Day 3 Sunday

This day was beautiful.  We went to church, came home, took naps, went on a drive to see all the huge houses, and then went to the beach to watch the sun set. 

Remember all those houses I saw on the boat tour with my sister, Julia?  Well, we took a tour of the same houses from land.

I love driving around looking at the houses.

I thought these colors were so fun!  In Florida you can get away with colors like this!

I liked these colors too!

I love these trees!  I expect to see a fairy flying out of one of them one of these days.

This house was HUGE!! The light fixtures out front cost more than my first born son.  Darren says if he lived here he would wear a sword on his belt all the time and make people call him Master. 

At the Naples Pier to watch the sunset.  I don't think the weather could have been more perfect!

Mark, Makayla, and Jared

Malinda and Jared

Makayla

Ellie and Emma- soul mates.

Me and Darren

Mark and Malinda

Mark and Derek

Mark's family

This picture cracks me up.

To add to the beauty of the sunset- we had a full moon start rising behind us.  It was sooooo beautiful!

The Pier

Yes, it was as romantic as it looks

Makayla holding up the moon

Paul has an idea!

Day 2 Clam Pass

Yes, I am still blogging about our vacation with Mark and Malinda. I am gonna get it done the next couple of days.  So, on the 2nd day we started out by going to Clam Pass.  It is a totally fun beach that you get to ride a tram to get to.  .

We started out the day by seeing this guy in the river by the parking lot

Malinda with Derek and Jared

The boys just played and played

Ellie and Emma loved body surfing.  They rode wave after wave for hours!

Mark playing with Jared.  We were at the beach for 4 or 5 hours- it was so much fun!

Malinda had a great time building a sandcastle.

The kids just played...

And played...

and played..

And played. 

Great day at the beach!!

That night we had an adults only date, including Gabe.  We went to one of our favorite restaurants- Coconut Jacks! 

Me and Darren!

Mark and Malinda!

So, we went to dinner at coconut Jack, then we went to a movie at the Silverspot (oh yea, the movie theater with huge leather chairs) and then decided to get Creme Brulee for desert at a different restaurant.  Now that what I call a night out!  Gabe wasn't to happy about something.

Singing in the Rain.

Well, the first night Mark and Malinda were here we got rained out.  We went to Ft. Myers to sit out on the street and listen to the band.  The band got canceled cause of the rain, so we sat inside.  Then we went shark fishing.  Not a bite.  Apparently the sharks don't bite when it's stormy.  It's ok - the kids still had a great time, they loved they storm.  They just danced in the rain all night.  I would have danced in the rain too if I wasn't holding a baby.  It ended up being a fun night.  

 

Let the Festivas begin!!

Ok, that means let the vacation begin!  Actually, the vacation is over, let the vacation "Blogging" begin! Yea, I know, sometimes other peoples vacations can be kinda boring.  I'll try and make it a little interesting.  Just pretend you were there on the beach with us:)

My brother Mark and his wife Malinda and their 4 kids-Makayla (10), Emma(8), Derek (5), and Jared (2) came during Darren's break. We seriously had such a great time.  It was soooooooo good to see family!!

What is the first thing you need to do when you get to Florida?  Go to the beach!! So that's just what we did.  I wanted the weather to be perfect for them, but it was cloudy and windy.  It actually just made the waves bigger and the kids had a great time playing in them.

Setting up "camp"

Mark having a great time getting subliminally sunburned!

Mark and Jared

Ellie and Emma are like soul mates.

A funny bird that kept looking for fish in Paul's casting net and in his bucket.

Because of the wind a bunch of wind surfers came.  It was awesome to watch them!

Me, Darren and cute baby Gabe

Remember that metal detector Darren got me for Mother's Day?  There it is in action!! I love that thing!  We found a penny, dime, quarter and 2 metal lids from yogurt.  It was a ton of fun the kids were so excited, but I think Mark and I had more fun with it than any of the kids!

There are always a bunch of these tortoises along the side of the road.  So cool to see. There were also a bunch of sea turtles nests roped off on the beach.  I forgot to take a picture.  Oh well.  

 

 

Well, that was the morning of day 1.  More to come tomorrow!