Our Family Vacation!

Our first family vacation was a great success! We went to Sanibel Island, Florida. We wanted to go somewhere warm, tropical, and fun for all ages. Sanibel fit the bill- and cost a lot less than my first choice...Hawaii! The kids had never had the opportunity to swim in the warm ocean-they loved it. They thought it was cool that they could walk out quite a distance before they got over their head. The shells and animal life were plentiful. The speedy lizards are everywhere and they provided endless fun for the boys- and I was amazed that they were successful in catching a couple of them. Lizard hunting could have been the only activity that we did all week and the boys would never have been bored! Brogan noticed that in Florida they have lizards, while in WA we have plenty of Pacific tree frogs (which they could hunt all day too!). We stayed at a beautiful resort with 5 pools, beach frontage, and a harbour view-kid heaven. We decided to go when public schools were in so that we could avoid large crowds- and we were happy with that choice. We had the pools and the beach all to ourselves most days. On the clearest day of our stay we chartered a boat from Captiva Island and we went to a remote island to snorkel and hunt for more shells. At the island we found an amazing amount of crabs- and when we walked up on them they took off in mass like ants when you disturb their anthill. It was amazing- we had never seen so many crabs! Brendan found a star fish- which he tried to keep, but it was still alive, so he let it go. We all found some pretty shells, saw dolphins-one even swam and dove beside our boat in our wake-we saw beautiful birds (we all loved the pelicans:) )- and even a bald eagle. The kids got along so well- it was great to see their teamwork on little missions they created on the beach. Delaney enjoyed the pool, but she wasn't as happy with the big waves of the Gulf. She is such a happy baby- as long as she gets her nap she is ready for anything we decide to do.

All of the children were fantastic on the planes. At the airport the boys made friends with other children. It started out with a few kids, and pretty soon it looked like a kid's club where they were playing. Brendan also made a friend on the plane- he shared his IPod and video game with him, and he drew him pictures. Delaney slept most of the time, and we all enjoyed taking turns holding her and entertaining her (or her us!). Aidan enjoyed holding Delaney (he can make her laugh like no one else), and Brogan fell asleep on the plane to Seattle- which created a monster at landing! All-in-all the flights were painless, and the passengers that surrounded us all complimented us on the kids behavior.