Boy am I pooped!

Hamming it up for the camera!


Chillin with my daddy after lunch at Miller's Ale House
(If I stare at his beer long enough do you think he will share???)


Holding the bottle and drinking from it all by myself for the FIRST TIME!!!


Boy am I too cute in my halter dress!?!

It has been a very busy weekend!!
Yesterday Dan and Danny took off for the boat to do something (who knows what :))
Victoria was still cranky, teething, runny nose thing. She fell asleep around 9:00 and promptly was awoken at 10:00 when a neighbor started revving his engine while his radio was blaring, which got the dogs barking, which got me yelling at them to be quiet.....
Hard to believe she couldn't sleep through all that!
So, using my PMS powers, I ended up rearranging three out of four of the bedrooms. The only one untouched was our master.
My plan was just to move Victoria to the back side of the house where Danny sleeps. I was going to put her in the spare room, but it is the second largest bedroom and Danny really deserves it. He spends lots more time in his room :)(not always willingly)
So I ended up moving the spare bedroom into the room Victoria was in, moved Danny into the old spare bedroom and Victoria into Danny's old room! Of course I also had to clean every time I moved some furniture. It also forced me to weed through quite a bit of stuff. I packed up my computer desk that I have not sat at for at least 8 months. I worked hard the whole morning with Victoria following me around in the walker. She thought this was such a fun game!
I had to take a queen, a twin and a crib apart and put them back together!
It is amazing how much better each of the rooms look! They look so much bigger now!
The dogs started barking about 1:00 and I knew the guys were home.
I ran outside and told Danny I had a big surprise for him and he needed to close his eyes! I walked him in the house where he saw my computer desk in the great room and I asked him to check sissy's room. He ran into her old room and saw the spare bed! So then I asked him where sissy's bed was and he said "in my room" and ran into his room, where of course he only saw her bed! I then said "oh my gosh where is YOUR bed??" and he ran into the spare room and screamed!!!!
He is just floored with his big boy space!! He wanted to spend the whole weekend in his room.
So I cleaned, moved around and packed a lot this weekend. I still have to rearrange the 3 closets, that is left for tomorrow. I have also done 4 loads of laundry - but no clothes yet.
Today we had DirecTV installed. It is amazing how incredible the reception is.
Danny followed the installers all around just fascinated.
The weather was absolutely beautiful today! We were able to open up all the doors and windows and let the breeze run through the house! (also had to chase the dust bunnies that have been hiding out and were blown out with the wind)

Eating noodles!

These are really good!


Here you go! one for you!


yummy!

Little missy enjoyed eating spaghetti tonight! She did really well!

Happy Anniversary!!

The kids lovin on their daddy!


Here we are at Carabba's after a wonderful dinner!

Today is our 18th wedding anniversary!! (yes I was a child bride!) We have been together over 20 years!

Dan reminded me this morning of why I love him so much! Little missy was up at 5:30 and just did not want to go back to sleep. Dan got up and made her a bottle, changed her diaper and then sat in the living room and fed her. I woke up at 7:00 to the sound of quiet! When I went out into the living room Dan and Victoria were cuddled up sound asleep in his overstuffed chair! Gosh it was a beautiful site!

We played our wedding video tonight and Danny just could not understand why he was not in the video! He kept asking questions: why am I in a dress? why did I have my eyes made up? why were we kissing? why were we dancing? why was grampy and grammy there? why was nana there? where are my cousins? I think you get the point!
We then took showers and got dressed for dinner.
It started raining just as we pulled out of the driveway and poured the whole rest of the night. Reminded me of our wedding day!

Happy Anniversary to my honey!

Saturday is great!

Sunrise over Fort Myers

Little one had us up at 6:00, so we snuggled in the big bed and looked at the stars through the hatch overhead till she couldn't sit still any more. (ok about 15 minutes!)
She had a much better night last night. She did wake at 2:00 but was back asleep in 15 minutes. Dan went out to check on the anchor and just make sure we were still in the same place. He saw a boat hard aground on the other side of the channel. He could hear their voices as they talked to each other very politely!! They were gone when we got up at 6:00 so we aren't sure how long they were stuck there.
We then got our coffee and headed out on the bow to watch the sun rise again. We were really surprised to see the boats heading out to fish that had absolutely no running lights on at all. The channel is pretty narrow around here, but it does not seem to bother them at all. I just can't imagine waking up that early just to fish :)
There were two boats on Picnic Island and two tents set up. We had heard the guys all standing around a fire last night after the kids were asleep, so they did spend the night. Dan & I like to sneak up on deck once it is all quiet and just chill out before bed. I just have no desire to camp out on sand in FL, just gets too hot and too buggy.
We did not see any movement on shore yet, but knew it would not be long once we were all out on the bow talking, singing and barking :)
We wanted to start up the river before the usual weekend boat traffic came out as many just do not know the rules of the road and don't pay any attention to the channel. We pulled up anchor at 8:00 and headed out.
The sun was out and it was gorgeous out. There was a really nice breeze so it did not feel really hot. Victoria and Danny played really well in the cockpit.

