Pennekamp Park

Mom had pretty much told Uncle Frank & I what she had wanted for her great send-off in Key Largo. The plan was to have a day at the beach like we used to do when were younger, then have a private memorial service at John Pennekamp before some of us headed out to the boat that would take us out to Christ of the Abyss for her final disposition (above).

We met up at the Star Coral pavilion that Sharon had reserved for us (thanks Sharon!).

In order to reserve the parking space directly in front of the pavilion, Aunt Martha decided to 'park' herself in the spot until someone from our group could take over the space.

You know, it's things like this that makes me really appreciate my family. Simply too funny...

Here is Katrina coming back from planting 5 geocaches in the park for our family members to find. It was hot, humid and grueling work.

Meanwhile I busied myself with getting the food going. We grilled turkey burgers, hamburgers and hot dogs. At first, the grill wouldn't cook worth a darn until Katrina & I took the gas regulator apart to figure out how to readjust it for more heat. Once that was done, flame broiling, here we come! In this picture, I was also working on shuffling around the cans and bottles so there would be something cold to drink.

If it wasn't for that very 'colorful' umbrella stategically positioned over the grill area, I would have been cooked as well done as one of those burgers!

As food was coming off the grill and people were bringing in other food items, it was all placed inside this screened enclosure. It was hoped that this would keep the mosquitoes out, but unfortunately, the door was left open several times, so the bugs simply helped themselves to the 'human smorgasbord' inside.

Here is a side view of the screened enclosure. We made sure to get one that was big enough to hold two of the picnic tables inside.

Ah, the newly-engaged couple (see below), looks like they're getting along famously.

Since there is a beach at John Pennekamp Coral Reef Park (imagine that!), it makes sense that we would find family members having a swim.

Yep, all clustered together. That won't last long.

Here is a blue crab Katrina caught and brought back to the pavilion for show-and-tell.

A friend of Frank William, I think his name is Josh, drove all the way up from Key West by motorcycle to visit with us. Looks like I'm not the only one who discovered that the cooler by the grill was relatively comfortable.

Ah, a little relaxation after a major nosh, is in order.

The kids broke out a few of the toys and had some fun.

The girls seemed to enjoy Opa's company.

After I finished up grilling everything in sight, Luann & Uncle Frank suggested that we take a stroll through the aquarium in air conditioned comfort. Sounded good to me, because I'm all icky-sweaty.

David and Karen joined us too.

Hmmm... I bet these would look good on my dinner plate...

After a while, it became time to hold the memorial for my Mom before heading over to the boat docks. Uncle Frank led the service.

I set up the laptop with the slide show we had presented at Mom's "Fun-Morial" in Arizona, then put all 3 of the containers that Mom was 'occupying' on the table.

Uncle Frank did very well handling this part of the service, doing something the rest of us would have been hard-pressed to pull off. Uncle Frank asked Dad, myself, Jody and Treesie to relate a funny story we could remember about Mom.

The left side of the pavilion...

And the right side. Dad is talking about how he and mom had met by accident... literally. Seems she backed her car into his as he was driving through a parking lot.

At this point, he was talking about how Mom always like to have the last word in every conversation. He said that he asked Mom near the end if he could have the last word at least once. At this point, she made a gesture like she was pulling a zipper closed across her mouth (like in the picture) and he said; "Thank you for finally letting me have the last word"... Then she said; "You're welcome"...

Somewhere in the middle of this, a squirrel decided to make a bonzai-attack on the food in the screened enclosure. Frank William quickly chased him out so we could get back to the service.

I sat back down and began telling my funny story about Mom...

Then Jody shared his story, finishing up with the; "No Mom! Don't Go To That Light!" story.

Then finally, Treesie regaled us with her story. After she was done, we packed everything up and headed over to the boat docks to remand Mom over to the Atlantic Ocean.