Florida Part 3

Grandpa Marshall had to go home on Monday, so we had lunch in Naples and got dropped at the Zoo while Gangi took Grandpa to the airport.  Turns out, the time it takes to drive Naples to Fort Myers and back is about how long the short attention span crew can spend at the Naples Zoo.

There are still hints of the zoo's past life as Jungle Larry's Caribbean Gardens - you can pay an extra $5 to feed a leaf of romaine lettuce to a giraffe, or ride a camel.  Since waiting in line to have a last minute chicken-out is something I currently refuse to do, we settled for watching other people feed giraffes and ride camels, and devoted a little extra time to the playground.

So, basically, we only have photos of fake animals from our zoo trip.

But this one is real - 

That big guy was sunning himself at the end of the Fakahatchee boardwalk, and thank goodness.  A cold front had arrived, and I mistakenly thought the kids might enjoy a nature walk, since it was too cold to swim or go to the beach.  Lucie insisted on pushing the stroller and crying when it wouldn't go the way she wanted.  Brennan wanted to know where all the animals were, since there were signs along the boardwalk featuring bald eagles, river otters, etc. Basically, it was the Worst Zoo Ever.  He did enjoy telling everyone we met on the way back to look out for the big alligator.

Enough nature, time for lunch.  After 3 trips to Everglades City, we finally made it to the Camellia Street Grill.  It was nice to sit by the water and warm up in the sun, and Mommy was super-excited to find a restaurant salad with mixed greens and herbs and even little edible flowers.

It would have been smarter and faster (and more fun) to skip the boardwalk and just go to the playground.  So that's what we did next time.

Even more fun was a special ride invented by Gangi - the grocery bag swing:

...and we didn't even have to leave the living room!

All too soon, our last day arrived.  We packed our bags, locked up the cottage, and drove to Fort Lauderdale, so our last night would be close to the airport.  I didn't want a repeat of last year's white-knuckle experience, sitting in gridlock and watching the minutes tick down, followed by my curbside-to-checking-the carseat-to-airplane-boarding-while-toting-a-3-year-old-and-14-month-old-who-could-barely-walk mad dash.  I may have set an airport record.

We had a nice dinner on the sprawling patio at Le Tub - 

I don't why it's called Le Tub, but they do have plenty of them.

And it was a good place to watch one last sunset-

It was a looong flight home, but we survived, much to the chagrin of the couple flying with their 20-ish daughter behind us.  (message to row 18 - Yes, next time you shouldn't fly coach.  To Florida.  During Spring Break.  BTW, your daughter was small once.)

As usual, it was a great, fun, relaxing trip, and we're excited to come again soon - 

Florida Part 2

We had a nice long stay planned, so we would have plenty of time to swim, sail, go to the beach, get together with family, go shopping in Naples, and just relax in the sun in shorts and a t-shirt.  So what was the highlight of the trip?  Well, based on the number of times it's come up in conversation since our return home, it was riding in the race car shopping cart at Publix.

Getting towed in the wagon by Gangi was a close second, I think.

Well, for the record, I like the beach more than grocery shopping.  We packed up the sand toys and spent a windy morning on the beach in Marco.  Bren split his time between a construction project and screeching in the waves with Mommy.

Lucie enjoyed stomping every sand castle and sand animal to smithereens and burying her legs.  Marco Island does have very nice white powdery sand.

I even got Gangi to take over the camera work for a bit, so we could have a family picture, because I was all emotional about this The Mom Stays in the Picture piece in the Huffington Post.  (the short version:  don't be so self- conscious about your rumpled, imperfect mom-look that you rob your children of photos of their families & happy times)  One of the many dangers of living in California is staying stuck on Pacific Time during trips east, and finding yourself wide awake long after everyone else has gone to bed and following every link your friends post on facebook.

While we're on the topic of family photos - any guesses as to who this is?

Nope, not Lucie - me, at Lucie's current age.  A little creepy, huh?  My grandmother finally followed through on her threat to sell her Marco Island condo, and this picture surfaced during the packing up.  

After our morning at the beach, it was time for lunch at City Seafood - one of the fish markets on the channel in Everglades City.  This was our first visit during Spring Break proper, so I was surprised by how busy it was - this was the first time we had to go upstairs to find a table.

That said, the view may be better up there, with a little less noise from the airboats.  As always, the grouper basket with fries was a big hit both with the kids and Grandpa Marshall.

But what's even better than fried food you can eat with your fingers?

Ice cream.

Later, we made Grandpa Marshall go to the pool and show off the remote control submarine he'd built.  I'm not sure what Brennan liked better - watching the submarine or watching Grandpa go into the drink after it.  Apparently there's a ballast issue involving the weight of today's batteries vs. the 1960's.

Lucie wanted to be part of the action, too, so she sat down in the pool in her clothes and had to walk home minus shorts.  Luckily, it's a short walk - but she had her backpack, just in case.

Here's the new sailboat, as explained by Brennan in one breathless go:

"See that big boat over there, that boat belongs to my Grandpa Marshall, it's called Adagio because it goes so slow."