Fort Myers Beach: Part 2

It was time to explore. We headed to the north end of the island to check out the downtown area.

This is a very popular area and a much busier beach than the one near Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary's house.

It looks like a print or a postcard.
Hello from Fort Myers Beach!

From the end of the pier we watched people fish and had an amazing view of the shoreline. 

The night before my mom had to fly home we walked to the beach to watch the sunset. 

I was amazed by God's handiwork.

 

The day before we left Dan and his dad went fishing.  It's been on both of their lists to go ocean fishing for a while now and I'd say it paid off big time.  Dan caught this HUGE 250 pound grouper. It took him about 30 minutes to wrangle him in and it gave him an even larger fish tale to tell the rest of his life. 

While he was fishing, Mary Ann and I took the kids to the beach one more time.  Greta napped on me the entire hour and 15 minutes we were there.  She woke up about 5 minutes before we left.  I enjoyed the cuddles so I won't complain one bit about it. 

My view from the shady napping spot.

This is one of my favorite picture of her from the trip.

I mentioned in "Part 1" that Greta wasn't too keen on the pool at the beginning of the trip but she amazed us all with the 180 she did by the end.  

Not only did she like the pool but she jumped in! I'd say she had to have jumped in at least 50 times in the last day and a half. No exaggeration. 

Nora perfected the cannonball.

 She was hilarious.  She didn't even want to hold his hands as she jumped in.  At times he was a good three feet away waiting for her and she'd go right in, head all the way under, and bob right up.  No fear, this girl.

They got big into jumping in all at the same time.  

"wa!"
She's counting 1-2-3 here. Something
she picked up from the others.

Just a few more beach pictures to finish off the post. 

Caught the sunrise at the end of the block the morning we left.  

Thanks for your generosity opening your home to us, Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary.  You spoil us and we appreciate it! 

Fort Myers Beach: Part 1

We were invited down to Dan's aunt and uncle's place in Fort Myers Beach for a week in March and we jumped at the chance.  An amazing place to vacation with not one but two grandmas there to help with the kids at the end of a long winter? Why wouldn't we say yes?!

The posts about our stay are kind of long (and I did by best to scale down) so I broke it up into two separate posts. Well, really three if you count the post about Disney too.

Let's start with the plane.  It was a first for all three of our kids.  We chose a very early flight (because they seem happiest in the morning) 6:30/7 o'clock-ish which meant we had to leave our house at 4:45am.  Ugh.  Nora woke up 20 minutes before she had to because she was excited.  When Dan woke Myles he immediately started jumping on the bed chanting, "Florida! Woo hoo!"  And Greta slept until just before we had to shove her into the car.  We were off to a great start.  

Still learning the whole concept of personal space. 

Excited for their first plane ride! 

 I had lots packed for Greta to do on the plane.  I was pretty nervous about how things would go.  No parent wants to have a screaming child on the plane. I hardly needed any of it.  Snacks, Gram, a couple of short-lived activities and eventually the iPad was all she needed.

Pom poms into an old milk bottle. Put in. Dump out.
Repeat. Entertaining for a 17 month old.

Coloring and stickers in their own notebooks
along with Frozen.

 Dan sat with Nora and Myles while Greta sat with my mom and me across the aisle.  With about an hour left in the flight, my mom and I got ditched and she finished watching Frozen with the others. Super-Dad with all three kids while I looked on.  I'll call it a success.  

We have arrived! 

And quickly changed into tank tops.
85* and gorgeously sunny.

Coming off the heels of swimming lessons, they wasted no time getting their suits on and jumping in.  I think it was within an hour of arriving.  And why not?

   

While we were there her wind-blown hair developed the cutest wave
in the back.

Uncle Bob and Aunt Mary's house is right along the canal where
you can see jumping fish. If you look closely in the right third of the
picture you can see a fish mid-flight.

Greta was so relaxed during this trip.  Truly the happiest I've seen her.

 

She didn't care for being in the water at the beginning of the week
but by the end that had completely changed. 

Practicing her back float.  By the end of the week she could float without
the life jacket.  Her record was 24 seconds. 

A short walk to the beach.

Greta's first trip to the ocean.  Let's just talk about this for a minute.  I will never ever forget it.  She loved it.  There was no fear for her.  My cheeks hurt from smiling as I watched her experience it. I can still hear the squeals of delight. 

 

  

Nora spent most of her time on the beach
collecting shells. 

Joy radiates from this picture. 

As I said, she had no fear of the ocean. She wanted to go deeper and deeper.  The waves didn't phase her one bit.

She didn't even mind the sand on her toes. 

She's going to move away to a warmer climate when she's older.
I can tell already.

 The pool and the beach.  This is how we spent most of our days. The perfect relaxing vacation.