Chokoloskee Island | Everglades, Florida

The Everglades!!

I can’t even handle how beautiful these sights were!! I really wish I could have gotten better photographs of it all but, we had our camper attached to us and couldn’t just pull over, as it’s a single lane road with no hazard lane. Ugh, I was so upset but - memories!! I got those and a few videos. We did pull off at a rest stop and saw over 40 alligators! And they weren’t little ones!

We stayed on Chokoloskee Island in the Everglades. Our campsite was the nicest we have stayed at! We had our own fishing dock. And, we fished for over 12 hours!!! It was so much fun! Trey and I both really love fishing. When we first got married, we would go fishing all the time. It was cheap and fun for just the two of us! Once we had our babies and life got too busy, it was one of those things that just fell by the way side. So, thankful Trey and I were able to do this!!

The very first bite I got, vibrated my line! It snapped the bait right off my line and took off with it! The pull of it was intense and then SNAP!!! My line popped so fast! Oh man, I was so bummed. I didn’t care if I pulled that thing off shore, I just wish I could have seen it! It had to have been huge! We were guessing it may have been a snook. We could see them across from our dock feeding. Shew-weee! Such a fun experience!

We had a few more bites and snapped off lines before we finally pulled in our first fish. Trey caught a sea catfish. They are so gorgeous!! Their fins are incredible and they really look like they could take off and fly!

Next up was . . .drumroll please. . .a barracuda!!!! Whoa! As Trey was reeling in his line, it snapped his bait and then popped his line with his razor sharp teeth. Our shoulders sank as that fish disappeared into the water under our dock. Oh, we were so bummed!! And, then, we heard it behind us flailing around with his lure still in its mouth. I ran to the camper and grabbed the kids tiny nets. I was able to get down to the water and wedge the barracuda in both of the nets and pull it to the shore. My goodness! We almost lost him!

After dinner, right before the sun dipped down, Trey and the kids and I went back out for some more! I was able to snag a good sized catfish!

This is one of my fave locations! I really loved that we were right on the water. Waking up at 6:00am I would have my quiet time, coffee and then head out to fish and spend time with Trey before the kids got up and watch the dolphins - This was the best!!!

Can’t wait until the next adventure!

PARADISE | THE FLORIDA KEYS

We made it to the Keys!! What a magical place!! Our first evening in the Keys we walked down to the water - the crystal clear, turquoise water and the palm trees right on the sand. Just stunning!! We stayed at a place called The Jolly Roger in Marathon, Fl. This island is located right in the middle of the Keys. For dinner we headed over to Sparky’s Landing. This place and most all of the restraints we ate at in the Keys were suggestions that Trey’s cousin Christina gave us. Her and her family come to the Keys quite often. And, you guessed it, Sharky’s was right on the water!! There was also live music from an incredible, nostalgic cover band (played all the songs my kids no nothing about - the good stuff!!), fabulous drinks and sea food for days! We started with the crab and artichoke dip - delish!! The kids and I got their brick oven pizza for our entrees and it was all so very good! 

The next morning, bright and early we headed to Key West for a snorkeling and dolphin tour. Captain Stevie and first mate Colby at Fury Water Adventures took really good care of us on the water! They took us about seven miles off the coast of Key West into the gulf and we snorkeled over protected coral reef. I tried so hard to get some video with my cell phone that had a waterproof case over it and it just didn’t work. Unfortunately, the case had too much air in it and once I got under water the bubble of air was right over my camera. But, I will never forget all those beautiful tropical fish and the colorful coral reef!

While on Key West we had to try out another one of Christina’s recommendations, Sloppy Joe’s! Again, there was more amazing live music and delicious food! We also came across a fabulous art gallery, Ocean Blue Galleries. There we fell in love with an original Anna Sweet resin design named “Miami” that now hangs on the wall of our camper!

The rest of our days we spent snorkeling at our RV park, finding delicious food, and exploring the other islands! An interesting thing about the Florida Keys, is there are hardly any beaches. Most of the edges of island are covered in rocks, sea walls or mangrove trees. We did find one beach that we really enjoyed, Sombrero Beach. 🏝 There are not any waves and no tides coming and going. You can wade in the water all day long without getting tossed by waves. So fabulous!

One of our favorite places we went to was Robbie’s in Islamorada. There we ate breakfast under a palm tree right on the beach! The kids played in the water while we waited for our food and I had one of the best mocha lattes of my life at a cute coffee shop that was out of a camper, Charli’s!! Kinda reminded me of my fave coffee shop back home - Coffee Camper Co. in downtown Monroe!! Also, the craziest thing that happens at Robbie’s . . .You can feed the tarpon!! You can buy buckets of fish and hang out on the dock. These fish are HUGE and they eat right out of your hand. Well, they jump straight out of the water and about take your hand off while you dangle dead fish over them. So creepy and cool too!!!

