What a vacation!

March 6th we took off for the white sand beaches of Fort Myers, Florida - and what a trip!

We were more than a little nervous about taking the little ones on an airplane for the first time - Yikes! We prepped and prepped - we filled a Thomas the Tank Engine backpack full of toys, crayons (no markers as we didn't want to have to wash the plane before we got off), coloring books, story books, and yes, even a Sony Portable DVD player (saving grace that thing). We had a diaper bag filled with gummie snacks, Chips Ahoy mini cookies, milk and juice.  Did you know that they pull you out of line, open all the baby drinks and hold a test strip over them for 20 seconds, then apply "drops" of some kind to determine if they are actually explosives and not Straweberry Quick? Seriously. Suffice it to say, we just brought drinks.

We took a cab (at 6AM) to the Jetport along with Mammie & Schroeder, and met Martha on the sidewalk - in we all went, 5 adults, 2 tired babies, 1 diaper bag, 2 car seats, 2 backpacks, 5 pieces of carry on luggage, and 3 bags to be checked. Yep, we were tired and we hadn't even left yet!

Security was pretty much a breeze...well, as breezy as it can be when you have to load all the carry-on's, car seats, etc on the belt and strip off all the kids coats, shoes....get the drinks screened and put all the clothes back on. That's why Momma skipped the belt and went with slip-on shoes.

We didn't know what would be in store for us when we actually boarded the plane, but I have to say, the kids did great!!! Props to Sony, but they did really great. Mason's back didn't bother him and they both got some much needed sleep.

We flew to Charlotte where Ben joined us for the final leg to Ft Myers. You've never seen bigger smiles than on the faces of Mason and Emerson as when they saw Ben come off his plane! Boy they miss their big brother.

We all arrived in Fort Myers right on time - picked up 2 rental cars and headed to the beach. Sounds easier than it was, as no one had told us about the beach traffic on Estero Island. I'll back up. We rented a 5 bedroom house directly on the beach on Estero Island. A 7 mile long island with only 2 ways on and off. We got on the island on the northern end, our house of course, was on the southen end. A journey that should've taken 35 mins from the airport to the front door actually took the better part of an hour and a half. Ugh. We were hopeful that the traffic was a Saturday only occurance - Nope. Plan to waste 2 hours each time you want to leave/return to the Island when visiting Ft Myers Beach.

We finally arrived - and were really happy with the set up. The house had a great lanai with a nice view of the Gulf of Mexico, Lots of sand to keep Mason happy and lots of lounge chairs to keep the rest of us happy! 

Inside the bedrooms were all around the back part of the house with access to a really large living/dining area and a small kitchen. Lots of room for everyone and Wi-Fi so we could keep in touch with the world (Thanks Ben for bringing your laptop).

We didn't have a lot of activities planned as the idea behind this trip was to relax - But Jay did manage to get 4 tickets to Monday's Red Sox game at City of Palms Park - The sun was out, the Sox were winning, so that worked out really well. Jay, Schroeder, Martha and Ben took in the game while Mammie and I searched for shells and made sand castles on the beach with the kids. It was a great day for all of us.

We took a drive to Sanibel Island and toured a wildlife park (Schroeder just called it "the swamp") in a search for alligators. I must say, Sanibel was really, really nice. Still had to deal with the traffic getting on the island, but once there it wasn't nearly as congested as our beach.  The 'swamp' tour was filled with birds - but not a single alligator to be seen. Mason was crushed, but we told him his wish would be granted before we left for home.

While on Sanibel, we had lunch at a very cool restaurant called The Island Cow, I would highly recommend it if you ever find yourself there. Casual, but really good food.

In an effort to make up for the lack of alligators on Sanibel we all went to The Naples Zoo later in the week. And...Score!  Alligators, leopards, lions, monkeys - jackpot really - a happy boy once again. And to top it all off, the zoo had 2 camels on loan from another zoo and Mason and I climbed high atop and took a short ride around. Mammie and Ben thought it looked like so much fun, they climbed on a camel of their own! I must say, I'm so glad I wasn't a sheik - Man camels are bumpy!

All in all, we had a great week - and believe it or not, we're already thinking about where we can go next winter.