Sanibel, O Sanibel, wherefore art thou Sanibel...

We are now real parents according to the Husb.  We planned, payed for, and executed a family vacation all by ourselves.  Husb said that made him feel like he's officially a father because that's what fathers do - they take their family on vacation.  I, on the other hand, felt like a legitimate mother 6 years ago when an 8 pound critter was pulled from my body and given to me to keep alive.  And the critter didn't even come with instructions, just a command of "Here. Take her."

But that's just silliness.  The real mark of a parent is in taking a vacay so I'm proud to say I am officially a mother now.

Whew.

As beautiful as the beaches of Sanibel Island were, some of my most favorite moments were made around this big circular table eating dinner together.  We ate the same type of foods we eat at home, we all ate together as we typically do at home, but everything about it was so not mundane.  The kids were giddy and everyone loved telling stories of sharks and crabs and pool noodles and puppies who ate seashells.  We even made yogurt parfaits in wine glasses and they thought that was the coolest perk to being on vacation. 

Our walkway from the condo to the beach was almost too easy.  No boardwalk, no stairs. Just a lovely brick pathway that landed right in the sand.

We dug a big hole the first day out and each day we would add to it making it bigger and bigger, even adding a staircase so Tiny Miss could walk down into it without face planting in the sand.  Since the sand near the ocean is fairly shelly, we smoothed out a "road" from the ocean to our hole and just made ourselves a little home away from home.  Can't even calculate how many hours were spent here. 

And on to more important news, my husband of 8 years is a stud muffin.

And I don't have to wonder where my stud muffin son got his stud muffiness from.

The Dynamic Duo went on a lot of "walks" together.  They felt so big stuff prancing around, chasing birds, riding waves and washing sea shells.  They had so much freedom they almost didn't know what to do with themselves.

Big Sis and I took an afternoon when everyone else was napping and it was a bit drizzly to go take pictures together.  She got a new camera for her birthday and wanted me to teach her how to be a photographer (shhhhhh, don't let her know I'm not really one because I won't be as cool as she thinks I am!).  She took some great shots and loved having this one on one time together (and so did I). 

These were some of the beautiful flowers we encountered on our photography walk. Everything was in full bloom and made for gorgeous surroundings to our complex. 

I was a little weepy packing up to come home because I really enjoyed the exclusiveness of the week.  Being far away from home and work and when the internet shut down for a couple of days, it was even better.


We've begun a tradition on a beautiful island 8 hours from home.  Cannot wait to experience 20 more years of this.