First on the agenda this morning, right after breakfast, was a trip to the super-duper swimming pool! Man, we hit that thing right when it opened up and had the place to ourselves the whole morning. I even braved the hot tub for a little bit…I just dipped my little piggies in because it was a little warm, but I still had a splashin’ good time.

Immediately after pool time, we jumped across the street to Pincher’s Crab Shack…one of Poppa’s favorite hot spots. I couldn’t let Morgan’s daring “fried gator” feat from yesterday go unchallenged, so I bellied up to the table for some cheese and crab dip with tortilla chips. It was pretty spicy, but I loved it! Pincher’s was really fun, but we were all pretty worn out from the swimming and the full bellies, so we headed home for nap time to rest up for our big photo shoot in the evening.

After nap, we got all slicked up and made our way over to Sanibel’s Lighthouse Beach for a few snaps with our jolly British photographer. He worked really hard to grab our least-diva moments, but I think there will be some gems in the bunch…we’ll see. As is usual for us, the best shots came after the professional left…the candid pics of us playing on the beach are really cool and capture some of the best memories from our trip!

Then, the real magic happened…we headed down to The Mermaid Kitchen for big, big slices of delicious cake! We stuffed our faces with fluffy cake and smooth, creamy icing…it was very yummy! Finally, back to the condo to rest up. Leg 1 of the journey is behind us…we totally dominated Ft. Myers. Look out Tampa, the Lawsons are on the way!

Florida Day 3

Whew, what a whirlwind day! After everyone got settled in veeeery early this morning and got a few hours of rest in them, we were back up and rolling in the morning, ready to hit Florida where the sun don’t shine (which, in this state, is impossible to find). After a quick breakfast, we packed in to the vehicles that we just spent 24 hours in to travel about 4 minutes to Sanibel Island! We whipped right in to Lighthouse Beach and planted ourselves on the first available patch of sand. Morgan went stir crazy while she waited to get changed and lathered up with sunblock before jumping right in to the crashing waves of the ocean. Daddy, Uncle Manata, and Riley followed suit, but Taylor and I stayed back with the Mommies to see if we could figure out how deep that sand really was (spoiler alert: we dug and dug but never hit bottom). After a while, Mommy and I combed the beach for the bestest shells and I did a little bit of stomping on the waves, but never ventured too far in to the water.

Swimming in the big ol’ ocean can take a lot out of you, so we needed to refuel. Schnapper’s Hots filled the void in our bellies with delicious hot dogs and fries. They also included a fun size Snickers in the kids meal, but at 86 degrees and packed in a bag with hot food, those bite sized morsels of chocolate goodness never stood a chance!

After the sand, surf, and dogs, Uncle Manata and Aunt Carrie packed the girls up for a nap back at the condo while I caught a cat nap in the back of the car during drop-Mommy-off-at-the-gift-shop time. We tootled the island and Mommy hooked the beat on postcards for her students. Finally, we found our way back to the house and, after a failed attempt at nap time, we hit the pool with Riley, Taylor, and Aunt Carrie while Uncle Manata got some beauty rest (my opinion, he should sleep for a week). Check out the pics of our splashin’ good time.

Florida Day 1

After swimming, we got cleaned up for dinner and hit the local pizza joint. This place was authentic! They had a big picture of Sicily painted on the wall, nobody could understand the waitress and her accent, and they put way too much garlic on everything! The only thing missing was a couple of goombas in the corner in expensive suits and pinky rings! Anyway, pizza was had by all and then, after a quick pit stop at Publix, it was straight back for lights out. Stay tuned to find out the adventures on tap for tomorrow!

Gigi – I hope that you get lots of cake, ice cream, trucks, and Elmo movies for your birthday!