Moving Day

Looking around at all the belongings we still had last Friday (11Dec15) and the overwhelming feeling rushed over us: "We're never going to fit all of this into only one POD!" So we got lucky and there was one delivery slot  available on Saturday and one pick-up cancellation slot open for Monday pick-up. We snagged it quickly!!

Second POD is here

Our bedroom was still a mess with everything you could imagine collected from around the house the night before our big move. Anything from clean laundry, to paperwork, to bags only half-packed, boxes/bins for the movers, and somewhere underneath it all was a bed for us to sleep on. But come 10pm we called it quits because we knew we would be worthless come the morning if we didn't get a good nights sleep.

Our messy drop-house

Finally our big moving day came.  You know how folks tend to say that things can take twice as long as it should or that one should plan accordingly? We were very glad that we gave ourselves lots of wiggle room for this move because this Sunday was our big moving day and when one of the guy's called out sick, we had to wait most of the day for his replacement. Scheduled to start at 9am, we "sat around" (aka: finished all that last minute packing!) because we didn't get started until after 1pm. And to be honest, we didn't have much stuff so I'm still not sure why it took these two young guys four hours to pack a two bedroom?! They even kept commenting on how well we packed and wrapped up furniture so all they were doing was physically moving things outside. Ugh!  It was a lesson in patience for sure.

Playing Tetris inside a POD

But they were really nice guys and you could tell they were trying really hard to puzzle piece things together so we only needed to store the one pod. Their puzzle skills were fascinating! We were so impressed! Unfortunately we still had to fill about 1/3 of the second POD because our mattresses were just way too big. But I was still impressed at their skills as they kept reassuring us,"I'm 90%sure we can just squeeze this all into one POD." They tried so hard!

Make sure your munchkin still has a few toys to play in the midst of moving chaos!

Moving day with a toddler and a dog isn't easy. Even if you're not the one physically moving the boxes, you're certainly are the one keeping a munchkin happy and a dog out of the way. Our friends on the other side of town were so kind to offer for our two year old to stay with them for the morning, and generously through naptime as well.  The dog was more well behaved then we expected and for the most part stayed out of the way and only peeked around corners out of curiosity.  And with all the doors open, I was impressed how she stayed in the house for the most part, never running away. Overall the move as a whole went more smoothly then we expected. PODS and the movers were very easy to schedule, and I would recommend them to people thinking of storing prior to relocating. And  wrapping up your own furniture and things into boxes took forever for us, but with a bunch of blankets for protection and shrink wrap galore, it can totally be done and saves a ton a money!

Packing the cars with everything we will need these next few months

Another tip I would suggest is to not do everything last minute. Keeping this down to the last wire inevitably adds to what stress you already have. I'm glad we didn't have the movers come any later then two days prior to closing. This way we could have a full day in between for sweeping out the house, packing our cars appropriately, and most importantly, ensuring the PODS were picked up. Only one POD could be picked up on Monday, and the other squeaked by with pick-up at 10am (the new owners had their walk-through at 10:30! Yikes that was a close call!!)

Hornbeam friends visiting

And the biggest tip I can give for a big move like this is to accept help, especially from friends and family who offer! Toddlers are happier if they have a few of their toys to play with to keep them occupied or if they can stay at a friends house to hang out with their best friends.  Thankfully once all our furniture was unavailable for us to use, we were also able to stay with our close friends who also live in town.  They graciously had an extra bathroom and two guest rooms for us and our Tiny Tot to use.  They also have a dog that our Doodles likes to go on doggie-playdates too so it was a nice treat for the dogs as well.  We desperately missed having Christmas decorations around during this move and we felt right at home at their house with their Christmas tree and stockings hung with care.  And to add to the comfort, we slept in their Paris-decorated room giving us the feel of a vacation from all the moving stress.  For two days they spoiled us with good food and comfort.