The Turtle Hospital tour was another incredible place we visited! Many of the turtles were covered in tumors or barnacles. The workers at the hospital will remove them and do their best to get these turtles back into their home. Some of those sweet babies will spend the rest of their life at the hospital or go off to aquariums. We learned that 1 in 600 babies that hatch will survive! This is because they are so tiny and have many predators. Also, a female turtles lays approximately 100 eggs about three times in their mating season. Warmer temperature nest will produce Females and cooler temperature nests will produce males. The temperature climate change is producing almost all females. This is effecting how much mating goes on because there aren’t enough males and this is causing the population to go down. We learned so many interesting facts about sea turtles!

However, the most AH-MAZING encounter with Key wildlife I had was when I was snorkeling and a nurse shark swam right under my body!!!!! I had just gotten some video of the shark with my phone while it was hanging out under a tire and was heading back to the seawall ladder to get out. I was parallel over the top of the water and there it was swimming along with me!!! I was amazed and scared out of my mind!! At that time I didn’t know it was a nurse shark - which are harmless unless you irritate them. Holy moly!!! The most incredible and terrifying experience EVAH!!!! Check out that video!!

Our last dinner on the island was at Mrs. Mac’s Kitchen in Key Largo. There I had the special which was super fun!! It was a yellow snapper stuff with a greek salad! It was SOOOO good and so fun eating out of that yummy fried fish!

We ate SO much good sea food and spent tons of time in the Florida Keys Sun! What a trip this was!!!

Can’t wait for our next adventure!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Happy Father’s Day Mr. Robbins!

This morning I woke up early to make him his fave breakfast - corned beef hash! We were still at the beach in Ft. Myers, Fl but it’s a travel day for us. I was so upset when I realized I booked our trip this way. I didn’t want him to have to travel which includes, packing up our home and then driving to our next stop. But, he didn’t mind because that’s how awesome he is!

While breakfast was on the griddle finishing up the kids set up their gifts they all got him on our picnic table and had him come out to see them all! As he read their cards, I could see him tearing up. Oh, I love this man so much and I really love the way he loves our babies!!

Each of our babies put so much thought and creative efforts into their daddy’s gifts. Olivia and RyAnne were SO excited to give their daddy his gifts. Rocco was too but he is still young and doesn’t quite understand yet. But, our girls, they get it, and were so stoked! I loved their excitement to celebrate him and make him the perfect gifts. Makes my heart so happy!!

Trey, you are the absolute best daddy there is! God blessed us with you and we get to experience your loving heart everyday! I love how silly you are with our babes! I think you totally shock them with how funny you are - we all love this about you!! Thank you for going on this insane parenting-journey with me! I love you so much and even though we are traveling, I sure hope today was a special day for you!!

SAVANNAS | FT. PIERCE, FL

The Savannas in Ft. Pierce, Florida was so beautiful!! So much wildlife, fishing ALL day long and a fabulous breeze! If you are a bird watcher, there were so many birds I couldn’t photograph them all! I tried though! I’m not much of a bird photographer. In fact, I really don’t like photographing birds. . .but the documenter in me had to snap a few!

As soon as we pulled into our site, our neighbors greeted us and told us to watch out for the gators even though they hadn’t seen any during their stay. Y’all! WIthin twenty minutes of us being there we saw THREE! Once we got our camper set up, we immediately threw out our lines and caught some good sized large mouth bass. We also fed a gator!! Not intentionally! Trey had caught a bass and a gator snapped it right. off. his. line. Then went into a death roll with it clenched in it’s teeth. Yep, that was pretty awesome! Didn’t catch that fun part on video but I did get the aftermath of it all! lol

On our second night we decided to go check out downtown Ft. Pierce and found a fabulous new restaurant, Crabby’s Dockside Grill. It was a beautiful restaurant located right on the water. We saw so many fish while we were eating. We saw Sheep Head and Snook! We also made several friends. One family we met after dinner. They were there celebrating her mother’s birthday. I got to chatting with her mom and dad who used to travel to the Keys regularly. They gave us some great advice and spots to check out! NOTED IT ALL! lol

Trey even got out the drone and took some beautiful photographs and videos of the wetlands and of our campground. Such an incredible place here in Florida!!

Can’t wait for our next expedition!!!

Ormond Beach, FL. | CORAL SANDS INN

What a fabulous place to park our camper for a few days!! Right on the beach!! We had an incredible time at Ormond Beach, Florida at the Coral Sands Inn RV Park. We ate some incredible seafood (and sushi too), played on the beach for HOURS and made some fabulous memories. 

Some of our FAVE places were Crabby Joe’s Deck and Grill. This restaurant is located on the pier over top of the ocean. While we were sitting down eating our dinner, fisherman were walking straight through and past us to get to the other end of the pier. It was a super cool experience for us and the kids too. A few nights later we ate at High Tides at Snack Jack Surfside Eats and Drinks. It was right on the beach! When we travel to the beach, we seek out restaurants that are on the water. We want to see the ocean as much as possible while we are there! Another place we loved was Sally’s Ice Cream on Flagler Beach! The line was all the way into the parking lot and we were their last customers for the night! We made it there just in time before they closed.

I’ve been trying to do videos too! I’m no videographer but I’m doing my best to document our trip in all the ways!

Can’t wait for our next adventure!!!