were done driving). I remembered Devil’s Den and a quick check on MapQuest confirmed that we would be literally driving by. I was a bit worried about the water temps… I read reviews of people complaining about the water being to cold, but it couldn’t hurt to check it out.

We arrived at Devil’s Den and I was surprised to see that it wasn't as packed as I expected it to be after reading the reviews. After a quick check on how cold the water actually is (72 degrees year round) and finding out that YES there is an option rent wet suits we decided to go for it.

I think with tax and renting the fins and masks (required) we payed around $120 for the 4 of us. We opted against the dry suits for now and check to see if we can handle the water (we could!). We quickly changed into out swim suits, grabbed some towels and off we went.

Devil’s Den is basically a cave you enter down a steep staircase and at the bottom is this crystal clear spring. As I understand you can dive 60 ish feet down into some cave systems, but we came just for the snorkeling. It was definitely cold but nothing we couldn’t handle. We had an amazing time snorkeling for 2 hours and saw a bunch of fish and even some turtles.

Finn has never snorkeled before and it took him a little time to get used to the snorkel and the fins. He was about to give up but Scot really worked with him and after about 45 minutes he was a pro and loved it! We all took a quick break after about an hour but the 2 hours we payed for was the perfect amount of time.

This was the perfect activity for our first day in Florida and we highly recommend it!

I have some video footage of Devil's Den but I can't my memory card to work... ;(

3 Lakes Trip - Vermont - Part 4

Let me start out by saying: Vermont, has been forever on my bucket list.

When we originally started planning this trip and looked on the map I realized we would be only a few hours away from my friend’s lake cabin.

I met this friend 7-8 year ago on an online photography workshop. We, and many more from the workshop have kept in touch and met up a few times over the years.

She invited us with open arms and we couldn’t have been more excited about going!

We left Lake Placid from the swimming hole, stopped one more time at our favorite pizza place… Johnny’s Pizza and drove to Vermont.

Vermont doesn’t have many highways so most of our drive was on country roads. Usually we just want t get to a place but we loved that change in pace and Vermont is so gorgeous that it made the drive by go so fast!

Plus, the boys slept most of the way (a very rare occasion these days)!

We arrived at Maidstone Lake and felt welcome from the second we got out of the car! We received a warm welcome and a tour of camp.

Our plan for the weekend was to relax, relax and relax. The kids were free to do what they wanted to do. They went swimming, fishing, played pool, watched TV, learned all about throwing knives, played with other kids, got to drive the Pontoon boat etc. etc.…  Scot and I just sat back and relaxed… did I mention relaxing yet?

Saturday, Scot and I went into a nearby town and bought everything to make Schnitzel and German potato salad as a thank you.

We were treated to a really fun scavenger hunt that led us into a cave to find the missing puzzle piece.

After a very adventurous trip, camp at Maidstone Lake was exactly was we needed!

Sadly, we had to leave after just two nights. We had a 16-hour drive ahead of us which is even a lot for us! We stopped for the night near Utica and the next morning I surprised the boys with a stop at Walmart for a DVD player. We had 9 more hours to go that day and the cheap DVD player + Redbox movies got us through that.

We also made sure to stop on our way home in Vermont at a small road side market to buy lots of Maple Syrup.

We will never forget Maidstone Lake and our friends there… the boys are already planning a trip back and I am sure we will be back soon!

Sadly this was the end of our 2017 Summer Road Trip.

You can click here to read about PART 1, PART 2, and PART 3 of our trip!

3 Lakes Trip - Saranac Lake - Part 3

We woke up to our second morning at Saranac Lake to sunshine again! Our friends made a delicious breakfast of pancakes and sausages. We sat around the table for some time and talked before making sandwiches for lunch again. Today we would kayak across Middle Saranac Lake and hike (climb) Ampersand Mountain!

From Alltrails.com: "Ampersand Mountain Trail is a 4.9 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Saranac Lake, New York that features beautiful wild flowers and is only recommended for very experienced adventurers. The trail offers a number of activity options and is best used from June until March. Dogs are also able to use this trail."

DISTANCE                   ELEVATION GAIN

4.9 miles                      1811 feet

"Only recommended for very experienced adventurers" never mind that we had a 4, 6 and 7 year old with us, but they had great practice playing adventurers at the campsite all day!

No photos from the paddle across the lake because of strong headwinds but I do have this short go pro video!

The hike started out very easy, nothing more than a walk through the woods, and a little buggy but turned into a serious hike soon after and all the way up the mountain. It was a tough hike for myself and the only reason I made it, was watching 4 year old Isaac climbing up the mountain!

Let me tell you about a huge misconception about my kids... someone recently asked me "can you give me a list of your kids favorite hiking trails in Cincinnati" the truth is, there are non! My kids don't have favorite hiking trails because they don't like hiking! They do love an adventure though and that usually gets them through the hike! The first mile on the hike, I had one kid actually in tears crying "I hate hiking". He soon came to me and apologized because he realized how cool of an hike this was AND he beat us up and down the mountain. If I would give my kids the option of staying comfortable in our living room, campsite etc or go on a hike... they would always choose to be comfortable at home BUT I give them an extra push and they are always (seriously ALWAYS) glad they came a long!   well an extra push and a big bag of Swedish Fish in my pocket got them through!

On top of the mountain we were greeted with amazing views of the Adirondacks and some astronaut ice cream from our friend Matt! We explored the summit for a little bit, took a lot of photographs, and made sure kids didn't tumble down the mountain.

The pictures below you can see how far we paddled/ hiked that day! The first picture is from the summit of Ampersand Mountain (3,353 ft) and you can see our campsite (arrow) below! The second picture is of Jake at our campsite pointing up to Ampersand Mountain.

