Sanibel-the end

I guess I won't get a normal smile out of him until he is no longer a teen ager!

Nothing beats Sanibel sunsets...

especially on our last night there!

Scott stalks the overly friendly bird :-)

Mimi learns to speak her Gram's love language - Shells!

Dolphins even showed up to play in the surf . There were two groups of them but I couldn't get the camera to focus on them in the low light, so this is the best I could do. There are actually two in the picture above, you might be able to tell in the one below that I trimmed - but it's pretty grainy.
I love this! They sat this way on their own - feet to feet - and proceeded to try to bury their legs in the sand.

That's Mimi in the surf. I did not touch the color in this picture at all- the sunset just got better and better even minute.

My mother has perfected the "Sanibel Stoop". She's a professional shell collector now :-)

TJ's prized shell. I think he'd DRINK out of it if I would let him. He says it looks like a sunset inside, and it will help him always remember Sanibel.

Mimi found a live conch with a Sea Squirt on it.

I always say I hate the beach- and fundamentally, I still do. But we had a good time in Sanibel. The Gulf is really so much nicer than the ocean, and Sanibel is one of the nicest spots on the Gulf. We settled into an easy routine of getting up and having a leisurely morning, heading to the beach around 9ish, staying until 12ish (and I even was IN the water with the kids, although I refused to willingly get my face wet - I HATE salt water!), shower off in the outdoor shower, hit the pool for a while, and then back to the condo for lunch and a restful afternoon. After dinner, we'd hit the beach again, this time with me in my street clothes-just the kids in the water-and I'd either take pictures or collect shells. We'd stay until the sun went down and the sand fleas and mosquitoes chased us off the beach. Then we'd repeat the shower/pool event, although this time it was just a quick dip until the mosquitoes found me (the kids were safe in the water) and then back to get ready for bed. On the last evening, my sister and Bam-Bam joined us, and the kids had a little trouble settling in...there was a lot of musical beds...but the cousins enjoyed a chance to hang out together for a brief time. We also, as a side note, discovered that a local grocery store has the best selection of Blue Bell ice cream and the Groom's Cake and Cake and Ice Cream flavors ROCK ;-).