She's got the pig-tail blues

So many friends and neighbors outpoured their love and support for us during this transition week and we know we are truly blessed. We already miss our Chelmsford family!

Goodby Home, Sweet Irish Home

PODS

Our moving POD is now in the driveway!  We decided to place our belongings into short-term storage because even though we are selling our house, we don't have a new permanent address for quite some time.

PODS was the only portable storage option for us that had the largest size available.  We rented a 8'x8'x16' POD and hope it will fit all the stuff we have left!

Dancing a little jig inside the new POD

There is even a new trailer attachment called POD-zilla which can pick-up/put-down raise/lower straight up and down.  This is key for us since once we pack, we don't want our furniture and belongings to shift like it would being hoisted onto a truck like a tow-truck fashion.  So this puppy arrived on Monday morning and has been living in our driveway this week until the movers come to pack it up on Sunday.

Successful Moving/Yard Sale

We had an incredible turnout on Saturday for a December moving sale! It was in the mid 30's setting up in the early morning, but the sun warmed things up quickly, and mid-40's seemed perfect.  My friend Noël came over to help, which was so helpful with watching our little Keiki.  They played in the leaves and hula-hoops and she was surprisingly very entertained for most of the morning.
We cleared out so much stuff from our house that even one of our neighbors said, "you know you don't have to sell off your lives, right?"  And it's funny because even though the driveway was filled with furniture, air conditioners , yard maintenance stuff, books, baby bouncers and toys, both big and small items...  Our  house still feels like it has a LOT of stuff in it that I simply wish we didn't have to pack!  Saturday was so successful that we decided to continue the sale on Sunday morning with more aggressive pricing on larger items and all the small items left over from the day prior became free stuff.

Just to note for those reading and want to know if we have any tips or tricks for a successful yard sale, I would say prepare, prepare, prepare! Doing your homework, advertising, and pricing items correctly is key.  For a few weeks prior, we started storing the items to sell in our garage, pre-priced so we didn't have to go back and do double the work.  I simply used the fluorescent neon garage sale stickers that you can cheaply find on Amazon and priced things $0.25, $0.50, $1, $2, $5, and furniture was no more then $30.  By pricing as we went it made the morning of the sale SO UCH less hectic!  I made neon pink signs to place on the high traffic street corners too.  They were simply stated "Moving Sale" with the date, time and address.  I choose pink because I didn't want yellow to blend in with street signs or orange to blend in with construction signs.  We found that the fast way to get the word out to the public that we were having the moving sale was to use local town/community online yard sale pages available through Facebook.  This was by far a HUGE help and highly recommend seeing if it's offered in your area.  We also utilized online yard sale groups and Craigslist.

Two Week Countdown

Our family is in the final 2 week stretch before we close on our home and hand over the keys to the next (hopefully loving!) couple.  This week we are preparing for a Saturday yard/moving sale and praying the snow holds out, then our storage pod arrives next Monday to start packing up, and finally our movers are coming next weekend for helping our completion. Our days are filled with juggling an overactive toddler and anxious dog (they are noticing all the boxes accumulate), packing in the one hour nap times that never seem long enough and after bedtime for late nights, selling things and more donating trips to Goodwill, and coordinating with parties involved with selling a home (lawyers, inspectors, fire department, real estate agents.)  I have gained a new respect for families who make this transition and a new found appreciation for those who move multiple times!

Adding Christmas lights to our sign

Town fire department testing our house alarms

More and more free boxes from the local liquor store

Kayak

The most difficult item to figure out how to store has been my kayak.  For those of you who don't know about my boat, it has been a labor of love and I simply cannot part with her.  Having very minimal woodworking skills prior, I bought a Chesapeake Light Craft kit and over the past few years have enjoyed building a stitch-and-glue kayak and eventually launching (and not sinking!) into may of the local lakes in our area to explore.  It has become a symbol of determination, strength and endurance for me, and has given me the confidence that I can see a challenging solo project from beginning to end.  Looking back at the process I actually think I enjoyed building it more then I do paddling... but I digress.

