A Week in Key Largo

Spending the week of 5/9 - 5/16 in Key Largo with my mom, Peggy, my sisters - Sandy, Lisa, and Lynda, and my nephew, Jack, was such a blessing for all of us. This was the first time in our adult lives that we were all together for Mother's Day too! We also decided to spend the week together as an early celebration of my mom's 70th birthday (September 14th).

This was Jack's 8th trip to Key Largo for dolphin-assisted therapy at Island Dolphin Care. Jack and one of the therapists, Eli, spent twenty minutes each morning in the lagoon with Squirt and her baby, Lotus. The dolphin's trainer, Wendy, would instruct the dolphins to do specific activities such as give Jack a kiss, swim with Jack/Eli holding onto Squirt's dorsal fin, etc. The dolphins love being near Jack because his artificial heart valves make a loud clicking noise, similar to the clicking sounds the dolphins use to communicate. Jack and Squirt have a really special relationship and it's amazing to see how she imediately recognizes and remembers Jack - even though she hasn't seen him in a year! We also had classroom time each day and each of us made art projects (we painted tote bags and some made a potholder too). The staff at Island Dolphin Care have become like family to my sister, Sandy, and Jack. We all very much enjoyed spending time with Deena, Pete, their son, Joe, Eli, Clara, and all of the interns we met.

After leaving Island Dolphin Care each day, we went back to our condo and spent time in the lagoon pool, which was very close to our room. After sunning and swimming, we would go eat fresh seafood - the highlight of my day!!! I had grouper and mahi mahi several times as well as shrimp and scallops. Yummy!!!!! My favorite was coconut encrusted grouper topped with mango chutney with melted swiss cheese on top. Absolutely fantastic!

Although I was sad when our week together ended, I was excited too because I flew directly to El Paso on Saturday evening for another visit to Juarez. My kids, Nick and Kelly, flew from Dallas and met me at the El Paso airport. I will post more about our visit to Mexico soon!