Saturday, February 19, 2011
A simple thing that brings joy to Kendall...
Kendall goes to a kid's day out program one day a week for 2 1/2 hours at a local church. She will continue there in the fall where she will be in the 3 year old preschool program. So I have noticed that when I go pick her up she is super excited to see me. She will run to me saying "mommy" and give me a big hug. Then she absolutely loves to watch all the other kids run to their parent or grandparent! It finally clicked a few weeks ago that Kendall gets so much joy out of seeing others happy! I have now noticed it in other instances as well; like when Owen is laughing she is so smiley. I hope we can continue her on this path and find some place where we can volunteer together as a family. Any suggestion of where you could volunteer with kids?
Friday, February 11, 2011
Florida
About a month ago I asked Justin what he wanted to do for his birthday (the big 3-0 this year). He said go some place warm! I looked at him shocked and said "really?" (We are both pretty tight with our money and we have not vacationed; just the two of us since our honeymoon six years ago.) He paused a moment and said "yes". We came up with a budget, I planned the whole thing by myself and surprise him with all the details; including where we were going. At first I was dead set on going on a cruise, but then it was hard to find good flights without being gone too long. So then I searched resorts in Florida. I was overwhelmed with all the choices and found it hard to choose from reading online reviews. I texted all my friends to see if they had any suggestions. My friend Jenny suggested Sanibel Harbour resort and spa by Marriott (technically in Fort Myers). I looked it up and was sold! I booked it that night along with our flights and rental car. Jenny and one of my other friends Dawn had wonderful suggestions of where to eat as well. I made a few dinner reservations but other than that I did not really want to over schedule our trip. We are so lucky that my parents took time out of their busy schedules and time off of work to stay at our house with the kids. It was so much easier to not have to pack them up to stay somewhere else and worry about what I forgot for them.
Saturday February 5th
We woke up at 3:30 am and left at 4:00 am for our 5:45 flight time and headed to the airport. Owen woke up around 3:15 and Kendall woke up at 3:45 (she must have heard us getting ready) so I was a bit nervous leaving my parents with them already off schedule. My loving husband dropped me off at the door of the airport so I would not be too cold in my flip flops and sun dress. He met me at the check in where I then revealed where we were going, he was very excited to get to warm Florida! All of our flights were good and on time; which I was a bit nervous about since Detroit got a bunch of snow the Wednesday before. We made it to Fort Meyers airport got our bags and headed to our rental car. Our car was parked near a convertible and we thought about upgrading but decided to save the money (I am glad we did not since we only used the car a couple of times). We decided that we would stop an outdoor mall (Bell Tower) since we had time before check in and it was sort of on the way. We walked around a bit in and out of a few stores and then came across Gracie's cupcakes. OMG they were amazing! I had never had a cupcake that both looked and tasted good. We got peanut butter chocolate gauche and Milky way (chocolate with chunks of cookies and chocolate butter cream frosting). We decided to head on to our resort with the windows rolled down in the 76 degree weather! Our jaws dropped when we saw how beautiful our resort was. Right away noticed that the service was impeccable. I decided to splurge a bit and get a waterfront view room with a balcony and it was well worth the money. We sat out on our balcony for a bit then decided to head down to the outdoor bar and have a cocktail. After our mojito and margarita we sat in the warm sun and let our feet dangle in the pool. We then heard that there were dolphins just off the dock of the resort so we went over there and watch three dolphins swim, play and jump in and out of the water just feet from us! After a bit they went back into deeper water and we spotted some hammocks to lay in. After laying in the sun the the hammock we decided to get ready for dinner. I had made reservations at Bay front Bistro in Fort Meyers Beach. The service, food, and bottle of wine were wonderful. After we got back to our resort we went to the hot tub for a bit. We were both tired from waking up at 3:15 so we went to bed at 9:00 (I know lame-o but we were both excited to get a good night sleep).
Sunday February 6th
We woke up and got a yogurt, granola, fruit and coffee and ate on our balcony while reading the newspaper. After breakfast we were off to our couples massage! Justin has never had a massage before so he was excited. It was a huge spa and was very nice. It was a bit cloudy and rainy when we went into the spa, but when we were done it was 78 degrees and sunny! We thew on our suits and headed to the pool. We ordered lunch, ate by the pool and lounged til the afternoon. We went to Charley's (one of the four places to eat at the resort) and ordered a yummy white pizza for an afternoon snack. I wanted to take more than the usually 20 minutes I have to get ready. So Justin headed to the gym and I went to take a long shower (without a toddler!) and spend time actually putting on make up. We headed to Sanibel island and stopped at a beach along the road. I knew that they were shell beaches but I had know idea the number of shells that were there. We then went onto Captiva (further down the island) and ate at Old Captiva House. The food was good but the atmosphere was definitely lacking. So we took our key lime pie to go and went back to the resort.
