weekend in key west {princess turns 6}

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while I probably don’t have to tell you just how much I love throwing parties.  I look forward to my girls’ birthdays all year long, and start collecting party ideas accordingly, picking their themes at least 6 months in advance.

So I was more than a little shocked this year when my wise-beyond-her-years little girl said, “Mommy, I don’t know how to tell you this, but I don’t really want a birthday party this year.”

I’m not gonna lie:  more than a few tears were shed, and not by her.

She asked to have one friend over for a sleepover, but when that friend wasn’t able to come the weekend of her birthday, we decided to go away for the weekend instead.

Husband picked Key West which, in retrospect, was an odd choice for the middle of August.  You wouldn’t think that just a few hundred miles would make such a big difference in temperature.

Despite the heat, we had a blast.  The girls are at such a fun age and it is at times like these where I wish I could just keep them exactly like this forever.

We packed a LOT into our 3 short days….breakfast at Blue Heaven, where the chickens run around the dirt floor, snorkeling at the Fort Zachary Taylor beach, watching the sunsets and the street performers at Mallory Square, taking in the sights, sounds, & tastes of Duvall Street, enjoying long naps & relaxing pool time at the hotel, bonding with sea life at the Key West Aquarium, & sharing cocktails & mocktails at the Hard Rock Cafe.  The girls were troopers, even when we drug all around town, even through the Key West Cemetery in the blazing heat.  For the record, old cemeteries are not all that interesting to 3 and 6 year olds.  We ate seafood and conch fritters and ice cream and key lime pie until our stomachs hurt, walked until our feet hurt, then slept like babies in what may have been the World’s Most Comfortable Bed.

I guess all those adorable Rainbow Party ideas I pinned will just have to wait.  I think I’ll live.