The kids are here!!!

Sorry there were no blog entries the last couple of nights. Boat washing and cleaning, laundry and Publix just aren't very exciting. The kids arrived last night about dinner time!!!!  We started their visit out properly with Snappy Grillers and Tara's Beans.  Even though it was 4pm to them and I had quit crying that they were finally here, we ate dinner, had a chance to chat a little bit, Jake got to explore and open the cabinets and do the light switches, we went to bed.  Leslie was up early, for her anyway, and we had coffee and caught up a little more.  Leslie showed me some of the projects that the kids in the photography classes that she teaches are doing, the pics are pretty impressive and the kids were having fun doing them.  Jake was holed up in the stateroom, top bunk of course, he had stashed his new Painkiller hat onto his little reading shelf and was on his Ipad playing games.  He had hooked up to his Spike Cam and was talking to his bearded dragon lizard at home, Spike heard him loud and clear and was looking at the camera.  Jake's puppy, Charlie, is in the kennel and apparently not too thrilled about his boy being gone.  I'm afraid it may be a rather long week for Charlie.  When Leslie is done with her shower and Jake wakes up from his catnap, we'll head into Key West proper and look around.  There used to be a guy that dressed up like a pirate, unfortunately, a real peg leg included.  The tourists would pay to have their picture taken with him, maybe we'll run into him.  The sunset celebration with all the street performers in Mallory Park is always fun to watch.  Of course the sunset is the highlight, if you get lucky you may see the green flash.  We have dinner reservations for seafood and then we'll catch the marina shuttle back to the boat.  Right now it's 84 and 70%, nice breeze but it's going to be a little muggy, we may have to pull over for a cold mojito.   

We did catch the shuttle into town and went to the Mel Fischer Treasure Museum to see all the artifacts from the sinking of the Atoche.  Last time we were there, 15 years ago, they had a gold ingot that had been found and then encased for display to the public. There was an opening that you could put your hand through and try to lift the gold brick to see how heavy gold is.  In 2010, 2 men came in and managed to steal the ingot.  They were not able to sell the ingot as a National Treasure so they had to melt it down and sell little pieces of it.  Since there is no statue of limitations when someone steals a national treasure, they were caught by the police and went to jail.  It was figured out the thieves netted about $10,000 each and they will spend the rest of their lives in jail.  Anyway,  I was so angry when I heard this, I so wanted Jake to be able to see the gold and try to lift it.  It's such a great demonstration of chemistry and how heavy the gold molecule is.  We wandered around town waiting to go to Mallory Square to see the street performers and sunset.  We saw several artists, food vendors and entertainers but had to leave for dinner before sunset.  We invited Kirk to join us for dinner, we all enjoyed our seafood.  Jake brought his French fries home to feed the fish off the dock.  David turns the underwater lights on at the stern, which attracts the fish and Jake wanted to feed them, great kid fun.

  Jake trying to feed this guy

  School of little fish off the stern of the boat

  Side of the dock teeming with sea life

  A teenage size tarpon chasing the school of little fish

  The Key Lime Pie Restaurant's crumb picker-uppers

  Drinks come in many forms

  Rubber plant growing out of the cement

  Another fun drink, this one at Mallory Park

  Street performer, balancing act, he did a handstand after this trick

  I loved the net of booty hanging, sometimes they put a captured pirate in the net

  A cute fountain of a little boy pouring water into it from a shell

 A Fiddle Leaf Fig TREE

  Loved this old wall

  What's left of an entire Key Lime Pie the 4 of us shared, OMG was it good

  The crumb picker-uppers.  One ate off David's fork, one "chicked" my toes

 Jake at the Atoche Museum 

  A boat that brought Cubans to American soil and the sign explaining everything

  The boat was make of  55 Gallon barrels that had been welded together

 Local church

 Chickens are everywhere

  This is the Spike Cam, can you find him?

  Pie eating time

  Really big boat here in the marina

  Funny boat name

 Finished photo of one of Leslie's student's assignment, ink in water

  Another class of Leslie's, surface of a bubble 

 How they do the ink in water project