My husband's step-father was kind enough to offer his horse barn as a place for me to store it during our time of transition so over Thanksgiving weekend, Water Lilly (name of my kayak) traveled her furthest distance down to Connecticut for winter storage.  I'll miss seeing her in the garage, but at least she'll have a good safe home for now.  And who knows, maybe in the spring she'll even take her maiden voyage in salt water at Mystic?  I didn't build a 17 foot sea kayak to only keep her in fresh lakes *wink*  Until then, sleep well and enjoy winter hibernation.

Yes... but where are you going???

Our seemingly carefree adventurous spirit isn't as easy as it seems.  Behind closed doors, in the safety of our cape home, we have a constant struggle with revisiting decisions we are making and keeping our priorities in check.

It's taken some time to decide which path to take and we are boldly stepping forward with renting closer to our parents.  We are closing on our house on December 15th and after spending the holidays with extend family, we have decided to rent a house for the month of January in Connecticut near my husband's Mom and then for one month in February near my parents in NJ/PA area.  The primary purpose is to check out the area for school systems, job opportunities, and simply see what it's like to live closer to family again.  I've lived away from home for over 15 years now and at this point I basically consider myself a Boston Irish girl. Since we don't know what it's like to raise up a family close to relatives, it's time to see if we can better balance our support system.

After those two short months, we will continue to rent but we are still going to leave March flexible at this point.  Maybe by then we'll decide we love a particular area enough to look for a new home to purchase come next summer. Hopefully the Luck o' the Irish will strike us by St. Patrick's Day!

Time for Giving

With our house sold and packing upon us, we are fielding questions everyday from everyone we encounter.  The most typical question is "where are you going and what are you going to do for work?"  Of course they are the most valid questions any rational person would be asking in the next breath after first hearing that we sold our house, but we are less concerned about that as we are in trying to keep focused on why we are doing this in the first place.

We have been spending most of our time this year talking to friends, family and the occasional "random stranger at a deli counter" to gain insight on lessons these people have learned in their lives, decisions they regret, and hearing stories about some of the best moments of their lives.  I could write an entire novel on the wisdom we have collected in such a short time and we are hungry to hear more from anyone willing to sit and chat with us.  I will probably write more about those stories another time, but in short summary, a lot of what we heard was about the importance of family, regrets over missed opportunities, and lessons that were learned the hard way. Every person has said how they want what is best for his or her family, and the biggest hurdle most families face right now is financial debt. This hit home for my husband and I because we have been aggressively tackling this over the past few years.  Like most, we had school loans, car loans, mortgage payments, you name it and little by little became debt free... except for our home.  Selling our beautiful home as been an idea we have tossed around for over a year and now that the process is almost complete, we are excited to start feeling completely debt-free.  As I write this, I tred lightly because we are very sensitive to understand that most people are not at this stage in life yet (but I have faith you too can be more financially free!) There are millions of resources out there on how to get to this point, but very few on what to do once you are debt-free... and that's where we will be as soon as we hand over our house keys to a new couple.

When people question us about where our next house or job will be, it seems to be the kind of questions in our old burdened way of thinking.  Now that we are free to go anywhere or do anything, the questions for us is becoming less "what can we get rid of?" and turning more into "what else can we GIVE? How can we now be GENEROUS will all the blessings we have had in our lives?"  Now those are the questions that excite us more then just "where are you going?what are you going to do?"!  (Of course there is a select few items like some furniture or TVs that we will sell to relieve the burden from us transporting or storing too.)

