Sanibel Island

Oh, heaven, that Sanibel Island. We stayed at the Periwinkle Campground and they had a duck pond and exotic bird and lemur enclosures that the kids ADORED! We had to say good morning, goodnight, and feed some of them a lunch time snack every day. Thankfully it was a little bit of a distance to our campground so we didn't have to hear the squawking all day long.

The ocean (gulf) was very refreshing and the kids enjoyed the waves. We didn't see any wave action in the keys due to the coral reef off shore.

These three crated this fun game call "wave smash". Basically you sit in the shallow water and wait for a wave with your arms outstretched.

And try not to let the wave knock you over!

Hours of fun, to be sure.

The kids did, indeed, find tons of shells to take home.

Amanda is working on a killer tan after only 4 days in the sun. Me... still using the aloe vera on the bright red spots. Who's daughter is this?

After so fun in the sun, we headed to the wildlife refuge for some birding. No alligators were spotted, but we saw a reddish egret, common ground dove, ospreys (EVERYWHERE!), lots of white ibis, roseate spoonbills, and a ton of jumping fish... BIG JUMPING FISH!

Here are a few photos from the viewing platform at the refuge.

After dinner, we headed back to the beach for some more shelling at sunset.

And it was no mystery as to why this island is know for it's shelling!

Gayle and I were able to do some shopping the next day while Eric and the kids road bikes around town. I just love, love, LOVE this cute little community that is so focused on wildlife preservation on their small slice of sand. I'm currently trying to talk Eric into moving us there permanently. Hey, a girls gotta dream, right?