Sanibel 2013 Part 3

At the end of the day Thursday, Pamela and I were staring at the wall, exhausted:  We had just had the whole clan over for a spaghetti dinner, and had agreed on some kid swapping - Isaac, Julian, and Trent were all lined up in Isaac's king size bed and were pretending to sleep, furtively whispering and giggling, and Bella was sharing a room with Liam.  All were on their way down to sleep, and a thunderstorm was rolling in.  We were scared the kids would wake up from the booms.  Pamela turned to me and said "i honestly don't remember what even HAPPENED today".  Well, let me help you remember.

Wednesday
The day of the Surrey Bike.  I have always classified Surrey Bikes in the same area as paddle boats - they seem like a very charming thing to do, until you get about 200 yards down the road or out from shore in one...  then one or more of the kids decide they're done with pedaling, and you're getting a fantastic, unexpected workout.

Pamela and I had looked at the prices and decided that a 2 hour block was probably right - another group was deciding whether it would make sense to rent for 24 hours...  the kind people at the rental place said "just take it out, pay for the first hour, and when you bring it back, we'll give you the best rate based on how long you keep it".  There were raised eyebrows and knowing looks amongst the workers - "these people will be back within the hour" - bets were probably taken.

That all said, it really was a charming way to travel, and when Bella did decide to help with the pedaling, it was actually not that hard.  But when it was just Pamela and I pedaling, going up a hill, it was not AS much fun.  We took the bike 2 miles up the island to the crazy ice cream place Pinocchio's - home of the atomic colored mango sorbet.  We got there early with no line, and by the time we left, the line was out the door...

The trip took closer to 90 minutes, and we were only charged for the hour.  Pamela and I were both chagrinned to discover that our motion sensors (for exercise tracking) hadn't picked up our pedaling frenzy, and our activity trackers showed as though we had sat in a deck chair for that 90 min.

There were some naps taken, a little swimming, some beach time...   and lots of kid play time.  Late afternoon, I made my power play:  IT IS TIME FOR SCHNAPPERS HOTS.  As you know from last year, this is one of my favorite places - great dogs and burgers.  High prices, but really good.  The music was straight out of the 70s.

We headed back and there was more kids-running-like-mainacs while Scott and Tiff headed out for their evening out.  We sat on the porch with rum and cokes, and then it was off to bed for the kids.

Thursday
I got up early and took a little run with a cool breeze.  Then straight to the pool for me and Isaac, and to the beach for Pamela and Bella - they've been the shelling pair.  We got dressed and headed over to our friend's condo for lunch - the Casa Ybel complex with a great restaurant.  Mark and Jenner and their kids Jonah and Olivia welcomed us, and we shared lunch by the poolside.  They made a great blackened grouper sandwich!  Bella and Isaac got sparkly temp tattoos.

Back to the complex and Isaac and I played some tennis while the gals did more shelling...  then the skies opened up - RAIN DAY!  The kids hit Cabin Fever with shocking rapidity:  I piled them into the car and we headed over to Jerry's to get some ice cream and a couple of toys for rain play.  We saw the traffic off the island as one long unbroken stream of cars, but we were able to cross to get to our treasure.  After more play, we invited everyone over for spaghetti dinner, Jen and Harman got their date night at Trader's, and you know the rest!

RANDOM THOUGHTS:
I've done my best not to do much/any work on vacation, but there was a big sale I needed to engage in...  but have pretty much stayed off of the work tip.

The kids have been doing some amazingly complex play time with small plastic animals.

It's Friday, and all the kids are tired and it's been raining all morning.  There's quite the pillow fort in our living room.

That's it for now.