As we are beginning to create bags and bags worth of things to donate to charity, we are feeling more and more free from the bondage that comes with owning stuff which can weigh you down.  Less clothes means wearing the outfits you feel best in and in return, clothing others who might not be so fortunate.  Baby items that are going completely unused in our basement storage would better benefit a young mother or couple.  And I know we're not perfect because donating everything seems a little extreme for us right now.  But knowing that by listing our amazingly comfortable deep couches for sale will mean not only do I not need to store them, but they will go to a good home where another family will enjoy spending time together and make memories in their family room too!  (But oh how I think I miss those couches already! Developing a more generous spirit will be a growing experience.)

House Sold

Home Sweet Irish Home

The leaves aren't the only thing blowing around in a whirlwind this autumn, so is our family!  Within hours of our open house we had our first offer to purchase our home and within 24hours, we had 3 contending offers to choose from. Highest bidder? Strongest financial buyer? Couple with the love poem?  You name it, we had it available to choose from, so it was hard to choose!!  In a country where homes are becoming increasingly harder to sell and purchase, we are lucky to live in an area where good solid homes like our sell like hotcakes!

Our home was officially "sale pending" within 48hours and we were confident that the inspection would go smoothly.  At this point all parties have already signed the purchase and sale paperwork and we are all awaiting our next check box.  Isn't this exciting?!  

Selling Our First Home

Things have been happening quickly around here this week:

• Sunday: home late at night from 6week vacation
• Monday: our daughter's 2nd birthday celebrated with family time at home &ice cream
• Tuesday: kayaking and bike ride... contacted our real estate agent
• Wednesday: think over "should we definitely sell our house?"
• Thursday: "Yup, let's do this!" signed on the dotted line to sell
• Friday & Saturday: clean CLEAN CLEAN!
• Sunday: 2 pre-showings and an afternoon Open House

Buzz - buzz - buzz like busy bee's! So that means we were back in our home less than a week before it was on the market and had an open house where we were lucky to have 17parties  sign in the sheet to visit our home.  What a great turnout for a holiday weekend!  Praying we find the right buyer for passing on our lovely home so that they can live in our amazing neighborhood with awesome neighbors! (Can you tell this is going to be very emotional for me?!)

The first question we always get is, "So where are you guys going?"  The truthful answer we are telling everyone is "We don't know yet!" Although we are happy with our decision, we are quickly realizing that answer is unsettling for most.  Through our sense of adventure and excitement for a new journey, we are getting mixed review feedback from friends &family and more questions start flying in our direction about jobs, medical insurance, what we are going to do with our furniture, and the most confusing inquiry is "when are you going to come back," which we are still wondering if that means to this area or back to reality, hahaha!

It sounds like a carefree and casual answer when we say that we are still unsure of where we are going after the house sells but I assure you it's not.  The thrill of adventure and our love of travel, withered hopes and crushed dreams, years of hard work and careful budgeting are all taken in account during sleepless nights filled with lack of decision making. Not to mention that it's harder to make these types of decisions when you are responsible for the direction of your family: spouse, children, and pets. Sometimes we feel like we have clarity but most of the time I feel like we are making decisions on a day-to-day basis.  The best way to describe it is that this decision to sell our house is simple for us and everything else will follow.

"If God is for us, who can be against us? And we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us." (Romans 8:31; Philippians 4:13)

I believe regrets in life stem from collective decisions that we make over the course of time that are not made intentionally.  If personal decisions we make each day actually matter to us, if focus is kept on the right priorities, if we take a leap of faith and trust, one little if can change everything!  We have decided that object things can weigh you down. Limit those and you will find out what grounds you.

We're back!

Keiki was quietly chanting "home, home, home" as soon as we got off the highway exit in Massachusetts and then all the way until we pulled into our home driveway late Sunday night (around 9 maybe?)  Even though the streets were dark, it was like she recognized the houses we were passing and knew the trip was actually over.  Even Daisy was up with wags! The long ride home was not ideal because we decided last minute to outrun the hurricane that was going to be creeping up the east coast along with us if we decided to visit with family so we made one stop in Orlando and then drove straight-through up to my parents in NJ... yup, craziness with a toddler and a dog!  It was 4,240miles total that we traveled on this 6 week trip, door-to-door from our home.

