Florida Vacation

After our annual pre-vacation bout of stomach flu, we left for Florida last Thursday for a 10-day visit with my parents in Ft. Myers. We left bright and early in the morning and all was going well until Katie got sick on the plane. The bad news was that it was all over Jamie. The good news was that it happened during the landing, so clean pants were only moments away. She got sick again in the car during our drive from the airport to my parents house and we wondered if the flu had struck her, but thankfully that was the end of it. We arrived around lunch-time, and we were glad to have the girls nap, unpack and still have time for a swim.




On Friday Jamie played golf with Dad and Mom and I took the girls to do some errands. One of our first stops was a haircut for Caroline (something that we ran out of time to do at home), which turned out really cute. We also visited the library for books and DVDs.

Later in the day we visited the neighborhood park.


And then once the guys were home from golf, we spent some time in the pool. Here is Caroline "swimming by herself" as she told us (please note the three flotation devices!)

Saturday we visited The Shell Factory (Grandma's first visit, since she's been sick the last two times we went).
We enjoyed seeing the animals and Caroline was very interested this year.

They added a new exhibit where the kids could touch some sea animals and the girls were very excited to participate. Katie was very excited to hold this lizardy thing, until it got in her hand and I felt her whole body go stiff, at which point she handed it back over.


Caroline, on the other hand, had no fear. I wish I could say the same for the animals. Caroline "the crusher" attentively nodded her head as the helpers explained that she had to hold her hand flat, and as soon as she got a starfish in her hand, she would start to squeeze.


Shell World also has a dinosaur exhibit, which is somewhat silly, but fun to take pictures in.




Katie and Poppy in the peacock bench- an annual picture.
We saw the alligators and then after a stop on the playground, we went to the bumper boats, and decided that Caroline was old enough for a ride. Technically the age requirement was three, but we rounded up and I held on tight. She enjoyed the ride, and especially like squirting Jamie and Katie.





Afterwards, we visited the shell shop and Katie posed with all the bizarre pirates in the shop- I joined her in this one.

The girls shared a room, which was a first for us. It worked out well except for the fact that Caroline was up before 7 almost every day, which meant that Katie was as well. Each morning, Katie would come into our room and announce that Caroline was awake, which ranged from 6 a.m. to 7:15. Not a very vacation-y wake-up call. I confess that Jamie took most of the morning shifts, which consisted of building a nest in Katie's bed and trying to get the girls to watch a movie, so that they would stay quiet until 8ish.

Sunday was Jamie's birthday and the girls started the day by fixing him breakfast and decorating his chair.

Then we spent most of the day at the beach that we enjoyed so much last year.



After a few days of chasing Caroline around and keeping her out of trouble, it was delightful to have her be so contented just digging in the sand.
The girls made some friends and played happily, so we decided to stay through lunch and eat at the little snack shack on the pier.
That night we had a nice dinner at home, gave Jamie his presents and showed off the cake that the girls decorated.


Monday we went to Manatee Park and were excited to see tons of manatees. They had a little bingo game which kept Katie busy and Caroline liked scribbling on the clipboard for a while. She quickly got bored, so Jamie took her to the playground, while the rest of us explored some paths along the river.







When we caught up with Jamie we found him buying Caroline a hot dog, which then led Katie to get a funnel cake. None of us minded having a bite or two.

Before we left the park, Grandma bought the girls stuffed manatees and they turned in their bingo cards for a manatee coloring book.


That night Jamie and I went out to dinner by ourselves to celebrate his birthday (and enjoy our free babysitters!)

Tuesday was our day to go to Sanibel Island. It was a beautiful day and Mom and I spent some time looking for sea shells.

The girls also enjoyed finding shells. Caroline was not selective at all, and just loaded up her bucket with whatever was there.

Before we left, we saw some dolphins on the beach, which is always neat to see, although any sort of fin causes me to pause for a moment.
Once we had tired of the beach, we headed to our beloved cheeseburger restaurant. Both girls got to pose with "the burger" even though they didn't eat the kids 1/2 pounder to get their photos on the wall.


In addition to the milkshake that we shared, the highlight for Katie was the sign saying "I Took a Tinkle on Perrywinkle" (Periwinkle is the name of the street). Although she kept saying she took a "winkle."
We returned home later int he afternoon and weren't able to fit in both naps and swimming, so after dinner we took a dip in the hot tub. For once it wasn't so hot (Poppy usually keeps it around 96 degrees or more), so I was the only grown up to go in.
Wedenesday was another golf day for the boys, so we did "girls stuff" which included painting our toenails and then heading to the park for a picnic lunch.



Thursday morning we attempted to go see the Red Sox spring training, but due to a lack of available information, we arrived at the practice field to find that there was no practice. So, instead we stopped at the fire tower which Poppy had been curious about, and we were allowed to climb the 112 steps to the top. It was kind of rickety and higher than we thought. Mom and Jamie only took Caroline up part way, but Dad and i were able to convinve Katie to climb to the top. She was a little nervous, but up for the adventure.






That afternoon we went kayaking on the river near my parents house. We all wondered how Caroline would do. Overall she was good and enjoyed it, but I had to hang on to her tightly and manage her wiggling since the boats aren't super stable. After reading signs about seeing alligators and manatees, I was pretty happy that we only saw turtles, birds a cat and a dog. We did find a grapefruit and a coconut in the river, which the girls were quite excited about.

Friday we went back to the beach and enjoyed our last full day of vacation.

Once Caroline was tired out, we went to the playground and then went home.

We got in one last swim after nap and then got ready to go out to dinner.

We went to a restaurant called The Hut, and enjoyed sitting outside.

We caught this rare moment when Caroline smiled at the camera instead of turning away or frowning.

And her smile only got bigger when she got a mango frozen drink (minus the alcohol). This kept her quite content through most of the meal.

Katie enjoyed it too!

Getting every last drop of it!

After dinner the girls wanted to go see the musician playing on the patio below the deck and once they got down there, the singer invited them to come up front and dance. They loved it and ran around and around in circles for two songs (see video below). They were a hit with the crowd, especially when they went up to put a tip in the tip jar and Katie put the money in and Caroline tried to take it back out.

Saturday morning Grandma and Poppy took the girls to the playground once last time while we got packed up. We left just before noon and arrived home around dinner. The flight went smoothly, except for a very cranky Caroline during takeoff. Once we were in the air, Jamie and I switched and I entertained Caroline while Katie immediately fell asleep and slept for the entire flight (I guess that's fair since Jamie was thrown up on on the way!). You can see above that I did get her to briefly watch a DVD, but all in all she was good.

When we landed Jamie took Caroline with him to get the car while Katie and I collected the luggage, and she fell asleep within minutes of getting in her stroller and slept until we got to the kennel to pick up Lily.

Today we got Katie registered for kindergarten at the Catholic school and I showed Katie around the school. She is very excited to start! The rest of the day has been spent unpacking, doing laundry and uploading photos to the blog (as you can see by the scores of images posted here!)