Friday, June 30, 2006

Day 2 pics are here!!

Not a lot of variety here, but lots of life! So, here's a short synopsis of our first couple days. Flew out of Nashville to Tampa on May 31, rented a car, drove 2 hours down to the Fort Myers area and our resort, checked in, relaxed, saw the dolphins, ate at Flippers on the Bay during the tremendous thunderstorm, returned and relaxed some more.

Day two, June 1: Hung out on the beach, enjoyed the manatees, played in the pool--enchanting little waterfall there. Hubby doesn't like to swim in the pool when there's an ocean nearby, but I think it's fun. Especially when you can see the ocean right there too. And you know a shark's not going to bite you. Ate lunch at Flippers, hung out in the hotel, took naps, went out to eat. We ate at some great restaurants there. Man, wish I could just go to one tonight!

So, basically, our first couple days we just relaxed and took wildlife pics--great vacation already!


Our hotel as viewed from the beach on the bay. Very natural beach around here, and quiet....ahhh. Posted by Picasa


What's this? Is it Florida's own Loch Ness Monster? No, wait.... Posted by Picasa


Manatees!!! At least 5 or 6 of them were swimming 25-30 feet from us in the bay by our hotel. It was so cool!! Posted by Picasa


Though we couldn't get full shots of the manatees, here's some nice detail of the tail and side. Posted by Picasa


A pelican flying by our balcony. This was a wildlife-ful day! Posted by Picasa


Hubby takes great pics, doesn't he? Great detail in this shot! Posted by Picasa


A graceful blue heron browsing for food near the hotel. Great way to end our second evening here. Posted by Picasa

Looky!! Looky!! I finally posted Day 1 pics from our vacation.

If you will notice below, I posted pics from our Florida vacation that was, yes, can hardly believe it, a MONTH ago! However, they are out of sequence a bit. They go from bottom to top, so I'll have to remember to post them backwards next time. These are the pics from day 1 of our trip, and I took the advice of my friend and downloaded a great program called Hello that lets me post pics lickety snap on the blog. Great, super-duper stuff there! So, I will try to get the rest of our days on there soon.

The only reason I have time today is that the girls have been sick--isn't that sad? Stomach bug. They're resting in the living room. Now that I know how easy it is to post pics, I'll be doing it more often, I hope. So, stay tuned!


Our first view of dolphins frolicking in the bay. Took this shot from our balcony. We saw dolphins almost every day. I absolutely loved the wildlife in this area! Posted by Picasa


Our lovely bath. It really was nice, pretty roomy too. Great housekeeping service here. I highly recommend this place for vacations! Posted by Picasa


Our little kitchenette. Everything you could need. We didn't cook though. I made coffee once and we used the fridge for water, juice, and sparkling grape juice. Posted by Picasa


Our king size bed, also messed up. But they had lots of pillows, at least. Posted by Picasa


Our living area in our suite. I wish I had taken pics before we junked it up. Posted by Picasa


The view of the bay from our room. Notice how cloudy it was. We walked to dinner at the nearby "Flippers Grill on the Bay", where they have seating on a deck right on the beach. There we got to witness an awesome thunderstorm right on us. It was a little scary, but they did have big plastic shades to pull down around the walls and keep us dry. Posted by Picasa


The first good view of our resort, Lover's Key Resort, just near Lover's Key State Park south of Fort Myers, Florida. Posted by Picasa

Monday, June 19, 2006

Where does the time go?

AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! I'm back into regular life and I'm overwhelmed! I can't believe I haven't got vacation pics posted yet. We got back from Florida on June 5 and then a trip to Louisville on June 8-10, then visited the family until the 11th, and I'm still not caught up. We still have the girls clothes in suitcases and I'm dressing them from there. We jumped back into our small bathroom remodel that we started in FEBRUARY!!! It takes us FOREVER to do this stuff. Our goal is to finish the tile by the end of this month, which includes cutting holes for each pipe, which takes about an HOUR per hole because of the diamond/carbide bit. I have to keep a steady stream of water on it while Bryan cuts it with the drill press or it will get too hot. And if you go to fast, the tile cracks. Just two holes left, then we can lay it all and grout it.

So, here I am, really needing to get a pile of dishes done, two loads of laundry done, finish up unpacking, and delve into some bathroom work. And of course the kids are ALWAYS wanting to go outside. So, I have to get this stuff done between outside time. If the pics get posted this week, it will be a miracle. All I can tell you now is we really enjoyed Florida. Lots of dolphins, up close to some manatees, birds all over, went canoeing for the first time, deep sea fishing, quiet beach, good food, and lovely hotel. Maybe I'll make little posts about each day of our trip. Might be more manageable. Well, off to tackle some giants! This is the day the Lord has made--I will rejoice and be glad in it!!! (if I can get a chance to ;)