Cuties in Cudjoe: Part 4

So this was the day we almost died. (I feel like I could say that abut every day)

So we decided that the amount of fattening food we had eaten was not comparable to the amount of exercise we had gotten. So rach was like "Hey! Let's rent bikes and bike this 4 mile bridge in the heat on Saturday morning!" 

(p.s. I broke those glasses on this ride so I'm still a little bitter about that...)

The way there was great. The wind was on our back and we even had enough energy to sing Taylor Swift and Disney songs the whole way down. 

A kind stranger even offered to take our photo in return for a photo of him!

Squinty eyes for daysss

So at the end of the bridge there was a long ramp leading down to the seemingly abandoned island of "Pigeon Key". Everyone in Key West told us to ignore the tresspassing signs and go to the island cause it was supa cool. (seems legit, right?)

Aside from almost dying on the ramp down to the island, it was pretty safe and legit. 

Plus it was super insta worthy.

Then a guy came and told us that we had to pay him if we wanted to stay on the island (sketch) so we split. 

The ride back was honestly one of the physically hardest things I've ever had to do. The wind was working against us and the sun was beating down and it felt like our faces were melting off. It took probably an hour to bike those 2 miles back if that tells you anything. Rachel and Lily got off their bikes and walked at the halfway mark, but being the over achiever I am... I *had* to finish it on the bike and my calves deeply regretted that later. 

I honestly don't even remember what we did the rest of the day because that was so traumatic. I'm pretty sure we went thrifting, but who can be sure?

I know that evening we did our photoshoot that I posted about earlier! 

And that wraps up our 4th day! 

Please excuse the bad quality photos and dramatic retelling of the days events. It's all part of the experience. 

Cuties in Cudjoe: Part 3

The 3rd day of our trip was our day in the happening city of Keyyyyy West! We got an early start to our day and stopped at all the cute little shops on our way to main street. 

 

(Rach found this romper for a few dollars at a thrift shop on one of the keys, not bad, eh?)

(Got my dress for a few bucks at a consignment store)

(And Lily got her's for a few dollars at a yardsale. We're big spenders.)

We walked all up and down mainstreet until we found this hammock shop I remembered from last time I was there. 

I swear these are the hammocks we will have in heaven. 

We had passed this restaurant the night before and were in awe of its aestheticness. When lunch time finally came we wandered up and down mainstreet asking shop owners where "the really cute Mexican cafe is with the lights and flags"?  We were taken on a wild goose chase to several different Mexican restaurants but none of them were "the one". After an embarrisangly long amount of time we FINALLY found the oh so instagramable cafe we longed for. And you bet we got those instagrams.  

They matched the guacamole perfectly to my outfit. How kind. :')

"Shell phone" *Giggles* (name that movie)

Marilyn Monroe ft Lily hair toss

We had heard great things about the butterfly conservatory, so we made our way across town to check it out and escape the heat. 

Some rare and exotic butterflies we spotted. 

We then decided we needed to go to the Southern Most Point to get a photo for Lily since she'd never been there before. Rachel had the map so she directed us which way to go. After walking for about an hour in the hot sun and insane humidity and feeling like we were about to pass out... we realized we were lost in Key West. Luckily we realized we were lost right as we found a visitor center. We had to call a taxi to take us to the whole other side of the Island. Turns out the Southern Most Point had only been about a 5 minute walk from the Butterfly Conservatory, but we walked in the complete opposite direction. Whoops. 

We made our way back to main street and walked around for a few more hours before heading back to Grandpa's for homemade spaghetti and sauce. :')

No one died, so all in all it was a good day.

Cuties in Cudjoe: Part 2

Our second day in the Keys Grandpa took us to his favorite local diner, "The Galley Grill". I've decided they have the best atmosphere and blueberry pancakes. Is there really a better way to start your day in paradise?

Then we walked next door to the hardware store and took photos in front of this wall because we never miss out on a photo opportunity. 

Then we drove around to lots of little shops and drooled over all the cute tropical things. 

We went back to Grandpa's for the rest of the afternoon and chilled by the pool. 

(Grandpa is the coolest interior decorator and his whole house is a work of art)

But really. Is your Grandpa's house so cool that it has it's own merchandise? We all got "The Coop Casa" hats and have tshirts on the way!

So cas. 

Grandpa decided we needed to head into the city (Key West) to eat dinner and watch the sunset that night. 

He's sah cute 

When we got home us girls went up to the stargazing deck and laid there and watched the sky and talked about the most random things and laughed till we cried. This was probably one of my favorite nights from the trip.

Cuties in Cudjoe: Part 1

So this post could take you about an hour to read through, but don't panic because Han is looking out for you and broke it down into several parts. 

I'm going to try to post them as chronologically as I can!

This was Lily's first time flying since she was really little and we had been up since 3 am (and Lily and I only got like 2 hours of sleep because she had to tell me about scary movies RIGHT before bed.) so we were a *little* hyper. 

"Soaring, tumbling, free wheeling through an endless diamond sky!"

That's right folks. We did sing Disney sounds OUT LOUD on the flight. I could see the *omg kids it's 7 am* look on the other passengers faces. Deep down in their hearts they appreciated it.

Take a wild guess about how many cloud photos Lily got on our first flight. FIFTY SEVEN. No big deal.

Grandpa picked us up from the airport and took us to the cutest restaurant on the water! It was about a 3 hour drive from the airport to his house, and this was the perfect mid way stop!

Grandpa so cool. 

We finally made it back to grandpa's house and relaxed with some pool side reading. 

That night after dinner we decided to watch the sunset from the stargazing deck and it was quite the event. 

Started out very chill and casual. Nothing weird. 

Then the neighbor starting shouting at the football game (we think) and threw us all off.

 Then he started playing the star spangled banner incredibly loud (this whole corner of the island could hear) and in an operatic voice. 

We then felt the need to join in so we belted it out as loud as we could because MERICA.  That apparently drew the attention of the drunk guys next door because next thing we knew they were all out on their balcony waving at us and motioning for us to come over and join their party. AH HECK NO. We quickly made our way back down to the main level and realized we had no idea how to lock the doors and our grandpa was already sound asleep on the bottom level. I was convinced they were going to come over, but Rachel and Lily were not as concerned and just took showers and gave me a knife. 

(wasn't kidding)

So that was our first full day in the keys! Hopefully tomorrow I'll have another from our next day!