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 :)