Weekend Excursion

We've lived in Florida for almost three years now and it occurred to me a while ago that we really haven't done much traveling around the state. That's sad because lots of people plan for years and years to take big vacations to Florida, and we live here and aren't taking advantage of the amazing opportunities so nearby. The goal in the next year or so is to remedy that situation. Last weekend was the first step. Together with two other families, the Millers and the Hawkins, we drove across the state to Sanibel Island, which is famous for it's seashells. We left Friday morning and came back late Saturday night, so it was a quick trip, but we had lots of fun.

Our little family decided to break up the 4 hour drive Friday morning, so we stopped at a Children's Museum around the halfway point. The museum was small and definitely geared towards younger children, which worked perfectly for us. Aubree loved playing in a mini-grocery store where she could push a little cart, go shopping, and even check-out and pay for her purchases. She also really enjoyed the dress-up clothes (no surprise there!) and playing in the just-her-size airplanes and cars. Bryce mostly just appreciated being out of his carseat, but he did manage to find some toys on which he could slobber. Here is a very amateur video of Aubree's first stage performance. She's singing a song she wrote herself entitled, "Mary had a little child."

We checked into our hotel in Fort Myers in the late afternoon ahead of our friends. We decided to head straight to the beach at Sanibel where we stayed until Sunset. Watching the sun set over the ocean was beautiful and reminded me of going to the beach at home in California (although it's almost always cool or cold in the evening at the beach in California and it was still balmy and near-perfect at Sanibel). Aubree and her friends had a great time playing in the sand. With Mark's help they dug a big water-filled hole that Aubree alternately called her swimming pool or her bathtub. We did find some neat shells, but it wasn't until we were leaving that one of our friends found piles and piles of amazing shells. We left the beach once it got dark and headed back to our not-so-wonderful hotel. Aubree had a really difficult time falling asleep and finally crashed around 10:30 pm.
The next morning we took a more leisurely pace and checked out of the hotel for the day's festivities around 10 am. We first went to the Imaginarium, a "hands-on children's science museum." Mark said the museum reminded him of a small Franklin Institute. A lot of the exhibits were over Aubree's head, but the older kids LOVED it and Aubree found a few areas that piqued her interest. For example, she had a lot of fun "painting dinosaurs" (aka digging for dinosaur bones), tasting clouds, experiencing the winds of a Category 1 hurricane (she didn't like that too much), and learning about animals (did you know that some turtles can breathe out of their bums?). Mostly she ran from area to area too keyed up to focus long on any one thing.
Following the Imaginarium we went back to the beaches for the afternoon. We initially went to the FAR end of Captiva island and found a gorgeous beach. It was a really hot day and the water looked extremely appealing. However, once we got in we realized (too late) that the waves were brutal. Before we could react we got hit with a huge, over-powering wave. Mark had Aubree and they got knocked over and went tumbling around under water until the wave rolled back out. Thankfully Mark was able to hold onto Aubree and he has scrapes and bruises all over as a reward for his heroics. Aubree was very upset, but not hurt. I wasn't as far out so Bryce and I only got a face full of sea water. We didn't stay at that beach for long. Instead, we went to the river-side of the island where there were no waves at all and swam comfortably for a few blissful hours before embarking on the semi-long drive home (during which Aubree and Bryce both slept almost the whole way!). I think Aubree summed our trip up best just after leaving the river. With a big yawn and stretch she said, "all this fun has made me sleepy!"

Mark and Aubree swimming off the Causeway at Sanibel Island, FL