My Get-Away

I just got home from Florida!

My parents and I spent 5 days on Sanibel Island, FL.

Shells! Shells! More shells!

Sanibel Island is known for its shelling beaches.

I brought all these home in my carry-on. :-)

On Sanibel Island many shell lovers do what's called, the "Sanibel Stoop". Here I am, doing what tourists do.

Dad was teaching at a conference held at the "Ding" Darling Wildlife Refuge--that's the reason we were able to embark on this gorgeous Florida adventure. Dad's work has taken me so many wonderful places. Thanks for always letting me come along for the ride Dad!

We drove the 4 mile loop through the wildlife refuge and walked a bunch of trails to get a good feel for Southwest Florida. Where Dad is walking in this picture, we heard alligators-in the wild-bellowing in the bushes near us. I was spooked. Did I mention we were the only 3 people around?? Hello Alligator Bait!

The mangroves were really neat and different looking.

230 kinds of birds live in this refuge. Look at Mom & Dad--we were checking them all out.

My favorite was the roseate spoonbill.

Alligators! Inside the refuge there were some areas where the gator watching was gooood. We saw this guy swim right past us.

After he swam by us, he crossed the road--right where we were standing!

Reading this sign kinda gave me the goosebumps.

There he goes, swimming away on the other side of the refuge.

We left the island for a day and went into Fort Myers. The winter estates of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford are right there in Southwest Florida. We had a great time touring the historic grounds and houses.

Here are some light fixtures in Edison's home that he designed.

Great views of the Caloosahatchee River from the estates. It was good fun to spend time with 2 of my best friends.

Oh and it was wiiindy--the wind whipped us around our audio tour.

Thomas Edison planted hundreds of Royal Palm trees on and around his estate. They are gorgeous and so majestic.

We celebrated Mom's birthday while in sunny Florida (what a way to spend your big day, right?!). Lunch on the beach.....

Famous ice cream on Sanibel....

A tasty seafood dinner....

Watching the sunset on Bowman's Beach (OK, so we actually missed the sunset by like 60 seconds, but the afterglow was pretty lovely)....

Happy Birthday Mom! Love ya!

I had a ball in Florida!

Three cheers for Mike taking time off from work to care for the kids while I was gone. I loved my R&R and came home renewed. I could have used a few more days (read: months!) of 80 degree weather, but the people I love live where its cold, so I happily threw on a scarf and boarded the plane for home.

I leave you with a picture of some beautiful, rose wrapped toilet paper. The luxuries of room service (sigh) I will not soon forget.