Red Pearl

We were blessed to have our family join us in Marathon from literally all over the world: San Diego, Madrid, Chicago, Sacramento, Lincoln and Lawrence. We had a great Airbnb with pools and a boat dock for the boat that was just minutes from a great beach!

Our first day, we took the whole family out on the boat. We were able to chase some dolphins, swim in the Gulf and watch the sunset from out on the water.

The next day we visited the marathon Turtle Hospital. It was very interesting to learn about their work with rescuing turtles.

The next day we all took a day trip to Key West. We were happy to visit it again with the family. Spencer especially wanted to visit the homage to Jimmy Buffet at Margaritaville.

Christmas Even we were able to just relax at the house. We enjoyed the pool, fishing, kayaking, reading and just chilling for the afternoon.

Christmas Eve we were able to enjoy a Christmas Eve Worship at a PACKED OUT local church. I think the locals were overwhelmed, but pleased at the turn out. All the men of our family ended up standing in the back of the sanctuary because all the seats were taken!

After church we went to a local eatery with an outdoor patio and live music, The highlight of the night was when Stacy and Keith (Dea’s sister and brother-in-law) went up and played a Fleetwood Mac cover!

It is the Schaub (Dea’s family) family tradition to open presents on Christ)mas Eve. Nana (Carol, Dea’s mom) gave us all matching PJ’s!

We spent Christmas Day at Sombrero Beach swimming, paddle boarding, and chilling. The highlight of the day was when a few dolphins swam up and around our paddle boards! Unfortunately we did not have our phones for pics!

Our final day together we went to Islamorada and took a (much faster than ours!) boat out to a coral reef and went snorkeling. We saw so many beautiful fish, including a Sting Ray and a Shark!

We sent all of the family off to Miami to return to their various homes, except Spencer. We broke our rule! We say our boat can entertain 10-12 people but it sleeps 2! Spencer spent the next 2 nights with us moving the boat up to Fort Lauderdale. The first night we stopped in Key Largo for a sunset seafood dinner on the shore. It was great to have him aboard. We send him back to Madrid where he will spend the rest of the school year at his job teaching English at a Catholic boys school.