Red as Lobsters

This is how we spent the majority of our day. You can't tell it from this picture but we are incredibly sunburned. We lathered up with waterproof sunscreen and everything. I guess we'll have to reapply every thirty minutes tomorrow. The rays are tremendous down here.
Check out our mid-west rafts--I'm such a pansy.
Nice hat! :)

This common beach seen position is known as the Sanibel stoop. Gary is bent over rummaging through shells at his feet. The waves deliver them to you, but you only have a moment to grab what you want before they are drawn back in by the tide.

I'm doing the same thing, but haven't found the right one yet.
We had a blast on our rafts! I was getting rocked by some waves on the way back in. And I wish that I had a shot of Gary just trying to mount his pony. Most of you know that Gary is 6'5". With that said, he didn't exactly fit on the raft, but somehow made it work. There were times that he fell off which I secretly enjoyed. It was absolutely hilarious watching him try to conquer it again and again. Good times! :)
I love that Sanibel is kid-friendly. We are currently without ours, but here is a shot of sandcastle that I thought some of you would appreciate.

And last but not least, here are some tropical flowers to enjoy.

Sanibel is such a hidden treasure and the people here are super friendly.

On the agenda for tomorrow is J.Ding Darling refuge and renting a kayak at Tarpon Bay.

Hope you are enjoying the pictures. We're having so much fun!

Guess where we are?

We've made it to Sanibel Island, Florida and it's just beautiful! Sanibel is known as one of the top shelling capitals of the world. Just look at all of the teeny tiny shells at my feet. The beach is covered with treasures free for the taking as long as there isn't a living creature inside.
Here's a picture of the fabulous water that's warm enough to swim in. And the color is a fabulous turquoise--just breathtaking. Gary's goal is to have a tan on his feet before we leave. :) As long as I've known him, his dogs have always been stark white.

Here's a shot of our hotel swimming pool. Just look beyond and you can see the gulf side of the ocean.


I'm all smiles without a stress in the world. AHHHHH! This is the life!

Gary's enjoying the pool side bar.
Later that evening we went to dinner. This is kind of a funny story. So we get to the rental car company and find out that there's a special going on with convertibles. This lady upsells us to death and we decided to just go for it! But it was kind of comical because we had this nice cool car but couldn't figure out how to make the top go down. It was really kind of embarassing and we had come to the point of just throwing up our hands and forgetting about it. But then right before we leave to go to dinner tonight, Gary pushes the button one last time and low and behold-- it worked!!
Enjoying a fantastic meal! Yes, mom I had seafood for you. :) Yum-Yum!

And at the end of it all, we enjoyed a lovely sunset.

I'll try to keep you updated when I can. I could sure get use to this high-speed internet (which our hotel has)--it makes blogging so much simpler!

Stay tuned!

Six sweet kittens

Cocoa had her kittens on Sunday morning. Maura was actually the first person to find them and she LOVES them!

Cocoa has been such a good mother and has been working extra hard with six new mouths to feed.

If anyone would like one, please let us know.

In other news, our vacations start soon. We plan to have some super cool photos and stories to share in the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned! Ciao!

Cleaning house

We were busy with chores this weekend. Maura has always enjoyed unloading the dishwasher and she loves that Sophia can pretend to help her.
There's always a risk in letting them help, but they have to learn sometime. I always remove the knives from the silverware tray, but other than that, everything else is fair game.
FYI Men: Please note this is an instant turn on for women. I'm not an advertising or marketing specialist, but come on this is a commercial
"no-brainer". Clorox would be flying off the shelves. :) Right ladies?

Sophia's busy picking up anything off the floor. If you can't tell it by now....she's all over the house tasting everything she can find.

Here's a picture of Maura in the doghouse. Whenever we want her to wash her hands, she's suppose to go to the green bathroom, climb up on the stool, and do her thing. But here lately it has become a bubble bath for her hands fiasco which would continue for 1/2 hour if we let her. Ugh! We have come up with a timer now and she's doing much better. I'm happy to report that she washed her hands in a record 15 seconds today. Way to go Maura!
Here recently..I've been noticing that the girls take note whenever I'm holding one of them on my lap. It seems the other sister instantly notices and immediately comes over to join in.
I absolutely love this picture! We were taking a licorice break and Gary was goofin' around with the girls.... just look at Sophia's expression...she's thinking what in the world is this guy doing? :) and Maura of course already knows.
Sophia's face just after waking up from her nap. So sweet and pulling up like such a big girl!