Beach Angel turns 12

We Today is our oldest Beach Angel "Lexi's" birthday.  They grow up so fast.  we looked back on some pictures and videos from vacations past they are filled with many great memories of our time on Sanibel/Captiva.

We made a little video to celebrate Lexi's special day.     

We also made up a little display box to safely store Taylor's rare shell find she has told everybody about her shell.  I have no doubt she will have this shell for years to come.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

30 Da Beach Bum (Riddle Me This)

Image
 I soar above, looking for a treat, sometimes I'll snatch what you eat. answer: For the Bold Snatched from Beach Bag and opened before you could say Do-Rit-Tos We put together a Scavenger Hunt for the girls while they were here.  Lexi and Taylor have been Beach Angel certified for a long time. They have been coming here since they were babies.  The three girls that came down with them were making their first trip.  We told them they needed to do the Scavenger hunt in order to become Beach Angel Certified by NaNa and PaPa.  The scavenger hunt was in the form of riddles much like the one I opened the blog with.  I figured it was one way to get them to pay attention to the beauty of the island instead of spending their day focused only on their phones taking selfies.  Trust me they got plenty of selfie time but they did manage to work on the scavenger hunt too! The 2025 Scavenger Hunt for the big girls Lexi and Taylor were able to help with the hunt and C...
Read more

30 Day Beach Bum (Momma don't take my kodachrome Away!)

Image
The second wave of Special guest is coming towards the end.  We have been blessed with sunny days.  The rain has held off till late evenings all week so Adalynn, Riley, and Lucas have managed to get alot done on their Scavenger hunt.  We've also logged some more Beach time.   We did go back to the deeded beach access once.  Its a great spot very few people on the beach there, but the the path to the beach is a challenge. So we have spent more days down at the Fulgar Street Beach access. The unloading zone is more open and less tempting for the blood sucking welcoming committee. For those of you who know our daughter-in-law (Kristine), she was in a car accident back in 2023.  Today she is still battling issues with walking but true to the trooper she is she didn't let that stop her from experiencing the Gulf for the first time.  All we needed was a trolling motor    Mission Success-Now how we gonna get her outta there? The scavenger Hunte...
Read more

Prepping for Paradise

OK! Its time to blow the dust off this blog and get ready to share our next adventures in Paradise.  In my book Paradise is Captiva/Sanibel Florida. A place where we call our home every one-two years for a week away from the daily grind. I'm drawn to Captiva so that is where we set up our home base for the week.  We also seem to zero in on Laika  Lane.  We have stayed at several of the houses on Laika lane over the years and this one will be no different.  This one is a Cutie! Our group this year will be the usual suspects.  My granddaughters, the beach angels.  My daughter, wife and a new rookie to Sanibel/Captiva my daughter's boyfriend. So the truck is washed, waxed and ready to load.  Its become somewhat of a ritual to put a coat of wax on before the trip.  Some say its because I want to have a nice looking vehicle to start off on the trip.  In reality it makes it easier to clean all the love bugs and other unfortunate insects...
Read more

Dry Tortuga National Park

Image
Life's Highway can lead us down many paths.  Concrete, blacktop, gravel, dirt roads and sometimes no road at all. That's the case for our adventure today.  We take a Two and one quarter-hour boat ride 70 miles west of Key West to Dry Tortuga National Park. I wouldn't consider myself a history buff, but this place had me in total awe.  We recently bought the Senior Lifetime National Park Pass and this is officially our first stop using the pass.  It did not disappoint.   There is no way the pictures I will post here can really reveal the true beauty of this area.  The blues and turquoise water were breathtaking and sitting in the middle of this natural beauty 70 miles off the coast from Key West sits Fort Jefferson on Garden Key.  Fort Jefferson is the largest brick and mortar building in the Americas.  Some 16 million bricks were used to build the fort.  The bricks came from Maine and Pensacola.  Can you imagine the challenge of getting ...
Read more

Tuesday's addition chasing the sunrise

Image
So Tuesday we spent on the beach.  The nice thing about being right on the beach is you seem to spend much more time on it.  We have logged quite a few hours on beach time this week.  Since we only see it once a year the more time soaking up the sun and the surf the better. On Tuesday morning we got out early Carol wanted to see if she could get some pictures of the sunrise.  We are not on the best part of the island for sunrise or sunset pictures we are spoiled from spending so much time on Captiva where sunset especially, is worshiped. One beach Angel (Taylor) was up for the task the other Beach Angel (Lexi) did one of her favorite things SLEEP! When we hit the beach like a kid and a mud puddle I'm drawn to the water and automatically go into treasure hunting mode.  I looked up and Carol and Taylor are gone.  They were on a mission to find that sunrise and it was some where down the beach around the bend. A quick check of my pockets, ...
Read more

Welcome to Marathon

Image
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 do...
Read more

In the Blink of an Eye

Image
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...
Read more

30 Day-Beach Bum 2025 version

Image
So, after being a novice Beach Bum for many years I think this year it's time to turn it up a notch and move up to Semi–Pro. Normally we only spend about a week on Captiva or Sanibel. This year we’ve rented a house on Sanibel and the plan is to spend the month of June. This will give me plenty of time to hone my Beach Bum skills. I won't be going it solo my trusty co-pilot is of course here for the fun and during the month we will feature guests appearances from some seasoned Beach Angels and we will also be qualifying some new Beach Angels who will be here on their inaugural tour.   What do you think is required to be a successful Beach Bum? Here is my checklist.  Let me know if there is anything I missed. Love for the Beach Willingness to relax Sun protection Hydration Comfortable chair Towel I read to qualify as a professional Beach Bum it requires a minimalist attitude.  Seeing the back of the Pickup bed was fully packed for the trip down here I may not meet t...
Read more

Shin-Zen-Bi

Image
The Bonsai represents the three virtues or Shin-Zen-Bi, which translate into truth, goodness and beauty. Saturday was our last day on the island.  We ventured out on another field trip.  This time to North Fort Myers area to check out Wigert's Bonsai Nursery. Not sure if I should call it a Hobby, Obsession, or Passion but I am a koi keeper.  My current pond has been up for around 4years now.  I have kept Koi for around 17 years. Our Koi Pond The gang I  have also always been fascinated with Bonsai.  I feel like the link between the Japanese art of Bonsai and keeping koi are so closely related that many Koi keepers also have a natural tendency to be drawn to the art. Since we were down in the Fort Myers area for the week I decided to check out Wigert's Bonsai nursery and maybe scratch this itch I have for Bonsai. This place didn't disappoint This was a very eye opening experience and to be fully appreciated taking a camera along is a must.  As many of u...
Read more

Time Out Tuesday

Image
S0 I have been up around 6 all week.  This morning was no different except I needed to be extra quiet because sometime during the night I got room visitors.  There were two Beach Angels sleeping on my floor!  Why they would give up their bed for the floor beats me.       Looks Comfy doesn't It So with camera in hand I headed down to the dock to capture some shots of the Sunrise.  I would normally have my photographer in tow but due to her bum ankle I'm on this mission alone.  I wanted to also head over to the Beach and walk down to Blind Pass. Another First this year capturing more Sunrises than Sunsets For some reason when it comes to the ocean I'm like that kid you tell to stay out of the water puddle.  If I'm near it I'm gonna get in in it.  What usually starts out as ankle deep ends up being knee deep in no time.  Just me and the relaxing sound of the waves to serenade me as I put on my best "Shell Whisperer" impressio...
Read more