Chill

Today was beautiful but chilly at the beach and there were many treasures to be found.

We ate breakfast at Island Cow, drank their Starbucks coffee,and brought home some of their delicious granola.

We walked the beach and found amazing shells.

After shelling we had Crab bisque!

Cips

Delicious lunch

on Cips covered porch with Natalie and hubby while it pours rain.

Great Find

Natalie got her

Kayak

We went kayaking today and saw dolphins again in Lady Finger Lakes.

Dolphins

We rented a boat and the dolphin were all around us wanting the fish Duf, Natalie and Jerry caught!

Fishing Buddies

Joan and Pete

Joan and Pete cooked dinner for Natalie's birthday and then we played Mexican Train.

Cabbage Key

On Thursday we rented a boat and boated to Cabbage Key for lunch!

Natalie

Natalie is here for two weeks! Today we did yoga, ate lunch at Island Cow, and found amazing shells! 

The beach was full of crab traps that washed up during the recent big storm.

January 15 started with a severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings. We all ended up in the bathhouse while the storm raged. I think the weather channel made it out worse than it was in this area, it hit mostly on the mainland.  We received huge amounts of rain but not the damaging winds they predicted, this is a great thing!

We spent the remainder of the day in the motorhome playing Wii games and sleeping, good day to catch up on sleep. 

I have taken pictures of signs around the island and thought they were quite funny so here are some of them.

 To park on this island you must pay $4.00 per hour. If you park in the wrong place expect a $50.00 ticket! They patrol often.

 There are very few rest rooms on the beach!

Dinner with friends

Today was a chilly day for FL and I wore long pants for the first time since we arrived. I have learned to check the amount of gigs before downloading an app. We did an update last month that used 8 gigs helping zoom us to 22 gigs for the month! I downloaded this app on my iPhone and it took 4 gigs so I did it at the library.

After the library I rode to the post office with Carole and I mailed our passport renewal. Our next stop was the beach for a walk and shell gathering session. We then rode to where Pete said there were manatee but there weren't any in the area.

The evening began with a party at Jerry and Carole's with a fire to ward off the chill. We drank wine slush and ate appetizers provided by Joan and then had clam chowder provided by Robin. The delicious brownies were baked by Robin.

GREAT EVENING WITH FRIENDS!!

Tornado

Last night was crazy in this area because we had tornadoes in near by Cape Coral. There were no bad injuries but many homes were damaged. Sanibel, where we are, had very heavy rain but not much wind. It rained off and on all day today and there are deep puddles all around us.

Fishing

We got up early to attend an estate sale. The home was a trick! First we drove through a neighborhood of million + dollar homes, then the road left the neighborhood and it was the first house and it had been around for many years and was in sad condition. We found nothing to purchase. Upon returning to Periwinkle Park we saw another estate sale sign so we checked out the modular home. It was very nice but we were shocked that the price was over $200,000.

We spent the afternoon at Ding Darling where Duffey caught some of the largest fish he has caught in FL. I took pictures of the Pelicans.

We had an appointment at the APPLE store to figure out why we used 22 gigs of data last month when we had used less than 8 other months. They explained how the new iPhones update automatically and constantly unless certain items are turned off. It would have been nice of them to tell us this when we purchased the phones! Then I was watching the news and they were talking about how the iPhone is so great BUT it can use immense amounts of data if you leave certain things on. CRAZY. If you do not have unlimited data it is a serious problem!

They updated our programs while we were in the store and using their wifi which seemed great BUT now I can’t figure out how to use iMovie or where the movies I had made have gone! Yikes

January 6, 2016 was an active day for Duffey, Jerry, Carole, and me. We started the day at 9:00 with Duffey squeezing oranges so we could have mimosa’s to drink. After our delicious drinks we headed out for a forty mile plus bicycle ride from end to end of Sanibel and Captiva. At the end of Captiva we walked on the beach and looked for dolphins. On the return trip we stopped for lunch  at O. C. Otters where Carole and I had the delicious portobello mushroom topped with a crab cake, Jerry had Grouper and Duffey had a Cuban sandwich. 

After lunch we went to Jensen’s Marina to look for Manatee but we were not able to spot any swimming by the pier. The Manatee search failed so we headed home and did not stop until we found a resort my parents were considering staying at in February. I sent the information we found to John and we continued to ride to the lighthouse and then back home. Thirty minutes after arriving home we went to Joan and Pete’s party on the deck. Joan prepared delicious snacks for everyone and we sat around talking until it got cold. We ended the night at Jerry and Carole’s place eating desserts left over from her birthday party!

We are finally home for the night and have taken showers and are watching TV before going to bed.

It is January 5, 2016 already! The last few days have been quite chilly here on Sanibel so there has not been much beach activity. Of course when I write about the chill I mean it went from 87 to 70! Duffey, Jerry, Carole, and I rode to the post office to mail the invitations to my mother's 90 birthday party and stopped at Wendy's on the way home for drinks and lunch. The Bears were playing and after each score they gave us Jello Shots! We had lunch and tried to wait out the rain, the waitress assured us it would only rain for 5 min., but we ended up riding our bicycles home in the pouring rain. We were all soaked by the time we got home. Rocket bike helped me fly home but I was still very wet and cold! It rained all night!

January 4,  is Carole’s birthday so I cooked dinner and then we went to Carole’s for a dessert smorgasbord! It is always nice to eat and laugh with friends!

Today we went to the island theater to see the movie JOY. The theatre is small, seats 70 for each of the two screens, and they wanted to show it on both screens but the show would not play on one screen so many were given rain checks. We were among the lucky and able to view the movie. I would recommend seeing this movie, it was about a real person and quite interesting.

This was also a day with a bit of a thrill because I could not locate my purse. Joan and I went back to the place Duf purchases his oranges but the purse was not there. We scoured the RV but we could not find the purse. Finally, after an afternoon of searching and talking to the police and wondering how I could get a new drivers license I found the purse in the RV!! Relief!!!!

 My orange/vanilla ice cream cone!

Joan