The way back down was tough!!! Apparently not for the big boys and Finn, all 3 of them just ran down the mountain and met us at the trail head! Isaac had a tough time and eventually fell asleep being carried by his Dad... Fireman's Carry Style! The paddle across the lake was not to bad but we did fight some headwind again!

We spent the evening around the campfire. The big boys, Ian and Jake, made dinner for us. Kielbasa & Jambalaya, I posted the quick recipe HERE! This was probably our favorite dinner of the trip. And we finished our Family Olympic Day events! You ask what Family Olympic Day is?

Scroll up, the second picture of our post you can see our home made trophy! We played about 10 games throughout the trip. The Roberts Family against the McGill Gamily. The winner gets to keep the trophy BUT needs to display it on their mantle at home for the year! Some of the games were (and we had funny names for them), who sets up their tent the fastest, who gathers the most firewood, who tells the spookiest camp fire story, who has the most mosquito bites, who catches the first fish etc. The other rule was that next year we are battling for the trophy again and the winning family has to come up with the games. The Robert's won but the McGill's are going to fight hard next summer and win it back!!!

The big boys (and Dad's) also played who can pull out the biggest rock out of the lake. Jake won and since no one caught a fish we counted the rock as the "catch of the day". Jake won us that game! Finn had such a bad allergic reaction to mosquito bites and required Benedryl that we decided we don't even need to count bug bites that he would win that game as well!

The next morning was sadly our last... we cooked breakfast and started packing up the campsite. It was a little bittersweet. We all would have loved to stay longer but we (the Mom's more than anyone) were really looking forward to a hot shower and a real bed! We will be back though Saranac Lake! 

Next stop was Lake Placid (hotel) and introducing the Robert's to our favorite pizza and swimming hole before we went on separate ways again! It was hard to say good bye but all good things have to come to an end... and next stop for us was VERMONT!!!

You can click here to read about PART 1, PART 2, and PART 4 of our trip!

 

 

UPDATE! and about 7 months later I finally put together a small video from our go pro footage. Enjoy!

3 Lakes Trip - Dog Lake - Part 1

Our last summer road trip took us to Dog Lake in Ontario, Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks and Maidstone Lake in Vermont.

How come these three lakes you ask?

We visited Dog Lake and Saranac Lake last year. Saranac Lake was especially amazing as we kayak camped on an island (yes we kayaked all of our gear and ourselves to an island and spent a few nights there). Friends of ours asked us if we wanted to come this year with them to Saranac Lake as they loved our pictures so much. So we started planning our trip.

Dog Lake we went last year too but we were so upset because it was only one night and we loved it so much. During our stay at the cottage at Dog Lake last year I took some pictures and the owner asked me if she could use them for her website. In return she gave me a major discount for any future stays. With only a few hours away from Saranac Lake we knew we would have to take advantage of that.

And the third lake… Maidstone Lake. We have never been but heard about this amazing place from a dear friend who has had a cabin on the lake for decades. In fact, even her grandparents have had a cabin at Maidstone Lake. I have always wanted to visit Maidstone Lake and realized it was “only” five hours from Saranac Lake.

This is how our big road trip of the year came to life. Three Lakes, three totally different reasons on why to be there.

I am going to blog this trip in 3 blog posts, one post for each lake.

Dog Lake in Ontario.

Our boys spent two weeks with my mom in Ontario and when we picked them up we stayed another 2 days with my mom and then headed north to the cabin at Dog Lake near Battersea. I found this cabin via AirBnB last year you can read about our last stay HERE and HERE is the listing on AirBnB.

There are three different cabins, hence the name, Three Little Cottages, and we stayed in a different one than last year. Just like last year, the cabin is the perfect size for us and has everything we need. We love the screened in porch, the adjoining farm where we purchased fresh greens for a salad, and a dock to swim, fish and kayak from.

Just like last year, the boys made quickly friends with the kids in the cabin next door. This time three girls (two of them the same age as Finn & Jake) and the first time I ever saw the kids brush their hair and teeth without being asked! Haha

We did a whole lot of nothing at Dog Lake. A lot of fishing, a lot of kayaking, swimming, bird watching, playing soccer with the girls next door, bonfires and marshmallows, walks on the farm, coffee in the morning on the porch… it.was.perfect. Just what we needed!

A couple of fun memories include:

On an evening walk we noticed a few of the chickens got out and with the owners not being around we tried to catch them and put them back. While running around, Scot was making fun on how much these chickens are worth (he was making up a rare breed) and if we don’t catch them we would have to pay for them and our trip would be ruined… “So catch these chickens!” I couldn’t stop laughing, the whole thing was just to hilarious.

Taking out the kayak on my own and coming across some strong headwind and then also being stuck in a blanket of seaweed that would totally stop my kayak in its track. I fought hard to get back to the dock that day but it was so awesome to be all on my own out on the water.

Seeing a beaver swim by. (No Photo <cry>)

Seeing a full double rainbow! My camera battery died after I took a few pictures and before the second rainbow became visible BUT it was there and I will never forget it.

Having smores with the family next door and just being so happy for their friendship even though we have never met before!

Eating Buttertarts at a small grocery story and washing them down with a small carton of milk.

Dog Lake we will be back! Next time even longer! 

Scot's favorite part: Meeting family next door who were Chinese who immigrated to Ottawa.

Jake's favorite part: kayaking and fishing

Finn's favorite part: playing soccer with the girls next door.

My favorite part: sitting early morning on the porch with Scot. It was so cold and we were bundled up in a blanket, sipping our coffee and watching the sunrise.

You can click here to read about PART 2,  PART 3 and PART 4 of our trip!