Key West Flordia

January 21 - 25, 2013.

Tyler and I went to Key West Florida on a FABULOUS vacation.  This trip was awarded to Tyler from his work for doing an outstanding job.  Tyler has earned the "Circle of Champions" trip 2 years in a row.  The entire trip was planned out for us and the 12 other couples that we were with.  People came from offices in Draper, Utah; Fort Worth, Texas; and Omaha, Nebraska.

The reception dinner was held on the beach. There was a private dinner buffet including a smores bar!  There was a band playing. The weather was amazing!  It was a beautiful night.  We were able to catch up with a few people from the Circle of Champions trip last year.

Tyler roasting marshmallows for our smores.

This picture was taken in the lobby of our beach side hotel.  This was after dinner and before the Afterglow.  Afterglow was held every night after dinner; basically, it is social hour at the bar.  We only made an appearance for a few minutes each night.

The first day we arrived in Key West there was the beginnings of a sandcastle on the patio of our hotel.  We watched its progress each day.  It was pretty amazing to watch them sculpt this using only sand and water.

This is our hotel looking in from the private pier. 

The first full day of activities was a lot of fun.  We went on a group outing with everyone on the trip.  We went out on this huge catamaran and played in the ocean.  Activities included jet skiing, banana boats, an ocean trampoline and parasailing.  Here we are setting sail.  My favorite activity was definitely the parasailing but the jet skis were a close second.

I attempted the ocean trampoline.  I was really hard.  Every time I tried to jump the water absorbed the tramp and so I didn't get very much air.  It was a lot harder than I thought. I was laughing so hard that it was difficult to stand up. 

Here is some of the guys going out on the banana boat.  It was pulled behind a jet ski. We road on it too.  It was fun but a little cold when the water splashed up on us.

Here we are on the parasailing boat.  We were the first couple to go up in our bunch.  I have always wanted to try parasailing so I was so excited.  It was ALOT of fun!  We got some amazing pictures so they get a post all by themselves.

We ate lunch on the catamaran.  This is were lunch was served. 

Here I am on the balcony of our room.  Our room overlooked the hotel swimming pools and the ocean.  It was amazing.  That night we ate dinner at the Hot Tin Roof. 

 

On the second day of activities we chose to go on a jet ski tour around the island of Key West.  This is the group that went on the jet skiis.  This was an optional activity so not everyone did this. 

The jet ski tour was fun but it was COLD.  The sun stayed behind the clouds all day and the wind was blowing.  It took us about 2 hours to circle the entire island.  By the time we were done I was ready to get in a HOT shower and Tyler could have went another hour.  We only had about 15 minutes to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was at The Hemingway House.  They set up a dance floor where they had some dancers preform for us.  The tables were set out on the front lawn and dinner was served to us.  It was an amazing night.

Here is the group from Utah.  Only 2 managers were able to go from Tyler's office.

On the third day of activities we were on our own.  We chose to go shopping on Duvall Street.  It was hot so we decided to take a pedi-cab to the other end and walk back.  Here we are in the little basket being towed by a man on a pedal bike.  It cost us $30 bucks. 

This is what the pedi-cab looks like.

That night we went on a group dinner to Latitudes.  This was by far the best dinner the entire trip.  Latitudes was on one of the tiny islands that surrounds Key West.  We had to take the ferry to get there.  The company at our table was the most enjoyable this night.  The food was fantastic and the weather was perfect.  We sat in a room that opened up to the beach and the cool evening air.  It was a perfect night.

I had to take a picture of the sandcastle once it was finished.  The detail on it was amazing!  How would it be to go to work and carve in the sand all day wearing nothing but your swimming suit and walking bare-foot in the sand.

 

Here we are on the hotel's private pier looking into the ocean.  We had a wonderful vacation.

The hotel's private beach was so cool.  Every morning they raked the sand.  The hotel grounds were so clean and manicured.

We were not ready to leave the 70 degree summer weather of Key West and head home to Utah with temperatures in the teens.

 

We had such an amazing time.  We missed the boys so much!  They did so good and didn't hardly miss us.  Thank you to Haylie, Kristal and Grandma Sing for making it possible for us to go on this trip!