The girls out number the boy 2 to 1 in this family. As retirement has officially kicked in, we'll share some thoughts, memories, and life's lessons along the way. As we travel down Lifes Highway!
Dolphins anyone??
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Fun with Flipper and the gang off the coast of Sanibel Enjoy
The adventure continues as we head further south, down to the keys. Home base this week will be Marathon. On Monday, we have a trip planned to Dry Tortuga National Park. That is pretty much the only thing that has a time commitment to it. We're just going to let the week play out and see what each day brings us. We drove through Fort Myers Beach on our way to an overnight stop in Bonita Springs. I think due to the higher concentration of houses and businesses on FMB the devastation was extreme. We stayed in a house on the south end FMB back in 2019. Below is a picture of that house taken in March of this year. Bottom floor blown out, and what you don't see in this picture is the whole back of the house is gone. Beach house FMB March 2023 When we drove by, all that is left is an empty lot. Property on FMB is selling for the same dollar evaluation post hurricane Ian as it was before hurricane Ian, house or no house. There's no doubt that the future landscape of Fort
So the theme this year is about new experiences and first for us while here on Captiva/Sanibel. Our house this year sits on the water up the channel from Blind Pass. This is a first for us usually we are trying to get closer to the gulf but the island is narrow down by Blind Pass and it is a pretty short walk to the beach. The house is not much more than 30 foot off the water and has a dock which has led to many new discoveries for the Beach Angels. I put together a Scavenger Hunt for the Angels this year. They are getting older and I wanted to open their eyes to the wonderful world of nature that surrounds this island. The Scavenger hunt has about forty items. They either need to collect or spot the items while here this week. Lexi and I spent quality time this evening sitting on the dock and watching nature in all its splendor. From Rainbows, Osprey eating a fish and a alligator we got a little of everything tonight. Best part was just sitting there sharing the time together.
Today we started our day with some "BS". B reakfast & S trawberry Preserves Our usual opening parlay into a week of eating out and consuming adult beverages. No better place to start than the Lighthouse Cafe. The crowds seem a little lighter this year. Not sure why but I know people are dealing with a lot of "BS". Hopefully my "BS" this week will make you smile. Waitress comes to the table "Hi you all ready to order." Me: "You kidding I been waiting a year for this" I could go on and on about my breakfast choice but you've heard that before. Today we'll focus on something else that the Lighthouse does really well. They make their own strawberry preserves and serve it in a little container. Take that hot buttered toast and dip it in there. OMG it's pure heaven. We can't leave Sanibel without taking a few of jars home every year. It's kinda become a tradition. Lighthouse Cafe "Beach Angel Approved&q
At the end of February, my life has changed. No more 9 to 5 for me, every day is a vacation as retirement has officially kicked in! My blog has been mainly devoted to our experiences on some small islands in southwest Florida, Sanibel and Captiva Island. While I hope to still visit and share more experiences from this magical place, I will be sharing other trips and experiences as we continue to navigate along Life's Highway. Before, it seemed like I only wrote about the annual trip to that special place. My intentions were to share a bit of humor and to memorialize some of our precious memories and life's lessons we learned along the way. Most recently, I have become a Soccer PaPa. No, I don't drive a minivan, I'm not overly vocal when sitting in the stands, and I'm not jumping up to dispute the referees calls (although I have questioned the lack of a call from time to time). My gosh, since when has soccer become wrestling at the Chase? Two of our six gr
It's been a rough week this week. While I generally keep my blog on the lighter side. My words come from my head, but my desire to write comes from my heart. My heart this week has felt both pain and Joy some of which I'll share with you today. On Monday Nov. 20th I'm on the mends from a rough couple of days on what looks like could be a precursory strike from a future Kidney Stone. Spent a couple of days on pain meds, telling myself I'm not going to the ER. Carol's been battling the crud and been coughing a lot for the past week. We get a visit from Kristine, our daughter (technically Daughter-in law) but we adopted here years ago when she moved down here from Oregon to carve out a life with our son Ryan. In her selfless manner, she's here to deliver a spare nebulizer to her Missouri mom, who's been fighting the crud. Why? Because that's just who she is. She didn't visit for long, and we shared a few passing comments about her not wanting to