Check out from our Sanibel Island rental was Thursday October 1st at 10 am and we actually got out on time even though we were minimally packed the night prior.  It's easy to pack when you look around and realize anything you see that's yours needs to just be stuffed in the car somehow.  Early in the morning, Brian attached the cartop carrier and we started putting things in plastic bags before putting it up there just in case because you never know just how crazy hurricane winds and rain can be.  It ended up being totally unnecessary but better to be safe then have soaked stuff.  We ate breakfast and enjoyed morning coffee at the glass table one last time and looked out over the pool to the clam bayou and Gulf while Keiki said "Ocean!" in that cute squeaky voice.  Doodles chased her last lizard and we took a deep breath and said good bye to vacation.  It wasn't as hard as we thought it would be because we knew the long drive home would be a new adventure in itself.

The Lakes Park in Fort Meyers, FL was a great playground within 30minutes to stop at to get the ants out of our pants and eat lunch before naptime in the car.  It's easy to plan travel when food and nap schedules are routine...  or so we thought.  When playing on an unshaded playground and it is 106*F outside, crankiness bites you quickly! And we are not just talking about toddlers, we were all cooked especially the gray fur-coat dog. Guzzling water, we quickly ate our sandwiches at a picnic table huddled in minimal shade and got in the car.  And for anyone who hasn't already guessed, cooked kids don't nap in carseats - whoops, figured that out the hard way.  All miserable after an hour of crying and then 35minutes of screaming, Keiki finally cried herself to sleep out of exhaustion around 2:30pm with a blanket over her face to shield her eyes from the light.  Eventually got to Orlando (yes, I know it's only supposed to take 3.5hrs, but with potty breaks it took all day), we crashed at the exact same LaQuinta hotel, where they gave us the exact same room316.  It was surprisingly comforting to be in a familiar place, but the long day didn't stop there.  Its not easy finding a place to eat with a dog, let along a child with anaphylactic allergies but being tired of the same-old Subway we found a HotKrust panini place for something different to eat.  But just when you think the worst is over, a terrible migrane hit me and I was throwing up in the bathroom while our child cried herself to sleep in Daddy's arms from teeth pain (molars coming in) and a dog cowering in the corner from all the chaos...*sigh*

Waking up on Friday morning was scary: how were we going to drive ALL day and ALL night to get home if we couldn't even get 3.5hours off Sanibel Island?  Buck-up cowboy, this is happening.  Of course we had the option to stay put for a few days while the storm blew past but looking retrospectively the roads we were about to take would have been flooded out and closed down so we made a good call to outrun the storm.  We survived the day part of our trip much better then the day prior and it lifted everyone's spirits!  Making it past Jacksonville by lunch/naptime and then making it up to Florence, SC by 6pm for dinner was amazing distance for us.  Unfortunately Keiki had a blow-out pee diaper all over her carseat and long pants pjs so after cleaning her up we ran from the parking lot in the torrential poring rain to the Mellow Mushroom restaurant. Rain isn't bad when eating pizza under an awning outdoor area usually when traveling with a dog but let's add to the mess: we were not prepared for it to be in the 50*s.  It occurred to us 38 days after leaving Massachusetts in hot August weather that we minimally packed only shorts and tank tops for our Florida vacation - oops!  We all had one light long-sleeved shirt to put on to eat quickly, and to our delight Keiki spilt...  no, soaked her only warm clothing in milk -ugh!  "But we were ok, we can do this!" we kept saying outloud, but positive thinking can only get you so far.  Changing her clothes AGAIN for the fourth time in less then 90minutes, we covered her in a blanket to keep her warm and cozy, stopped at a petrol station for gas, Monster energy drinks, Gaterade, and Twizzlers, and then started driving to a soothing loop of 3 lullabies and both the dog and our bravely enduring toddler were asleep in the back - pfew!

