Last Evening in Florida

Our last night in Florida and we’re going out to eat at a Floridian Institution – Mel’s Diner - known for its food and reasonable prices. Let’s not forget retro styling, which I always appreciate.



Even at 5:30 on a Wednesday evening, we had to wait a little bit for a table to open up. The kids didn’t mind – the weather was gorgeous and they could goof off outside.

Afterwards, I realized that the sunset would be really nice and if I could convince the rest of them to head over to the beach, we could watch the sunset along the water. But alas, no one wanted to go with me! Instead, we pulled into a gas station as the sun was starting its descent.

I guess a sunset at the gas station is what I get to enjoy on our last evening in Florida.
Once we returned to my parent’s place, the kids wanted to take one last dip in the clubhouse pool. We allowed them to swim as we supervised (the pool closes at “dusk”, so we may have stretched that rule - depending upon your definition of “dusk”).

Taken with my iPhone - I thought the street light looked like the moon coming up along the water.

As we finally left the pool, I took a picture of the final remnants of daylight over the pond.

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Florida - Family Pictures

Unfortunately, all family visits must come to an end, and life must go back to their normal rhythm.

We really enjoyed our relaxing vacation in Florida - my mother and father were great hosts!

And as usual, we must have our standard "group picture" - taken in the screened in lanai:

I should have positioned Scott differently - the palm looks like it is growing out of his head!

This one is a little better, although you can see the remote control in my father's hand (Brian held it in the last picture):


Of course, we have the outtake:


And the rejected background:


A bonus - Erica let me take a picture of her:

She spent a lot of time curling her hair and I thought it was so pretty.

And we have a wrap on Spring Break Family pictures

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Parasailing

We've done the parasailing thing before - the first time in 2006, when Erica (7 years old) went up for the first time and had a blast. That year, we even convinced my mother to parasail.

In 2008, a very nervous Brian (8 years old) parasailed for the first time and received high-fives from the flight crew as well as the others on the boat. That year, we convinced my father to parasail with us.

So it's a tradition for us to parasail when we visit Florida on spring break. We always go back to the same company - Ranalli Parasail, located at the Diamond Head Resort on Fort Myers Beach. They offer a 1200 foot ride (the longest / highest ride you can take on Fort Myers Beach) with a great flight crew. In the past, up to three people could take flight on their parasail rig, but now, they have the capability to fly up to six people at a time. This meant that our entire family could go up together.

It was another beautiful day in SW Florida - the air was warm, the breeze refreshing and little clouds dotted the sky. Our family got on the boat at 1pm with another couple and the boat jetted off to the middle of the ocean.

The crew guy who set us up in our harnesses was nice enough to take a picture of us:


The woman from the other couple saw my camera and also offered to take pictures - she has a Nikon D90, so she was familiar with the general operation of mine.


I believe we used this blue and yellow chute in 2008. It's so pretty against the blue sky.

Here we are, ready to launch:


And we're flying!


It was really nice to be able to experience the flight as a family - we chatted about what we saw up in the air and when we were dipped into the water, had fun getting each other wet.



Back on land, we enjoyed walking a bit along the beach. A lovely day.

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Farmer's Market and Wetland Preserve

Saturday morning - and it's Farmer's Market time.

But that's after a nice early morning run as the sun rises -

It's perfect running weather - mid 50s when I start and mid 60s when I finish - this means shorts and a t-shirt, the first warm weather running of this year.

I go to the Farmer's Market with my parents - they eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruit. I picked out two mangoes (they were delicious) and a pair of sunglasses (I left mine in IL).

But most of all, I like looking at all the beautiful produce.


Today's family outing - the wetland preserve - a large wetland area, complete with lake and board walk that winds through the 2500 acre facility. It was a great way to enjoy the evening.



Crocodile Lake, where we saw a crocodile, sunning himself on dock:


Scott points out the Croc to Erica:


I didn't capture it well at all (and hence deleted the picture), but on the left side of the lake, there's a grove of trees where hundreds of birds roost at night. In the evening, they fly back to the shelter of these trees. Next time I'll bring my zoom lens to capture this amazing sight.

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Spring Break Recap - Travel to Florida

I can't believe we've been back for a day and I think we want to go back to Florida, where the sun, warmth and ocean breeze soothes the soul. All in all, we enjoyed our relaxing visit with my parents in Fort Myers. We were blessed with perfect weather - and for mid-March, the weather, even in south western Florida can be fickle.

We started our trip Wednesday evening, driving to Indianapolis. With an early Thursday morning flight, I estimated we would have to leave at 2am, so we opted to stay in a hotel close to the airport instead.


I like taking pictures while we drive. My iPhone makes it even more fun.

The kids were so tired, they didn't even go to hotel's pool. Or, maybe that's because we arrived so late and it was closed.

