The good life

Mom, Dad, and Charlotte just returned from 10 days on sunny Marco Island Florida. Ahhhh Sun, yes Sun. Sun that is warm enough to make you sweat. Sun that stays out until 7pm. Sun that makes you think it is summer, not the middle of February. Sun that at noon is directly above your head requiring you to put sunscreen in your thinning hair to prevent your scalp from burning.

The house was a beautiful Floridian style home. Complete with screened courtyard with spa and heated pool. A dock out back to fish and watch the manatees (yes we saw them frolicing in the water). Walking distance to the beach. And a giant screened back porch as long as the house. What do we come home to? 8 feet of snow topped with a 3 inch thick layer of ice on our house. Newly installed gutters that builds up ice causing any melting to reak havoc on our house by freezing back into our celings and walls. Yes we are so excited to be back home where the sun shines all day and doesnt melt the snow, where the sun sets at 3:30, where dads tan immediately faded to pastey white in a matter of hours. But most of you share in our misery so lets talk about Florida again.

Sun. Did I mention the sun? Isn't it beautiful?

You are probably thinking, "Wow, that is some sunset!" Unfortunately it's not the sunset. It is the sunrise. And dad got to see it every single morning because Charlotte wanted to wake up around 5am every day. We tried putting her to bed later, earlier, skipping naps, putting her in our bed in the morning. Nothing worked. Maybe she didnt like sleeping in the pack and play or that she was sleeping in a walk in closet, or that she just wanted to get up early to go to the beach. Who knows. But when is the last time you got to see a sunrise like that? It made it worth it. Ok not really but it was still nice to see.

Charlotte loved the beach. Marco Island doesnt have the typical new england sandy beach, rather a beach made up of shells. Some big shells. Some little shells. Some tiny broken bits of shell. We had fun looking for the perfect shell to bring home. Unfortunately most of the elderly people hit the beach at sunrise and take all the good ones to sell them to the shell shops (at least that is what dad thinks). He was able to find a couple of good ones and smuggled them home in his suitcase.

Charlotte and cousin Liam played very well at the beach. Only a few minor squabbles over the watering bucket or truck, other than that they had a blast chasing each other and just running, digging, and playing.


Charlotte loved the sun as much as mom and dad. Although we made her wear her surfer girl outfit to preven the sand from getting in her cracks and crevasses.

Ahh the pool and spa back at the house. The kids loved it because it was hot and because they could stand up on the seats. Mom being pregnant was forbidden by dad from getting into the HOT tub. So we shut the heater off for a while and she was able to get in when it reached a cozy 90 degrees. Hopefully we didnt cook baby Cornealius.

Mom found the screened in bug free porch that overlooked the water to be very relaxing.

Dad fishing for manatees. Actually he stopped fishing when he saw that there really were manatees in the water. A whole pod of them? Gang of them? Who knows, but there were at least 7 or 8 that paid us a visit. They are very cute.

We really didnt take the above picture, but thats what they look like Nanny in case you are wondering.

All in all the trip was great. We had a blast and Charlotte was very sad to leave Nanny, Beepa, Uncle Ian, Auntie Tiffany, Liam, and last but not least Baby Chase.