The rain had caught up to us though.  Intense rain was pouring down form the sky and cruise control was getting confused by the car hydroplaning through puddles.  I carefully choose that word 'puddles' because even though at the time we were thinking the roads were flooded, it wasn't until the next morning watching the news at my parents just had flooded roads could really be in the Carolina's. Originally we thought we wodl have traveled from Florida up through Atlanta and then take Rt85 east for a more scenic route but the Rt 85 was shut down due to flooding already back on Thursday so we choose to re-take Rt95 straight up north which was a good decision.  Had stayed where we ate dinner we would have been flooded out. Had we not gotten back on the road when we did, we would have been stuck in the South Carolina state of emergency, and possibly needing to abandon our car.  Scary looking back how we were outrunning the storm but it was nipping us at our heels.  Only the major cities were on national news the next morning by Brian's father who lives in SC said we got out just in time.  Where he lives near the ocean had lots of flood damage too but they were lucky. It was a great lesson on respecting Mother Nature.

I must have dozed off because it was midnight when Brian stopped for gas and we switched driving responsibilities.  Despite turning the lights and the dings off in the car, toddlers inevitably still wake up when the car stops moving.  She dozed on and off for about 2 hours but by 3am she was awake and babbling like it was morning.  Poor Brian had only gotten about 1hr of restless nap and I had about 2hrs in me.  Energy drinks make you shaky with minimal sleep and we ate one of those yucky gas station hot dogs because our metabolism was confused and our stomachs were grumbling for something more then chips or Twizzlers. It's safe to say we didn't plan our food very well at this point.  Rice Cakes are great for keeping a toddler happy because they fill her up and take longer to eat, so entertain her longer but she was still so cranky and we were exhausted too.  By 4am we were somewhere past Baltimore, MD and enough was enough.  Pulling off to a rest area (which was quite lovely might I add!  Reminded me of the ones you stop at in Ireland) we just parked the car for a half hour to recharge.  I took Keiki out of her carseat and held her resting on my lap in the back seat, Doodles decided to camp out on top of the duffle bags in the trunk and Brian stayed in the front while we all listened to the rain.  None of us slept but at least we were taking a break from driving and the confines of seatbelts.

Within a 1/2hour we decided it was stupid to keep sitting there.  We couldn't get everyone out because it was raining, and we couldn't bring everyone inside the nice, cozy, warm, inviting rest stop with a dog.  If we were going to be trapped in the car, we might as well be driving, so we got back on the road.  An hour into Brian driving, we found ourselves in a bad area of Philadelphia, PA but needing to switch driving.  Keiki kept falling in and out of sleep luckily and I drive toward New Jersey.  I love the Bucks County, PA area and since the rain let up I decided to get off the highway for a change of pace.  Everyone was still "sleeping" and the sun was starting to rise up on the farms.  I wish more people knew how pretty the farms in NJ backroads are, they glisten in the early morning dew.  It was a really nice way to end our overnight east coast road trip.

Recovering at my parents in New Jersey on Saturday and taking a stop for Sunday dinner at Brian's Mom's house rounded our trip out nicely.  We were home in Massachusetts by late Sunday night and it was surreal for everyone. We must have cleaned the house up so much prior to vacation that the house looked bare.  Do we really live with so little on the walls? You would never think we've lived in this home for over 5 years.  The dog was excited to check out her back yard again even though it was dark out and like any typical toddler, Keiki walked in slowly to take in her surroundings and whispered, "woah."  I think we all were in a fog as we tried to remember how to turn the water and boiler back on.  How quickly one can forget these things!  Leaving in summer and returning in autumn is strange and it's going to take a while to feel like this is home again.  The leaves are turning and the air is cold already!  I'm going to need to get a pumpkin and some mums quickly!  But nothing was more rewarding then snuggling into my own comfy bed to fall fast asleep.  There is no better way to feel at home then getting cozy in your own bed and sleeping on your own pillow - ah!  Home sweet home!

