Chatter Boxes

A few days after the boy's birthday extravaganza...John and I scurried off for some time away.

Some much needed restful, rejuvenating, romantic time away.  We spent a week in beautiful Sanibel Island, Florida to celebrate our anniversary.  I slept in, read two books front to back and didn't have to take anyone to the bathroom.  John read his Kindle for days on end, rode a bike all over the island and didn't have to take anyone to the bathroom. 

We rode bikes to the beach, to go shopping and to get ice cream

 

The lighthouse behind us sits on the tip of the island

Sanibel is known for the abundance of sea shells.  That's a blanket of shells behind my feet.  At first you try hard to walk around them so you don't break any, but by the end of the week you just crunch along in your bare feet.

The boardwalk from our hotel at sunset

 

The view from our room

We took a sunset dolphin cruise on our last night there.  Dolphins are hard to photograph but I managed to snag this picture, which in no way illustrates how cool it is to see a dolphin in the ocean (and not at the local aquarium).

A romantic sunset cruise with 35 other people we don't know

We had a wonderful time.  A big thank you to my mom for watching the boys, almost entirely by herself.  When we booked our trip, the idea was that the boys would be able to stay with my parents - both of them.  Dad has already made the big move to Idaho so my mom took on the task of watching the boys by herself (with help from Grandpa over the weekend).  Not only did she watch our squirrely bunch but we came home to a clean house, empty dishwasher, fresh towels and sheets!  That woman is a gem!  (Completely useless little side note - I discovered tonight when I crawled into bed that her sleep number is a firm 100 while mine is a fluffy 55.)

We're home safe and sound and getting acclimated to our real-world responsibilities.  I may have to carry my beach bag around for a few days to help with the adjustment.