My son got an unexpected vacation from work and the family really wanted to visit the beach. I floated the idea of staying at a Fort Myers beach so we could visit my brother and my cousin and my aunt who is now the only living sibling of my mother. We had a fantastic time even though we were sad to learn our other set of in-laws could not join us due to a sick pet. We had rented a 3 bedroom cottage using airbnb and rented a tricycle for the week and a pontoon boat for one day. The weather was perfect all week too.
We spent many mornings and afternoons at the beach. For a spring break week it was not crowded down by the mid-island housing area. We practically had the beach to ourselves!
My brother and family joined us for the boating day and it was so much fun to visit and chug over to the Lover’s Key beach together. Our street shared a boat dock so we were able to stop there to have a bbq.
The family took some side trips too. We stopped at the Ding Darling nature preserve on Sanibel Island and learned about three types of Mangroves that establish new islands in the bays. We also took in a little local wildlife admiring several small lizards there. My granddaughter was fascinated with the pink flamingos so we stopped at the Everglades Wonder Garden in Bonita Springs on our last day. They were magnificent and the alligators were fun to feed too.
Despite all the fun around us the kids were able to enjoy the simple pleasure of a packing box.
We also connected with a friend from long ago and she was the same in so many ways. Time does not really change us! This family time was precious and lovely. We returned exhausted though. After a day of rest we were ready to get back to our projects.