Last Days on Sanibel Island

Crazy to think that we've been on Sanibel Island for an entire month now.  We pack up and leave tomorrow so today we are going to fill the day with our favorite things: sleeping-in (yes, even the toddler is starting to sleep until 8am!), going to the beach to find great shells, drinking copious amounts of coffee, grilling up a good steak or some fish, maybe a couple jumps in the pool, sneak some key lime pie once the little one is asleep. What a great way to celebrate our time away as a family!

This was not just a vacation for us, it was a place for our family to get away for a while to gain some clarity and clear some cobwebs.  We are enroute to make some life changes, but needed to put some priorities in check first.  On our trip down to Florida we saw a lot of family that we haven't seen in way too long and it was great to reconnect!  And down here we were away from (let's just call it) "New England influences" to decide what our next Chamberlain adventure will be.  Well don't get too excited because I don't have a big reveal, sorry! I'm not sure a month was long enough to make definitive decisions, but we were definitely inspired to make some changes.  Funny how most people go on vacations to refresh and go back to their typical lives, but I feel more like we've recharged our family to start pulling away from what weighs us down.  I like how most say that we will be "getting back to reality" when we go back home but if you don't like that reality, then it's time to change it...  and that's pretty much an adventure in itself!

On a separate note, I think we need to figure out how we're getting home.  We are leaving in about 24hours and all we have planned is to fill the car back up with our stuff and head north. At this very moment, we have no idea what roads we will take, what states we will visit, or what day we get back home, or how to avoid this huge hurricane that is hitting the east coast.  That scares most people - I think it's exciting!

Shell Museum

The Bailey-Matthew's shell museum offers in-depth information on local shelling and identification.  It is also home to exotic shells from around the world.  It's a small enough museum for us to enjoy the exhibits before a toddler gets bored or cranky.  And there was even a children's room for her to touch and play with big shells, puzzles, and color too!  

Gifts of the Sea

*I'm having trouble with figuring out why my photos are posting so far down from the post title above so please bare with me while I figure out fixing this.  I have a funny feeling it's because I'm adding photos that are unedited from my phone and then adding text from a separate laptop. If anyone has fixing ideas, please share!   Thanks!!*

As most of you know, I'm pretty obsessed with the ocean and that's an understatement when it comes to the passion I have had since a child to not only find or see gifts from the ocean, but scientifically dissect, identify, and figure out the life history of the finding.  Here on Sanibel it's not living fish of the sea that captivate any casual beachcomber, it's the shells!  

The vacation brochures will all boast that this is the best shelling beaches in the world and until you see it for yourself you almost won't believe your eyes!  Every beach has oodles of shells that you've not seen before and then when strategically looking during low tide, you will discover magical gifts from the sea.  The waves bring them right to your toes, it's unbelievable!! And of course all live ones go back to the ocean :-)

Live lettered olive

Welk snail (L) & Murex (R)

dead fishing bait washed up - yucky!

Live Fighting Conch were collected and thrown back into deeper waters

These hermit crabs somehow got home in my bucket.
After letting them duke it out around a plate,
I brought them down to the docks to freedom

Welk snail

Starfish

Jellyfish

Sanibel Island Living

It's hard to believe that we are starting our 4th week here on our Sanibel Island vacation. I meant to post a recap 1/2 way through, but time flies by when juggling relaxing and entertaining a toddler!  As you may already have known, we took a week to drive down the East coast, stepping in every state from New Hampshire to Florida for one week and seeing lots of family along the way.  And we are now staying on Sanibel Island here in Florida for the month of September.  It's hard to believe so much time has past, and yet it went by so quickly that I'm glad we still have 10 more days here.  So many friends and family have asked us when we are coming home only to realize we have no idea and for some reason, that's not surprising to most of them!  We have been casual about this timeline because we don't have a plan for how to drive home or who we might be able to see which keeps it an exciting adventure ahead!

