Ft. Myers Trip: Day 5

RECAP:    My husband and I both grew up on the river.  Literally.  The river was just footsteps outside of both of our front doors.  We love the water.  We love the beach.  So when we decided to start venturing further than a day's drive away from our home for a family vacation, we chose the beach.  Ft. Myers Beach, FL, to be exact.  Here's what we did on:

DAY 5:

     Day 5 is the day we really settled in.  It was Tuesday and we had no intentions of leaving the island for any reason until it was time to go home.  The weather had warmed up, and stayed that way for the rest of our trip!  No more cool mornings and evenings...even for me!  We were adjusting quite well to our little home for the week!

     Dave and I started the day with Mass, while Grandma stayed behind with the kids.  We made it in time to pray a couple decades of the rosary and were able to stay for the Divine Mercy Chaplet after Mass.  This reminded me of my former days of daily Mass back home, with the added bonus of having my husband with me!  A great start to the day!

     Next up on our list of things to do was figure out the bike situation.  There were two adult bikes in the garage and one children's bike.  All of which had flat tires and rusty chains.  Dave picked up an air pump and some oil and went to work.  He had some success and was able to get one of the adult bikes and the children's bike working.  He and our oldest son then took a ride a few miles down the beach to check out an area we had thought looked cool on Google Earth.  

The Area:

When they returned, Grandma and our daughter took the bikes in the opposite direction.  In the meantime, the rest of us decided to talk a walk.  

Unfortunately for for the biking crew, the children's bike did not hold up and we saw Grandma and our daughter walking the bikes back home (we ended up renting two more bikes for the rest of the week and it was money well spent)!  We did a partial kid exchange, with some continuing with us, and some going back with grandma, and we continued on our separate ways. 

The walkers got to see a little white crab!

We also saw a live starfish, but the waves were quicker than the camera, and it was covered in sand before we could snap a photo!

Of course we saw plenty of pelicans too!

     We spent the afternoon...you guessed it...hanging out on the beach.  

With the warmer weather there was a lot of action out on the water!

The little guy discovered a great love for jumping in the waves!

Still searching for shells, especially whole sand dollars!

Going for a swim with Daddy!

Relaxing!

By mid-afternoon, the little guy had run out of gas!

     That evening Dave and I got to take a bike ride, which was so much fun.  We were trying to make it to the pier at the north end of the beach by sunset, but just when the pier was in sight and we thought we had a chance to make it, the chain fell off my bike.  The sun set while we were trying to fix it, so we didn't make it. It was still absolutely beautiful though, and the whole experience was fun whether we made it to the pier, or not.  After the chain was fixed we rode back, stopping at Publix along the way.  Who cares about a trip to a grocery store?  No one, but going to Publix on the bikes became our little mini-date every night.  So...it holds a very special place in my heart, and who could leave a thing like that out??

 The Sunset

Even better post-sunset if you ask me!

We also saw a horseshoe crab, which I thought was soooooo very cool!

By the end of the day I was REALLY beginning to wish I could just hit repeat everyday for the rest of my life!

 Here's what we did on:  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 6, Day 7, Day 8,  Day 9