A wedding and vacation! (Part 1)

I'm so excited to share all of our pictures and stories from an awesome vacation in Key West!


I tried to put them in order but some are just random.  Here goes!

This is the day we left.  Drove to Kansas City to fly out- left our house at 11:31, at 11:32 Kase asked if we were there yet and at 11:34 we had to get out the lunch that I had packed.  Ha!

Early morning shuttle the next day to the KC airport.  Our flight left for Charlotte at 7:30 (we later went to Miami, then finally Key West!)

Waiting in the airport.  The kids were so excited for their first flight!

It was so nice they were all old enough to manage their own luggage.

On the kids' first flight ever! They did great! I sat by Kylee, she had a window seat.  Kael also had a window seat- he sat with Kent and Kase.

Keith picked us up at the airport in the golf cart they had rented for the week.  Awesome!

Uncle Kevin and Kase were twinning in their blue trunks at the beach. 

Kase by the ocean! We were singing "Cake by the Ocean" all week long and saying "Kase" instead of "cake". That's me in the background too- for some reason the kids didn't think I would swim in the ocean but I totally did!

Kylee found this coconut and carried it for awhile down the beach- we later discovered there was a crab living in it!!!

Beach volleyball! Kael loved this.

Family beach photo!

We loved swimming at the pool at Keith and Cindy's house too.  So grateful to them for all they did for us during the week!

Look at that form! Perfect cannonball!

 Juuuump!

The first night we were hot and tired, we had been traveling all day...and we totally needed this cookie that was as big as Kylee's face.  It was one of the best things I've ever eaten.  

Here is rehearsal! Can you imagine a more picture perfect spot to get married?

Me and my girl.

Kase loved hanging out with cousin Jake all night.  Seriously they were best buds at rehearsal dinner!

More beach/pool pics. 

Why does coffee on vacation always taste better? 

The chocolate muffins at our hotel breakfast were to.die.for.

But these smoothies hit the spot in the steamy afternoons!

We went to Fort Zachary Taylor the second day.  Kids loved the beach and waves there!

That smile!

Crashing waves!

Kase wasn't as excited about the waves as Kael and Kylee so we explored around a little. 

Oh, how I love these next two pictures.

Kase gave his infamous smirk when I asked him to smile for a picture.

Then I promised cheese and crackers.  Totally worth it for that smile!

Kent and Kael swam way out to those rocks!

He spelled out Key West in Easy Cheese! Ha!

Sorting all the shells she found!

And finally, it was time for the wedding! The whole reason for the trip!

Kael was the junior usher- looking so handsome and grown up.

Kylee was the flower girl- she looked so grown up and beautiful!

And this handsome guy was the ring bearer! (Technically he carried a Here Comes the Bride sign).

So proud of my kids.

The man of the hour! Uncle Kevin!

Love this couple!

Kael and his fellow ushers.

Brothers!

Team BOA.

Kael escorting Julia to her seat.

All of these photos are iPhone photos and I haven't edited any of them, so pardon the quality, but I just LOVE the smile on both Kevin and Cindy's faces.

This picture makes me so happy.  Tossing rose petals on the beach.  Pure joy.

We caught the sunset right after the ceremony.

Kylee obviously took the opportunity to do some ninja warrior-ing while we waited for Kent to finish pictures.

We had fun hanging with the Drake kids (and parents!) over the week!

A little sweaty by the time we got to the reception. But so happy.

This puts us at almost halfway through the vacation so I'm going to stop there for tonight.  I'll try to post the rest later this week! It was seriously so wonderful.  I'm so thankful the kids were good travelers, everyone stayed healthy, the wedding was perfect and beautiful and we really appreciated all that Keith and Cindy did to make it extra special for us!