She is laying on her back because she tried to climb up the steps to the cockpit and then once she got one step up she decided to sit her butte down and the step is not wide enough. The look on her face is priceless as she could not figure out what happened. Not that it stopped her one little bit!!
We arrived back at our marina about 11:00 and tied off. Dan is really good at turning us around in the marina with about 5-10 foot to spare!
We cleaned up the boat pretty good and headed on home. We had lunch and then Victoria went down for a 2 hour nap. The sky turned really dark and it rained buckets for hours! We were really happy that we had decided to head home!
We so enjoy the time we are able to have on the water as a family.

Just another day in Paradise!

Sitting on the bow at sunrise!!
This is why we do this!
Victoria had a much better night! I didn't have to get up once! She put herself to sleep several times. She was also up for good at 6:00!
We had to wait till it was light out to take the dogs for a potty run so we sat on the bow and drank our coffee while we waited for the sun!
We pulled up anchor to head back down the river and the harbor at 8:00.
The weather was great and we only saw a few boats. We did see our first big fishing boat dragging nets though.
We were going to anchor in Pelican Bay, which is the opposite side of Punta Blanca where we ran aground last week. Then we read up on it in our guide books and realized it is a sanctuary so we would not be able to take the dogs to the beach. The rangers are there 24 hours a day so we couldn't even sneak in.

Victoria napping in the cockpit with Ginger


Danny chillin in the cockpit. He can play for hours!

We decided to head back to Picnic Island again since the water is so nice. We figure there still won't be a ton of boats since it is Friday.
We noticed quite a bit more traffic once we hit Pine Island Sound, lots of people must be hooking work today to fish!!
We anchored around 12:30 at Picnic Island and there was only one other boat there! We headed inside to sit in AC and eat lunch. When we came up they were gone! Must of just wanted to eat lunch.
There is a really nice breeze here and the current is pretty good so it keeps the nasty stuff out of the water.
Tomorrow we will head back up the river against the throng of weekenders coming out! always fun....
For today we are going to dinghy into the island and enjoy the beach!
Hope you all are having a great day!!
oh yah - almost forgot! dinner is hot dogs and beans!! the boys' favorite!
I had brought cookie dough and cooked some fresh cookies for dessert!! :0)

Beautiful Day!

Here are the kids playing in Danny's cabin!

Victoria didn't have the best night, teething and new bed. She was up from 12 to 1:30 which meant I was up. Thank heavens I had the teething liquid and the tylenol. At least she did sleep till 7:30!! (me too) Turns out she had another tooth come in over night - we now have 5!

Leaving Picnic Island

Around 10:00 we decided to head up Pine Island sound to Charlotte Harbor and check out the Peace River. Boat traffic was wonderfully light so we could just truck along and enjoy ourselves. We had dolphins playing in our boat wake the whole time. It drove the dogs crazy!

Victoria finds all sorts of things to play with on the boat, she stays very busy.

We decided to anchor in the Peace River just north of Fisherman's Village in Punta Gorda. There were no boats around, just us.

Happily munching on a frito!

Victoria seems to be doing fine, I use the teething tablets whenever she starts whining and smacking her gums together. She already grinds her teeth :(
She has also suddenly started making growling noises, it is so funny. I don't know whether she picked it up from the dogs or what.

Dan and Danny took the dinghy out to reconnoiteur. Luckily they also took the trash :)
They found a small beach to take the dogs to, but Dan said it looked like homeless people live there at night :(
The sky got really dark and we could see the rain coming down the river. It poured off and on the whole night, at times we could not see the bow!



We sat inside the air conditioned salon and watched Dora with the kids. Dinner was chicken alfredo and it was yummy! Once they were asleep we watched Big Brother!

More holidays!?!?!?

Getting ready for dinner!

