Last Day in Paradise

For our last day in paradise Morgan decided she wanted to be at the pool. I do love being at the ocean, but it was very cold and painful on little feet. As much as I think she enjoyed the ocean, I think Morgan felt much safer and as ease in the pool. She swam for over 4 hours and got skills like: swimming the length of the pool while turning her head to catch a breath (a start for her freestyle stroke), swimming the length on her back, summersaults and all glories - the handstand in the water!

The Family We Choose

The family we choose...

Sanibel Sea School

While doing a Google search for fun stuff to do with kids in Ft Myers - I came across the Sea School. A conservation program aimed at teaching children about the oceanic environments on Sanibel and Captive Islands. We signed Morgan up for an afternoon class on Manatees…

Morgan's group had about 20 kids ranging in age from 6 to 10 and 4 or 5 staff and interns. They started at the boat house/classroom and learned about manatees, then headed tot eh beach.

The lighthouse beach on Sanibel is very busy - I would be surprised if any Manatee are ever spotted in these afternoon classes - but they did learn a lot and had fun playing in the sand and water.

Morgan's group won the sand-manatee competition. The head of her manatee is pointing to the water and the tail is close to my shadow.

Websters in Florida

Not many pictures - but a ton of memories! We had such a great day with the Webster and Silliman clan...

Taking the boat out to an island, seeing dolphins and playing in the ocean

…to playing the afternoon away in the pool. Then sharing a fabulous meal with the whole gang!

The Mangrove Tunnel!

So when we get together with Mick and Melinda we like to take them on an adventure! An experience we can all share, remember and talk about...

We're always happy when we start!

Paddling ocean side was incredible! We stopped on a sand bar for lunch and some exploring.

As we took a break a very unusual and cool thing transpired…a Flamingo flew overhead! This was definitely the highlight of the trip! Flamingoes are accidentals on the coast - rarely seen as they live inland.

Jim and Morgan found this huge - intact, but dead, horseshoe crab

it hand't been dead long as the legs were still attached

As with all our adventures they tend to have an element of major discomfort! This one was no different with paddling through a mangrove tunnel, getting totally lost, hot, mosquito bitten, muddy, stinky…the expletive go on and on...

This was taken just as we entered the mangrove tunnel…things got stinky from there!

As we paddled through the tunnel a heron was flying in front of us.
We jokingly said that it was leading us…we got really lost!

It just kept getting narrower, shallower, and muddier and stinkier

and everywhere little tiny crabs were scuttling up the mangrove roots.
At first we thought they might be spiders - as we were told we would see very large spiders...

but they were just little crabs

thank God we didn't see any of these banana spiders!

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Florida Fun

We arrived in Florida - Ft Myers and into the arms of the Machoneses late Christmas Eve. Friday was our first full day in Paradise. Although the sun didn't shove it was a perfect day at the beach!

Getting acclimated to the sand and water - still in her wetsuit

Adoring 'Uncle' Adam and shedding the wetsuit for a more Florida look!

My rainbow beach girl!

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 was a bit of a hurry-flurry. We had to work through December 22 and drove to Minneapolis right after work on Tuesday. Wednesday we hung out with Charlie and Mary Beth and broke with tradition by opening family Christmas Presents on Christmas Eve.

Great book from Grandma Husen - No Pictures, but had Morgan in stitches!

Awesome new hoodie straight from New Zealand!

A goofy pic - but still can see the cool new nightgown Grandma made!

Christmas Morning we all got up and to our surprise Santa had found Morgan in Minneapolis. 

A big box from Santa!

Lots of fun new dress-ups

Christmas continued on our trip to Florida...

hence the clothes change from flannel nightgown to t-shirt and skirt

Awesome new books about shells and birds in Florida!

And a special shell to listen to when we got lonely for the ocean!

A super cute cover-up and tankini which made her look "So Florida!"

8 Teeth Missing

From October 2013 to Dec 22, 2014 Morgan lost 8 teeth. Her top 4 teeth have all come out since Halloween. We now call her her Jack because she looks like a Jock-O-Lantern!

Doll House

We finally got things reorganized in the house for the doll house.

We thought Morgan would be ready to have the kitchen set moved to the basement; a bit of relief for me (she is still staying littke) she still wants to play pretend house! So the kitchen stays in her room and we had to decide where the doll house would be at fit....our room it is!

Today Morgan and her friend Elsa played intently for hours deciding on how to set up the house.