Gryffindor's on tour 2017 Day 2 Key Largo

[Excitedx4]

This morning I woke up at 4am again. I'm not a great lie in bed person and still being on uk time 9am is very late for me. I set up my little bed in the bathroom with my blanket and pillows (thankfully it is a large bathroom being accessible &#128514 and set about writing up my notes and catching up on social media whilst waiting for the husband and kids to wake up.

Once up we showered, dressed and headed down for breakfast, well 3 of us did, the teenager wanted to sleep longer so we went down and had breakfast. Again it was very nice and the hot plates were different today always an egg dish, potatoes, meat sausage bacon etc, very fillling and great for a free breakfast. We brought Evan up a few muffins and fruit which he ate in bed. Evan has Cerebral Palsy which is the reason he is in a wheelchair, but he also has a metabolic condition called MCADD which basically means that he can't fast as his body doesn't produce the enzyme to turn stored fats into energy so it's really important that he eats at regular times.

Today we were driving down to Key Largo to go on a bottom bottom boat tour. We booked this via groupon for $89, we were booked onto the 10am tour. We left the hotel around 7.30am and made the drive down to the keys. We did toy with the idea of going all the way down to Key West whilst planning the trip but we decided it was just too far! The drive down was very easy and took in some lovely scenery, it took us an hour and half.

We parked up at the Holiday Inn next to the marina, the ticket place was inside the hotel, I went in to exchange our voucher for tickets and told to wait on the marina. We all had a toilet break and boarded the boat around 9.50am. It was very accessible apart from the obvious top deck but I would recommend for wheelchair users.

On the boat there was a plug in air freshener and it was cinnamon flavour. I absolutely detest cinnamon and it was making me feel sick, I left the boys and Dave downstairs and went upstairs to get away from the smell. It was great up here with some fab views and fantastic houses.

We sailed out to the reef and were all called to the bottom deck to sit around the glass bottom where we saw a range of creatures and fish, including a turtle.

It was a good little trip and the kids really enjoyed it. The kids were asking Ryan a man who worked on the boat giving us the tour of the reef lots of questions and then us adults moved the conversation which was on out minds and out bellies... where is good around here to eat? He suggested a place close by called Mrs Mac's. So we got off the boat and headed straight there.

What a brilliant recommendation! Mrs Macs is a very nice little authentic place full of locals with brilliant food (here's where I get a bit better and start taking SOME pictures of food 😂😜 ) I has a Philly cheesesteak, it was the nicest one I had all holiday! Dave had a messy mex burger, it looks gross but he insisted it was amazing, it had to be eaten with a knife and fork. The kids had burgers. For afterwards we all had ice cream. It came to $48 and left $9 tip. The ceiling was covered in dollar bills and the walls were covered in car registration plates from all over the world! Dave was very impressed he works for a car company so he's very into his cars. We loved it here and would definitely recommend it!

We also had cans of pop which again were not refillable, it must be quite common down in the keys and southern Florida to not do refillable drinks, or possibly because they aren't chains. We had waters too.

When we came out of Mrs Macs we found this big fella hanging out of the wall, the kids though he was ace and called him Jaws originally 😂😂

We decided to drive into Miami and visit the beach, now I'll admit I hadn't really planned much for this afternoon nor researched so we were today winging where we ended up. We left Key Largo at 1.15pm and arrived in Miami at 2.15pm. The Miami skyline looked amazing as we were driving in, I mean look at this. I was mesmerised.

We found a disabled parking bay right at the front near Nikki Beach, we were falling really lucky with these parking bays. We parked up and Jacob had been snoozing on the drive, he woke up and literally threw a fit, he is never like this and is totally out of character (he is usually my good child ) I think it was again a mixture of the heat and tiredness. We found a big massive lizard which brought him round and out of his mood. I will admit it put Dave into a bit of a mood whilst Jacob was kicking off so not a great start to the afternoon.

Anyway we went over the beach and it wasn't brilliant for accessibility so we took a few pictures and walked along the concrete path at the back of the beach. We watched a few of the massive shipping containers come past and the tug boats which the kids enjoyed before we come across a wet water park for Jacob to play in whilst me Dave and Evan chilled in the shade in the park.

We were all a bit hot and bothered and flagging a bit so we left Miami at 5.15pm. The satnav decided to take us along the I95 at rush hour which was a bit of a nightmare. A 35 minute journey turned into over an hours, the kids were really playing up as their iPads were out of charge. I got Dave to pull over and I swapped places with Jacob to split them up and we had a much better drive 😂

We got back to the hotel at 6.30pm and we were all very tired. We decided to get a dominoes instead of going out and just eat pizza in the room in our pjs with the tv. Dave went to the next town, Davie (yes Dave went to Davie ) to collect out pizzas, we ordered cheese and ham and chicken and mushroom pizzas both large. It was $17 to collect or $32 plus tip to have delivered so I sent Dave out 😂😂. We ate our pizzas in bed and watched a few good men whilst the kids had their headphones on and watch YouTube/Netflix.

Lights were off again at 9.30pm and I made sure all the iPads were charged up overnight along with the charge banks ready for the drive up to Orlando the next day, I wasn't making the same mistake again and letting the iPads run out of charge .

[Flimsey]

Just showed hubby your pics, definitely fancy Miami and the keys when the kids get older.

[Excitedx4]

Originally Posted by Flimsey

Just showed hubby your pics, definitely fancy Miami and the keys when the kids get older.

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It is lovely, makes the holiday a little bit different and it's soooo much cheaper flying into Miami than Orlando, the drive is a piece of cake too. ❤️

[Pussycat Doll]

Sounds like mostly a good day. We all get grouchy when we're hot and tired! X

[Goldia]

The boat tour sounds great. It seems like you enjoyed key largo. We've never done the keys, hmm, something to think about.

[Excitedx4]

Originally Posted by Goldia

The boat tour sounds great. It seems like you enjoyed key largo. We've never done the keys, hmm, something to think about.

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Yes we really did enjoy key largo, I'd like to see more of the keys in future when the kids are a bit older. Thanks for reading and commenting 🤗

[i love jack]

Another lovely day, very nice houses in key largo!

[Excitedx4]

Originally Posted by i love jack

Another lovely day, very nice houses in key largo!

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One day when I win the lottery 😜

[MinnieMrsA]

Ace boat tour! Xx

[Excitedx4]

Originally Posted by MinnieMrsA

Ace boat tour! Xx

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It was really good and proper bargain on USA groupon!