So on Monday we get a note from Danny's teacher reminding us there is no school Thursday or Friday? what!?? I can not believe how many days off there are! Thank heavens we are both around, what do people do that have to work?
So we decided to head out on the boat for the weekend, but since Dan has PT Thursday am we will head out after.
Then this morning I get two phone calls within 10 minutes, the first from the PT place needing to reschedule and the second from Danny's school saying he is in the clinic sick and I need to come pick him up!! Amazingly I had actually been putting our stuff together and thinking about talking Dan into cancelling his appt. ;)
So I run to go pick him up and the first thing he says to me is "can we go to the boat now?!?!?!" hhhhmmmmm........
So I run home and get us packed in record time. We had lunch at home and then filled the car up and headed out. We were on the boat by 1 and off the dock by 1:30!
Little missy should have napped, but only did for about 15 minutes, but seemed pretty happy. Danny slept for over an hour, think it was the motrin :)
We decided to head out to picnic island, which is along the miserable mile off sanibel.
It was great being out on a Wednesday as there was almost no boat traffic and there was NO ONE anchored off the island!!
It is absolutely beautiful out and we dinghied into the island and let the dogs run and we all swam. Victoria ate her first shell!! and sand !! best part was no jellyfish!
We had to rush back to the boat as we could see really black clouds coming.
Dinner was lasagna, yummy!!
Baby girl was sound asleep at 7:30! Danny at 8:00.
We sat in the air conditioned salon and watched the power of 10!

I got rhythm!!!

What a day!

Little missy still not feeling well, she was up from 12-1 last night :( Luckily she did sleep till 6:45. She is still not feeling great.
We decided to head back up the river to our favorite anchoring spot, since it is only an hour to the marina for Monday and ONCE AGAIN OUR PORT ENGINE WILL NOT START!!
Thank heavens we know how to jump it, but this is getting ridiculous!
It seemed like everyone was out today, whether they know the rules of the road or not!! We also saw a lot of rental boats everywhere too.
As the day wore on Victoria got more congested and her nose was running non-stop. Now of course the only medicine I did not pack was cough and cold stuff. She did nap really good on the boat though. :) But was whiney and really clingy.
We dodged all the boats the whole way to the anchorage and then decided that we just needed to get her home, in her own house and bed. Once we decided I ran down below to start packing our stuff. By the time we got close to the marina I was ready to go and Dan was holding Victoria with one hand and steering with the other one and entertaining Danny!!
We tied off at the dock and Dan started the truck to cool it off.
I loaded the kids, dogs and bags while Dan finished tying off the boat.
We were back at home in time for her afternoon nap and she slept 2 hours (after a shot of cold medicine).
Our little trip was cut short but we still had a great time!
ps - in the picture above Victoria is not licking her lip :) :)

Beautiful Day!!

Little missy had us up at 6:00!! She had a rough night and was up many times. I started coffee and we sat in the big bed looking out at the moon and stars through the hatch over our bed. Both kids just sat looking up in awe.
We had a leisurely morning, it is so beautiful out.
We pulled up anchor at 8:30 and headed down the river. There was a lot of weekend traffic today being a holiday weekend. Little missy took her morning nap in the cockpit and slept like a dream. I think she likes the rocking motion.


Danny played up in the cockpit with the cushions, hey whatever makes him happy :)


The weather was wonderful, the water nice and clear and lots of people out fishing.
We headed up Pine Island Sound planning on anchoring behind Punta Blanca Island for the first time. I think we made a mistake trying to anchor in a new place during dead low tide. :)
Needless to say we went aground, and aground, and aground. We filled up both strainers with mud and grass and finally cut both engines to wait out the tide. Dan decided to try using the dinghy since we were floating and he was able to get us back in the channel. When he came on board we cheered him on! By now the sweat was running off both of us and we decided that it was time to head back to our usual spot off Useppa Island.
We were anchored by 1:00, hungry and sweaty.
We settled down and had a quick lunch and cold beer and then I talked Dan into starting up the generator so I could put the AC on and little missy could nap. both of us snoozed for about an hour or so in the big bed.
We then headed out by dinghy to check out Useppa, besides the dogs had to go :)
We found a nice beach on the south end and pulled up so the dogs could run. While we were waiting for them we heard snorting noises in the channel behind us and about 50 feet away were two manatees!!
We were going to go for a swim off the back of the boat but we say too many jelly fish in the water and we did not want to get stung.
We had a nice shower off the stern and chilled out while the sun went down by sitting on the bow of the boat.
Little missy was getting really snuffly and kept coughing. Hopefully she will sleep better tonight!