I know I haven't blogged about everything that we have done along the way, mostly because life with a toddler is super busy and not to mention, the simplicity of enjoying vacation!  To recap I figure I'll make this posting an overload of info to catch up and cover our tracks on the adventures we've had and the places we've been thus far... mostly so I remember how much we've actually done & to share with all of you too  :-)

First of all, our daughter is growing up super fast on this trip! Her pretty pink sandals that were to big on her now fit just right, she is talking up a storm and more in a conversation with us now, and her hair is growing like a weed!  From preferences to choices, tantrums to new 2yr old molars she is changing by the day.  And it's funny that we think she finally found a food that she doesn't like: pineapple.  People who see her at meal times know that she basically eats like a teenage boy so it's funny to see her picky finally!

Our Sanibel Island rental house

We have had great opportunities to sit back and relax on days we wanted to and when we got antsy to check out the Island, we found some really cool places!  Hers we are at the Francis P. Bailey visitors center & island's big playground.

Birds at Jerry' Marketplace 

Clam Bayou dock: where we have seen manatees here in our own backyard!

Sanibel causeway bridge beaches
...on what is very creatively named "Island A" and "Island B" 

Bringing the dog to Bowman's Beach

Playing at the playset at the Periwinkle Marketplace in heat that felt like 106*F.  This has been the typical heat down here this month so far, unless it's raining.  It's crazy that we aren't more effected! When the temperature dropped to 86* in the rain it actually felt chilly!

Sanibel library to play with a huge wooden dollhouse, ABC computer game, toys, puzzles, and giant stuffed animals. Definitely one of the greatest libraries we've ever brought her too! So many things for kids!!

Frisbee in the park for Doodles

...then warned about lightning storms by a very loud alarm system!

Bowman's Beach Waves

Bowman's beach became a favorite not only for the waves and shells but because it was only a 5 minute drive from  the rental house!  Above is Brian's picture of me and little Keiki jumping over waves after a big storm.  Below is artsy shop fun on Captiva Island.

Captiva Island "Chapel by the Sea" & Cemetery right on the beach

The J.N. Ding Darling National Refuge

Skeletons ...and lots of buttons for this TinyTot to push!

Observation Tower at the Ding Darling refuge drive

Feeding leaves to the crabs on the Shell Mound Trail

Alligator spotted at Ding Darling!

Trekked under the Causeway bridge that brings you over to Sanibel and Captiva Islands.  There were crazy crosswinds and waves with a storm brewing!

We ventured off the island over to Fort Myers Lakes Region Park to see the trains, play on the playground and splash in the water park too.  Of course we stopped at Publix to go grocery shopping before going back on the island.

Sanibel Fishing Pier

Sanibel Light House

Catching sunrise at Lighthouse Beach

Gorilla cage at the Bubble Room Emporium on Captiva Island

Tarpon Bay Road Beach to find sand bars filled with quarter sized sand dollars!

And at the Fishing Pier Beach we saw live starfish, skate, crabs, and welk snails too!

Overlooking the causeway bridge while shelling at the fishing pier

Periwinkle Park

Periwinkle Park was great! It's word-of-mouth that the man who rescues the parrots at Jerry's Marketplace also has many more birds and animals over at his Periwinkle Park Campground. Turns out if you park at the campground entrance and walk straight down the golf cart road, you come across a pond that is circled by many parrot cages and even squirrel monkeys & lemurs! Super cool!

That's all for now!  The above pictures are of the Daddy-daughter date while I enjoyed the morning at the house to sort through some photos and write this post. I'm in awe of how much we have already explored with a toddler!  (Feel free to go back to prior posts to see some of these adventures in more detail.) It's been an amazing September spending time as a family so far and can't wait to see what the rest of this month will bring!! Stay tuned :)