We're back home now and I thought I would make one last post to catch up and share some pictures from the week. Have you ever noticed the older you get how time seems to fly by faster? I can remember as a child summer vacations that seemed like they went on forever. Now a week is here and gone before you know it and a weekend goes by in the blink of an eye. If I didn't know better I would swear the earth was turning faster. One thing for sure when I was a kid it was a time when things were much simpler and took longer. While technology is great, I think it will deprive some of our younger generation from some of the simpler joys in life. Things like "kick the can" and staying out and playing all day just making sure you got home when the street lights came on. The waters have been clear and full of sea life this trip. You can stand in the ocean chest deep and see your feet! We were concerned about how the week was going to go because the week before we
The Day started out at Amy's over easy on the patio. "The Beach Angels", "The Director" and "The executive Producer" made the curtain call. "The Handler" and "The Roadie" slept in. This is the first time we've stayed at the house we're in this year. It sits on an acre of ground and is very secluded. The owner "Margarethe" seems like a very nice lady we met her yesterday. She was stopping by to check on her cleaning crew when we showed up to unload. The house is a two bedroom that they added a third bedroom and sitting area downstairs. Today we got to play "So You Think Your Smarter Than a Third Grader" The Handler and the Roadie took the downstairs bedroom. They were a little freaked out when we got here yesterday because they said the bathroom downstairs didn't have a door. Today one of the Beach Angels had to show "The handler" how to use a pocket door. So NO "The Handler
So it's been two years since I've been to my "Happy Place". Now don't get me wrong it's not that I'm an unhappy guy. I have a good life and a great family. There are many things that make me happy. Anything from a giggle to a hug from any of my five granddaughters makes me happy. A cruise in my 66 with the top down and the deep rumble coming from the side-pipes makes me happy. Sitting on the porch and hearing nothing but the call of a mourning dove in the morning or a bull frog breaking the evening quiet these all make me happy. However; when it comes to going to my "Happy Place" there really only one place that does it for me and that place is Captiva/Sanibel. It's been two years since we've been here so this trip will be like catching up with an old friend. For those of you that know what it's like to find your "Happy Place" congratulations. For those of you who don't the best way I can describe it is like
So I have been a little behind in posting to the blog this year. The time is flying by way too fast. Wednesday's plan was a day at the beach. I started off by getting a few shots of the sunrise from the dock. Nothing like watching the world wake up in paradise. I was then off to Baileys for some Doughsants. This was another first for us. We never heard of a doughsant before but thought what the heck lets give them a try. I kind of envisioned the light airy texture of a croissant mixed with the glazed goodness of a doughnut. The folks at Baileys are so polite. The lady at the Bakery counter told me this batch came out smaller than normal so they gave me double the amount for the same price! The outside was like I expected but there was some sort of filling inside a little like a cream cheese but with some sort of flavoring that was not sweet. Sorry not a big fan of the doughsant er Doughsants from Baileys We headed to the beach after breakfast the ocean was rolling in w
So today is Lexi birthday! For her birthday she was given the present of a perfect beach morning. Calmest water we've seen all week. The sky was filled with sunshine and the ocean was full of sailboats, paddle boaters, Parasails, pelicans, people and even a manatee. It was just like when you have a bad round of golf somewhere during the round you hit a great shot and its enough to make you want to come back and do it again. Today was that good shot! Around 1:00 the sky opened up and we made a hasty retreat to the house but it was ok because Lexi dinner of choice for her birthday was where else but Cheeburger Cheeburger. This little 60# is going to tackle the monster burger. She determined to get her picture on the wall. I don't classify Lexi as a big eater but to all of our astonishment she polished that thing off. She challenged Don to take on the one pounder and he didn't disappoint. So early dinner and back to the house to begin packing things up. We did
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