Sanibel 2013 Part 2

Monday started with Isaac re-adjusting to the time zone and fast awake at 7am. I am living in dread fear that he will fully adjust to eastern time by the end of our trip and be up at 6 again, only to have that become 5am back in Minneapolis. IT WILL HAPPEN. A good breakfast and we joined the cousins for a morning walk up to the small Annex to the Ding Darling nature center: This is where we saw the baby alligator and the gopher tortoise last year, and we were optimistic for great viewings... Our new resort is just a half mile from the annex so we had a nice march before it got too warm. And we did see some good stuff, including a pretty big old gator lolling about in the water - about a 6 footer. Not as many birds as last year.

Got back home and it was time for the pool again - Isaac is part Mer-man I suspect. Bella sat out, preferring to play with the cousins. Lunch was hit or miss, with Isaac declining major food in favor of running outside again. I got a little couch nap in while we all stayed out of the sun for a while... but Bella and I went off for a walk again while Pamela took Isaac to the beach with the cousins. Bella and I wandered down to a resort just down the beach where our friends Jenner and Mark were staying, and hey, there they were at the pool bar! So Bella and I had drinks with them (Bella had lemonade, I had a beer), and we brought a margarita back for Pamela, which she accepted with a smile. By early afternoon, it was apparent that everyone was getting a little cranky and we needed some major food. So into the car and off to the Blue Giraffe.

The Blue Giraffe is a very average place (and I think I wrote the same thing about it last year too), but good kid food, plus some cute shops and a playground outside. Inside, I had a very odd deja vu: I was was drawn to the build your own burger section, and dictated an order to the waiter - burger well done, guac, BBQ, Bacon, and jalapenos. The waiter said they didn't HAVE jalapenos, and I said "really?" and then realized, I had attempted to build this very same burger one year earlier and been stymied by the same issue. What is odd is that I had NOT tried to order this strange burger combo since last year. There was something in the wording of the BYOB menu section that triggered my same response. This year at least he offered roasted poblano peppers.

Bellies full, Bella and Pamela wanted to browse the shops, and Isaac wanted to play in the kiddie playground. He played well with the other little kids, but over time, their parents were all ready to go, and he was left alone on the playground. I went in to play and he asked if I'd play TAG. Well sure I would. We raced around and around, and then it happened. In the paver sidewalk, I was running top speed and TRIPPED. I fell forward, and broke my fall with my hands, but my momentum was such that I kept tipping forward, and smacked my chin on the ground. I don't think I even landed - I pushed myself right back up to standing, but found I had cuts on my hands, a puncture in my thigh from where my keys jammed in, and a good scrape on my chin - plus a sore jaw from getting my teeth smacked together.

Isaac watched from a safe, tag-free distance and wanted to know if I was ok... as did a group of older folk nearby. At that moment, Pamela wandered up too asking "NOW what?" Bandaids and neosporin were brought out, and i was actually quite a bit shaken by the event - it's not fun to be out of control like that. But I also wanted to be strong... And was feeling just sort of old and broken. Fortunately, nothing WAS broken by a miracle, so despite not being able to shave for a day or two, and a scraped up palm, I'm doing ok. But it was a little freaky.

There was supposed to be an ice-cream sundae bar after dinner with the cousins, but their dinner ran later and later and later, and by 8:30pm, there was still no ice cream and Isaac was a bit of a wreck. We gave him a bowl of whipped cream and a promise that TOMORROW there would be ice cream. He cried a bit, but we also finished up book 14 of the Secrets of Droon, so all was ok. I came out to find my cousins and uncle sitting on our porch, dipping into my scotch: The remaining kids were playing flashlight tag in the dark, and we were talking guy stuff. My Strathisla 12 was finished up and the kids were all headed to bed by 10, so I kicked them out and went to bed. I might have had a little too much scotch.

Tuesday:
I awoke at 5, insomnia wracking my brain, worried about statements of work and deliverables and whether I was any good at my job and all sorts of other things I have no right to think about on a nice vacation. By 6:30, I was back asleep, only to be awakened again at 7 by Isaac jumping on the bed. Literally. The day had nowhere to go but up. (And in the clear light of day, no there weren't big things to worry about and I actually AM very good at my job, thank you very much)

We gassed up with coffee and breakfast and hit the beach for a shelling run bright and early - Bella found joy in following shore birds. A very nice whelk washed up at our feet, and we picked it up, only to find it occupied. So we threw it back into the sea, only to have it wash up at our feet a good 100 yards later. I dubbed it Sidney the Suicidal Whelk, and we threw it even further back out, and we didn't see him again. Bella found a good hunk of coral. And we watched several dozen pelicans in a feeding frenzy, swooping and diving for fish - it was hard not to hear "Flight of the Valkyries" watching them. As we walked back, Isaac feigned tiredness, so he got a shoulder ride from me, and a piggyback from Bella.

Then it was Isaac headed to the Pool again, and I joined him. Bella was with the cousins again, for some reasons, the cousins have consented to having Bella tie them to palm trees. Bella loves this and cackles evilly. I got a nap in the afternoon, and we all got ready for our second Ding adventure of the week: The Tram Tour of the Ding Darling Nature refuge. We had done this last year too, and had thoroughly enjoyed it. This year, we had a different guide, but just as much fun: Highlights included a whole lot of Tarpons jumping out of the water, a horseshoe crab mating frenzy (dozens of those hideous things crawling all over eachother), a black mangrove snake trying not to be seen, and TWO big crocodiles - one a bit hidden but clearly huge, and the other swimming in a lazy circle for us to watch. They were close, they were noticing us, and we were happy to be up in a large vehicle. This year, not as many tiny mangrove crabs, however. Asked the kids what they thought after the tour, and the reviews were two thumbs up from each (though Liam added "Three Thumbs Up" - not sure what that thumb represented).

When we got back, we realized that with 3 sets of parents and 7 kids, we have OPTIONS, and we were offered the first of the "Date nights" - 2-3 hours to disappear while the other people fed and watched our kids (we'll be returning the favor for the other two families, of course!). We gussied up a bit and headed off to Traders (or as Bama renamed it, "Groupers").

Dinner was fantastic - I had horseradish crusted salmon, Pamela had blackened grouper. They had a good scotch on the bar (Glenrothes) and Pamela had a nice prosecco wine - we just enjoyed each other's company without worrying whether there was a hamburger on the menu. We wandered back in time to see the kids finishing up their sundaes, and I wrangled them back to home for bed.

I read to them both - Isaac and I started book 15 of Droon (something about MoonScrolls), and Bella and I kept on with Percy Jackson. Funny thing - Bella has started reading Percy Jackson 3 times and sort of crapped out in the same point (Page 58?) each time. Tonight, we finally blew PASTE that milestone, and kept on going! It's sort of fun to read it out loud because it's written first person in the voice of a petulant 12 year old demigod. So I get to throw a lot of attitude into the reading, and Bella has a lot of giggles.

After everyone was lights out, I pulled on the shoes and wandered up to the beach - it's a moonless night, pitch black except for the stars: they keep the lights low at the beach so as not to bum out the turtles, so it's like being on the moon out there - seeing by starlight. I stood staring at the sky, and that magical thing happened where I started to see THROUGH the first layer of the brightest stars, and see hints of all the stars behind them - and I got to a very peaceful place, realizing that there's always more to see if you let yourself stop and pay attention.

That's part of why I love doing these Blogs - by the end of a day, it's fun to try to remember all of the fun things that happened in that day. Listing it all out, it's pretty amazing just how much we pack in, while still feeling like a vacation.

And we're less than half way through! More adventures to come.