Week 29 : Peach Sangria, Sand, Surf and Fun

Jadee, Andrea and their girls arrived via car by way of Memphis where Andrea lives late Sat. night. They hit the beds but were ready to play bright and early with the rest of us. E and I stake out the same table we had last week and then take our walk on the beach. Jerry runs and slow but sure, the rest drift to the table. We fill a carafe with coffee and everyone helps themselves. This is morning at the beach.

Some of us read and some of us don't...some eat breakfast in and some get nourishment at either Reeses (one of our favorites) across the street or, if the line is not too long, down the road at Heavenly Biscuit.

Here are the girls playing in the surf their first full day here. They make sand castles, hunt shells and have found tiny crabs and needle fish which they always let go...having a biology instructor for a mother makes for ecologically correct children and more power to her and them.

Sunday, my sister, niece and great niece came out to play as well and Janet brought a wonderful salad to accompany our burgers and brats.









Sunday we all hung around the resort catching up on each others' lives just as we always do. We use to go dancing at either the old Bridge restaurant to reagee or to Parrot Key to dance to the 50s and 60s with Al Holland but times change and no Al this year and the Bridge has become Doc Ford's (Randy Wayne White's hero in his novels set here in the area).

Yesterday, while a slew of kids, parents and grandparents all headed to Lover's Key for some primo shelling, Cheryl and I crossed over the causeway to Sanibel/Captiva for a day of exploring, shopping, and lunch. Cheryl had never been to the islands and it was fun to show her all my favorites. We had lunch at Key Lime Bistro on Captiva and I showed her the cabins at Tween's Water, where Janet, Clare and I will be spending a few days in January when Clare visits from N.Z. And a visit to Captiva in not complete without a walk through the Bubble Room. I will try to put up some pics of us there as Cheryl got one of me with...gnomes! lol.

When we got home and all gathered around "our" table to greet our friend, Nick, down from St. Louis to hang out with us. This is not Nicks first visit so he knows the routine...no one has to do anything they don't want to do! E made us the most amazing peach sangria and everyone was on their own for dinner. We had lemon chicken with marinated green beans mixed with goat cheese, olive oil, spices and roasted almonds.

Tonight is our shrimp boil and we hope to snag the picnic tables in the covered pavilion. Care to join us? Hope you have a great day!

P.S. Kim, Kristen and Chris, Jill and Kellee, Chuck and Linda...we miss you all!