Big Blue Watery Road

Today we were back out on the boat out of Naples this time with high hopes of dolphin sightings and water sports success! Kyle was eager to use his new offshore knowledge so he enthusiastically captained us out into the Gulf. It was really pretty and we were pretty close to what looked a like a cool beach. Marty was the first to try and have success getting up and knee boarding while we were out in the wide open water but there was enough chop that we opted not to have the kids try skiing and instead, after bobbing just long enough to leave more than one passenger feeling a little woozy we headed back to inland waters. We found a back chute of a channel, watched 2 dolphins for a bit and then decided to let the kids try skiing. The current was working against them and there wasn't much in the way of success! With eyes to the sky, we made it back in just as it started to rain. It was another pretty great boat day - the kids are becoming pros! - That or Kristin and I are getting incredibly good at packing snacks!

Resting Beach Face

Beach day!! With no red tide to keep us at bay this year we spent the late morning and much of the afternoon relaxing and of course snacking on the beach. Otto even took a nap on me, something that is pretty much unheard of these days. I made sure to document the moment because there's a chance it's the last one. The kids collected no less than 100 "sea green beans" the ones that floated were the favorites. There was lots of swimming too! We didn't see much of Nora at the beach because she made friends with an adorable 1 year old little girl that she played with the whole time. We ordered pizza for dinner and had our traditional glow pool party. It wasn't as fancy as in past years but the kids still had a lot of fun! They all crashed out pretty quickly after we got them out of the pool!

Little Bit of Work, Lotta Bit of Play

Today was a scheduled pool day at the house since the grown ups all had work related calls to take and make. We decided it would be a good night to go to dinner at a local brewery and then we went to night night sun until we were chased off by - you guessed it, more lightening!

On a Pontoon

Once the weather pattern broke we took to the waters but still had to keep an eye on the skies. Today we boated out of Bonita Springs - the marina is about 5 minutes from the house. We went down the Imperial River and with the tide headed out found a cool little beach right by the inlet - river on one side, Gulf on the other. It was a perfect place to let the kids - and Cort, out to swim, explore and collect a zillion shells. The outgoing current made for some funny moments with the kids and Cort's toy got away from us once the direction switched and the tide started coming back in, but it was eventually retrieved in a daring bow of the boat rescue by Marty. The dock hands assured us it was their skills that kept the storms at bay despite a couple threatening looking clouds.

Dinosaurs, Pumpkins and a Tooth!

We took advantage of the stormy weather and tried something new. While Kyle was out getting his offshore certification Marty, Kristin & I took the kids and painted some "Harry pottery". With a primarily water free day, we of course threw in some Royal Scoop. Nora even lost another tooth and actually kept track of it long enough to be visited by the Tooth Fairy for the first time! She didn't get her requested amount of money but the Tooth Fairy did notice all her other missing teeth that hadn't been cashed in on and very generously compensated her. You can't get what you don't ask for right???

Another Year in Naples!!

I'm pretty sure Otto doesn't know where we live anymore. Haha! After almost a week at home we're in Naples now for a much anticipated week of vacation!! We got off to a stormy start the weather finally broke and we had a wonderful week! Lighting resulted in lots of indoor time on at first but off the bat we managed to sneak out for some bike riding practice, water sports training in the pool and caught part of a night night sun.

Artistic Tendencies?

It's Thursday, and for those of you keeping score at home we have strawberry toothpaste on the hall rug on Monday, Greek yogurt on the family room floor for Tuesday (there was a side of not pictured strawberry jelly on the family room rug), we have yesterday's nail polish incident AND once again we revisted the strawberry jelly on the family room rug and today you ask...well today was a brand new tube of sunscreen that I hadn't even gotten put away yet and now only half the tube remains. So yeah...the week rolls on! At least we made it out of Target with things today and finished off the school supply list. Small victories! Hope you all had a good day with less stuff on your floors!