Monday February 7th
We started our morning with a jog around the resort and near the water. It was so pretty and fun to jog together in the warm weather. We then got ready and ate breakfast at the resort restaurant. I got my book and Justin got his newspaper and we read in lounge chairs by the pool. A few hours later the sun was getting hotter so we got our suits on and laid by the pool. We ordered lunch by the pool. We then sat in the pool to cool off from the 81 degree weather! In the afternoon we decided to try out as many lounge chairs around the resort as we could! Though we did not get to all of them we did find some great ones. Pina coldas were great while relaxing on comfy couches. We then made our way back to a hammock where I got a wonderful sunburn but it was totally worth it! We went back over to Sanibel island to a restaurant called Doc Ford's. It was awesome, there were some many things I wanted to try on the menu and the Mojitos were great. We brought some mango hot sauce back with us from the restaurant.
Saturday February 5th
We woke up at 3:30 am and left at 4:00 am for our 5:45 flight time and headed to the airport. Owen woke up around 3:15 and Kendall woke up at 3:45 (she must have heard us getting ready) so I was a bit nervous leaving my parents with them already off schedule. My loving husband dropped me off at the door of the airport so I would not be too cold in my flip flops and sun dress. He met me at the check in where I then revealed where we were going, he was very excited to get to warm Florida! All of our flights were good and on time; which I was a bit nervous about since Detroit got a bunch of snow the Wednesday before. We made it to Fort Meyers airport got our bags and headed to our rental car. Our car was parked near a convertible and we thought about upgrading but decided to save the money (I am glad we did not since we only used the car a couple of times). We decided that we would stop an outdoor mall (Bell Tower) since we had time before check in and it was sort of on the way. We walked around a bit in and out of a few stores and then came across Gracie's cupcakes. OMG they were amazing! I had never had a cupcake that both looked and tasted good. We got peanut butter chocolate gauche and Milky way (chocolate with chunks of cookies and chocolate butter cream frosting). We decided to head on to our resort with the windows rolled down in the 76 degree weather! Our jaws dropped when we saw how beautiful our resort was. Right away noticed that the service was impeccable. I decided to splurge a bit and get a waterfront view room with a balcony and it was well worth the money. We sat out on our balcony for a bit then decided to head down to the outdoor bar and have a cocktail. After our mojito and margarita we sat in the warm sun and let our feet dangle in the pool. We then heard that there were dolphins just off the dock of the resort so we went over there and watch three dolphins swim, play and jump in and out of the water just feet from us! After a bit they went back into deeper water and we spotted some hammocks to lay in. After laying in the sun the the hammock we decided to get ready for dinner. I had made reservations at Bay front Bistro in Fort Meyers Beach. The service, food, and bottle of wine were wonderful. After we got back to our resort we went to the hot tub for a bit. We were both tired from waking up at 3:15 so we went to bed at 9:00 (I know lame-o but we were both excited to get a good night sleep).
Sunday February 6th
We woke up and got a yogurt, granola, fruit and coffee and ate on our balcony while reading the newspaper. After breakfast we were off to our couples massage! Justin has never had a massage before so he was excited. It was a huge spa and was very nice. It was a bit cloudy and rainy when we went into the spa, but when we were done it was 78 degrees and sunny! We thew on our suits and headed to the pool. We ordered lunch, ate by the pool and lounged til the afternoon. We went to Charley's (one of the four places to eat at the resort) and ordered a yummy white pizza for an afternoon snack. I wanted to take more than the usually 20 minutes I have to get ready. So Justin headed to the gym and I went to take a long shower (without a toddler!) and spend time actually putting on make up. We headed to Sanibel island and stopped at a beach along the road. I knew that they were shell beaches but I had know idea the number of shells that were there. We then went onto Captiva (further down the island) and ate at Old Captiva House. The food was good but the atmosphere was definitely lacking. So we took our key lime pie to go and went back to the resort.
Monday February 7th
We started our morning with a jog around the resort and near the water. It was so pretty and fun to jog together in the warm weather. We then got ready and ate breakfast at the resort restaurant. I got my book and Justin got his newspaper and we read in lounge chairs by the pool. A few hours later the sun was getting hotter so we got our suits on and laid by the pool. We ordered lunch by the pool. We then sat in the pool to cool off from the 81 degree weather! In the afternoon we decided to try out as many lounge chairs around the resort as we could! Though we did not get to all of them we did find some great ones. Pina coldas were great while relaxing on comfy couches. We then made our way back to a hammock where I got a wonderful sunburn but it was totally worth it! We went back over to Sanibel island to a restaurant called Doc Ford's. It was awesome, there were some many things I wanted to try on the menu and the Mojitos were great. We brought some mango hot sauce back with us from the restaurant.
The beach on Sanibel Island
Again the beach
Shells
Justin enjoying the weather
Justin on the beach
Me
The view of the pool from our balcony
Other views from our room
We came home on Tuesday to -5 degree weather quite a shock! My reset button was definitely pushed. It was what we both totally needed. We were both very ready to see the kids. We brought Kendall back some shells and she loved them, but then wanted to go to the beach!
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