We still had to leave the hotel at 5:30am - that's really early [the equivalent of 4:30am Central Time, and when you factor in the new daylight savings time, our body clocks think it's 3:30am]. Our plane took off right at 7:00, still shrouded by the inky black of night. And I realized my inadvertent genius of selecting seats facing east - we would be treated by a sunrise while airborne.

The only problem - Erica had the window seat. At least I was in the middle, but she's not all that tolerant of her mom leaning over her with that big lens. Add in my camera's need to emit flashes of light while attempting to auto focus at the dark subject and let's just say she was complaining through clenched teeth. I was only permitted to take one exposure, and I opted to manually focus.



The beauty in taking the first flight out to your destination - you can be at the pool by noon (or in our case, by 11am!).

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362/365 - Wildlife in the 'Hood

I spotted this guy on the lamp post towards the end of my morning run. The light overlooks a swampy stream (maybe they even call it a slough here, too) that runs under the road bridge, a block away from my parents' house.



About 5 minutes later, another one flew to the opposite side of the street. Scouting the waters below for a little bit of breakfast, I bet!


Other things we did today - My mother and I took Brian to see "Alvin and the Chipmunks - The Squeakquel". Cute and not too annoying. Then dinner out at the Bonefish Grill. We head back to the snowy midwest tomorrow.

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361/365 - Green Christmas

We enjoyed our non-traditional Christmas celebration. No traditional tree, but a ficus tree, with presents underneath:



No snow, and we even spent some time in the pool:


But it's the people who make Christmas special - especially family.


Hey, you even get a picture of me and my mom (taken by Erica).


Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

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360/365 - Christmas Eve

We departed the cruise ship this morning, rented a car and drove 4 hours to my parent's winter home near Fort Myers. The kids went swimming right away (even in the unheated pool).

My mother cooked up her usual feast of shrimp, noodles, beef and broccoli (as if we really needed any more food!).



After dinner, we played a game of "Truth or Dare". The kids downloaded this game to the iTouch / iPhone, and it is relatively tame, and some of the dares are downright silly. Case in point - Scott's dare was to wear an item given by each player.

Hence the jewelry, glasses and other items. Sometimes going with "Truth" is just easier.

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355/365 - Southerly Travels

We were fortunate not to be flying towards the big snowy mess in the Northeast. Instead, we headed South to Florida, the start of our warm Christmas vacation.

Our first stop - the Indianapolis airport, where Erica texted her friends and Brian made new friends waiting for our [slightly] delayed flight to Orlando.




We arrived in Cape Canaveral in time for dinner and a dip in the outdoor pool. Hey, it's heated so the kids didn't mind.




Our suite included a whirlpool tub, so the kids enjoyed a huge bubble bath after tiring of the pool. I don't think they understand that a little bath gel goes a long way!


Tomorrow, we'll be transported to Port Canaveral where we'll board our cruise ship headed for the Bahamas!

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Spring Break, part 2

Auntie Teresa, Uncle Ray and cousins Zachary and Matty arrived Friday morning. By the afternoon, they were brave enough to swim in LaoLao and LaoYeh's unheated pool:
Matty
Brian
Zach

Sunday morning and we were greeted by really cute Easter gifts:


Zach and Matty dig into their Easter baskets:





The kids and their Easter booty


After lunch at Duval Street Seafood Company (aka "Blah Blah Seafood"), I forced everyone to pose for a group photo. Under pressure, I couldn't figure out how to increase the self timer from 2 seconds. So Scott took this picture.



And alas, we headed back up north where we were greeted by snow showers and early morning frost.

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Spring Break Sampler

Here are a sampling of pictures from our Spring Break adventure in warm, sunny Florida.


Scott waves as he and Erica embark on the Sheikra coaster in Busch Gardens (note - it's a GREAT ride). Erica rode on it 5 times, 2 times with Scott and 3 times with me.


Thrill seekers on the Montu Coaster.


Brian steers boat number 6 (while Mommy and Daddy enjoy some Budweiser beer from the Hospitality House).


Back in Fort Myers, we went horseback riding.


You can't go to Florida without playing a round (or two) of Mini-Golf. Our favorite place is Castle Golf.

We hit Fort Myers beach on Thursday - a storm threatened the day's planned activities, but it blew inland and soon it was sunny and warm again. We waited an extra hour on the beach while the storm past, and Erica dipped her toes into the gulf waters.



Then we were off para sailing. This year, Brian was brave enough to experience 1200 feet in the air (but he was a little nervous when he started up). Everyone on the boat gave him a High-5 when he completed his flight.




Hanging out on the beach chair:


Erica and Daddy along the water's edge (that's the Fort Myers Beach pier way in the background).


More pictures to come.....

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