Islamorada, Florida with the Gaupel/Crawford/Millner fams!

Islamorada

My family has been starting a tradition of visitng Florida every October. We went to Islamorada this year. Me, my mom, Jon, Josh, Avery, Charlie and Ashton all went. And this year Jacob and his family came along - his mom Kim, sister Rachel and her husband Dusty. It was a great time. The weather was perfect, it really only rained on Friday and that was our last day at the beach. We spent most of our time laying on the beach. We also had a grill out Tuesday with everyone together. We had so much food. One of the fun things about the place we stayed was there were so many iguanas and also chickens. There was also a cat who stayed at the resort, her name is Bonnie and she was very sweet.

On thursday Jen, Jake, Jon, Josh, Ashton, Rachel, Kim, and Dusty all went down to Key West (Avery stayed with my mom and Charlie). Key West is so fun and a very cute town. We went to the Hemingway House and Museum, it was Ernest Hemingway's former home. It had a lot of items from his life. But the best part was all the cats. There are at least 59 polydactly cats living there - that means they have 6 toes! They are said to be descended from Hemingway's cat Snow White. We also visited the Fort East Martello museum in Key West. We went to see Robert the Haunted Doll (you have to be nice to him or else he will curse you!) but there turned out to be a lot of interesting Florida history at the museum. It was a former war fort, it had a lot of old cannons. Florida was a blast and we can't wait to go back next year.

A picture of everyone chatting on the beach

Jake family selfie!

Outside the Fort Martello Museum, the boys had to try and pick up the anchor

The chickens were really interested once they realized we had food

Local artist's sculptures in the Fort Martello Museuem. They are made from scrap items

Citadel entrance at Fort Martello Museum, yellow fever patients were housed here

Jen meeting Robert the Haunted Doll

Jacob meeting Robert the Haunted Doll

Iguana on a tree in Islamorada. He was huge!

Tons of iguanas hanging out on the rocks on the beach in Islamorada

View from the beach

The front of the Hemingway House and Museum in Key West

Indoor cat at the Hemingway House

Cat sleeping on the bed at the Hemingway House. Notice that the bed is off limits. The cat does not care.

Another cat at the Hemingway House

This cat was sleeping on the roof, probably to try and escape from Jen

You can see the 6 toes on this cat!

Two cats hanging outside at the Hemingway House. When an employee walked out of that door, they followed her