Key West Finale...Finally!

We hit the ground running the second we got home, so this post is a little tardy but I have to get it up here before I forget everything! On day 3 of our trip we visited the Southernmost Point and the Hemingway House. The grounds at Hemingway's House were spectacular!! Beautiful and lush gardens all around. His 6-toed cats lounged around all over the place; I think there were ~30 of them there. We walked all over the island on day three and ate the most amazing Cuban food for dinner that night! Day 4 (Valentine's Day) was our relaxing day; we spent the majority of the day at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park where they have the most beautiful beach! Our feet were sore from walking the day before so we rented a bicycle built for 2 on Saturday as well! That was an adventure in itself. We decided that every couple should have to ride one of these in an urban setting at least once in their relationship (great team-building exercise). We enjoyed the sunset that night from the deck of the hotel pool where our bartender kept me sufficiently supplied with mango smoothies!! Sunday we enjoyed a big breakfast on the water and hit up a local farmer's market that we came across. Around 11am, we left Key West for Miami in our convertible! The drive back was beautiful. We stopped at Bahia Honda State Park and spotted some crazy iguanas! We then headed to Key Biscayne where we toured Bill Baggs State Park including an old lighthouse. Our last stop was Miami International Airport!
Enjoy the pics of our final days!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Vacay Days 1 & 2

As day 2 comes to a close, I thought I would post a little update of the trip so far. We arrived in Miami yesterday morning, rented a car, and drove down to John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo where we went on a snorkeling trip to a reef called the Grecian Rocks. It was spectacular! We saw gorgeous coral, barracuda, and numerous varieties of really colorful fish. After our snorkeling trip we made the 2.5 hour drive to Key West where we checked into our hotel. We have a suite with an ocean view!
Today we did a full-day sail charter; we left at 9:00am and sailed out to some shallow reefs where we did a little snorkeling (We spotted several lobster, some conch, and a large stingray). Then we sailed around some more while enjoying a picnic lunch on the boat. We then kayaked around a mangrove island! That was really neat; we saw osprey, pelicans, ibis, and countless other ocean critters. After cleaning up at the hotel, we headed down to sunset pier for some dinner and an awesome view of the setting sun!! Here is a slideshow of the events (If someone knows of a good slideshow maker PLEASE share because I hate smilebox!!!):

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The weather has been more than perfect since we arrived. It has been sunny, slightly breezy with highs between 78-80 degrees! Needless to say, we don't really want to leave!
Oh yeah...and we are officially 30 weeks pregnant today! Here is our belly shot from tonight:

Let them eat cake...again!

Ok...I finally faced my fear of fondant. I found a recipe for some homemade, really yummy fondant (yucky tasting fondant is one of my pet-peeves!) and whipped up a batch with the handy kitchen-aid. Here is the resulting cake:

It is a 2-layer 6-inch yellow butter cake (Martha Stewart recipe), filled and covered with a Swiss meringue buttercream that was flavored with strawberry preserves. I covered it and decorated using the fondant. It was quite yummy!

Key Largo, Montego, baby why don't we go...

It feels like it has been a while since we have updated everyone on our recent happenings! We have officially made it to our third and last trimester...YAY!! Last week I went in for my 28 week check-up and baby looks great. We had a quick ultrasound to check a low-lying placenta that was identified at 20 weeks. Basically my placenta is sitting a little too close for comfort to my cervix which could prove difficult for a vaginal delivery. My midwife feels pretty confident that over the next month the placenta will move up and out of the way as my uterus continues to expand. We are staying positive and thinking 'placenta migrating' positive thoughts around here because basically that is all you can do!!
I am still feeling good and haven't had to slow down too much! My yoga instructor has started to reduce my inversions (upside down positions) but other than that I am hanging in there.
Here is a picture from last week at 28 weeks:

In other news, it hit Chris and I 2 weeks ago that we were going to have a baby in less than three months! We had been tossing around the idea of a "last vacation", but hadn't really nailed anything down. Well, a few days ago, Chris decided we should spend 5 days in Key West!!! My midwife cleared us for travel, so we will be flying to Miami next Wednesday and driving down the Keys to Key West where we have a beautiful room that overlooks Mallory Square (the sunset viewing area) for 4 nights. We will be there through Sunday the 15th. We are so excited!!