Shark Fishing

Yea, that's right, I said Shark Fishing. Another fun thing we did with Erica and Rachie was shark fishing.  We went off the end of the Fort Myers Pier. The best time to go is at night when the water is calm.  Yea, they are just little ones, but it was still fun!

Buddy caught a shark!

This is Ellie holding a hammer head!  Someone else caught it.  But let the kids hold it and throw it back.

Ellie is holding a Black Tip and Paul is holding the Hammer Head.

So much fun!!  I love living here!  I don't know how we are going to move!

Feeling young

Hanging out with younger people is fun.  Here are some fun picks of kick'n it in the car.  Driving places was almost as fun as the things we actually did.  We would crank up the music, sing and dance in the car.  It's been a long time since I just let down my hair and just relaxed about life! In fact our theme song from the trip was "We are young" by Fun.

Chickie (aka Rachael) Buddy (aka Paul) and Annie (aka Erica)

Good times

Annie with baby Gabe.  Yea he's getting big- 15 pounds!

I got this really great brain teaser game for the kids.  It has been really popular in the car and at the beach and , yes even at church.  It's called Kanoodle.  If your looking for a good gift- this game is awesome. You can order it online at Amazon.

More chillin' pictures

I wonder what Gabe is thinking about

Rachie and Paul

Hanging in the car probably driving to the beach!

 

More pictures to come!

Introducing....Baby BG!

Darren's sisters, Erica and Rachie were just here for a little vacation.  You can't hang out with these girls without getting some sort of nick name.  And they have done it again.  Featured above is Baby BG... (aka Baby Gabriel). B for baby and G for Gabriel- get it?  Yea they are great.  They made up a rap song about Baby BG sitting in the car and doing all sorts of funny things.  Everytime we were in the van they were in the back with the kids singing the Baby BG rap. It was tons of fun.  We did lots of stuff so stay tuned... more pictures to come!  

A new love

Went to the beach the other night to watch the sunset.  It was breathtaking.  We had a wonderful night. 

When we first moved here I didn't really like the beach (ouch, I know).  I only had a few associations with the beach as a kid.  When we were kids we would go to California with our cousins.  I pretty much only remember a couple of things.  First, I got pulled in the undertow and I almost drowned.  My uncle Mark had to come in and rescue me.  Second, we never really wore sunscreen and I got FRIED.  I hated it.  I pretty much had negative feelings about the ocean and beach from that point on. Plus, I'm afraid of water and sharks.  Now, I am really starting to fall in love with the beach.  
Here are some things I have learned when going to the beach
1. Take an umbrealla for shade
2. Lather up the sunscreen BEFORE you get in the car to go to the beach.  Then it's not all sandy and yucky. It also has time to soak in.
3. Do not feel like you need to get in the water.  It's actually more enjoyable to just sit in the shade and read the whole time. Plus then, you have a 0% chance of getting attacked by a shark.
4. Take a good book or a good friend and have a great time!

Snakes

Paul was SOOO happy and excited he caught a snake!!

It looks like this snakes tail got cut off- but it actually "dropped" it's tail. When it feels threatened it will drop it's tail and the tail has nerves in it that will make it wiggle- which will distract the predator.  While the predator is distracted by the tail the snake makes its getaway. Pretty cool! 

I guess Ellie isn't afraid of snakes!

Julia the Princess

Well, it has been over 2 years since I had seen my dad and sisters. So I was so excited to have my sister Julia come visit.  She left 4 kids at home and brought 1 with her.  She was here 3 days.  I went over to Ft. Lauderdale to pick her up.  Driving back across Florida lead us through the Everglades.  We stopped along the way and enjoyed the wildlife.  I told her she couldn't come to Florida and not see an alligator!  No worries though- we saw plenty!

Ellie, Julia and Lawson

 We were able to go to 4 beaches in the 3 days she was here.  Talk about fun!  Here we are at Ft. Myers beach.

 One of the fun things we did was take a "cruise" of Naples.  The boat goes by the backs of all the huge houses.  As the tour guide said, "It is the richest neighborhood in the world.  The people who own these houses are not millionaires.  They are billionaires."

Only 10% of these homes are lived in- the other 90% of these houses are vacation homes.  And most of the time the people who own them only spend a week a year in them.

Most of the homes had sweet yachts.

This house is a 50 million dollar house.  The windows out front are hurricane 5 proof and bullet proof.  The windows alone were 2 million dollars.  The owner of the house comes one week a year.  Each day he drives a different car.  He has 4 Rolls Royce, 2 Bentleys, and a Lamborghini.  The garage only has one door-  all the cars on parked on a revolving floor.  Seems like a big waste of money if you ask me. 

Here is another interesting house.  The man owns the whole island.  This is a house for one of his 13 children. He is building one house on the island for each of his kids.  This house has a helicopter pad, 2 bowling alleys, a movie theater, the list goes on and on.

Julia and Lawson on the cruise

The Sunset.  They played a little Jimmy Buffet when it set.  It was super fun.

Julia and a turtle

This is our set up when we go to the beach.  Gotta have some shade.

LOL.  A face full of sand and he doesn't even care.

The last night Julia was here we went to the movies and went to eat at this really fun Italian place.  It was a great trip.  I will miss you Julia!!

Happy Happy everything

Happy Easter, happy spring, happy, happy everything!!  We really didn't do anything big this year.  Kyle was sick and I was exhausted from too much Spring Break.  The Easter bunny came and left eggs and some baskets.  It was fun.  I think I made raman noodles instead of a ham and big dinner.  oh well, I just loved being with my sweet husband and kids.