Apr. 13 (Day 103) - I'll have to get back to you on this

Not sure if I have a picture for today.

Apr. 12 (Day 102) - Anya

While on vacation I got an email that a cat had been in the shelter for 240 days.  She was not very happy anymore and really needed a place to chill.  So even thought I had laundry and things to be doing, I went and picked up Anya.  She's a really pretty Maine Coon cat whose about 10 years old.  Her owner gave her up after having her for 9 years.  I have no idea why.

Apr. 11 (Day 101) - No Free Tickets for Us

We headed home today.  I was all ready to get booted off our flight and get some free plane tickets.  I knew they were overbooked because we couldn't even get seat assignments for the girls and I.  Sure enough, they were offering $600 vouchers for anyone willing to stay behind.  But nobody was willing to do it.  Especially once they found out that we were upgraded to First Class for the second flight of our trip.  I don't know why it happened since we didn't pay for it or have any sort of special tickets.

None of the teens had ever had ever flown first class and there was no way they were gonna miss that.  Here's Paul and Kevin in First Class.  They watched movies and played games on the little TVs in the headrest in front of them.

Poor Alana!  She fell asleep and didn't find out you could use the little TVs until we landed in Detroit.  She says we now have to fly her first class again.  Sure, babe, we'll get right on it. :)

Apr. 10 (Day 100) - Just Us Detroiters

Laura, Sarah and Allie left about 6am this morning.  Laura said she almost woke them at 3am because she was up and they all regretted that she didn't.  It took then something like 21 hours to get to Louisville when it was only about 15 hours on the way down.  That a whole other long store.

Here in Bonita Springs, we tried to play tennis today, but it just didn't work out.  We didn't have rackets and they only place that had rackets closed at 2pm.  Which we found out at about 2pm.  So Mark and I took Paul, Kevin, and Alana to another putt putt golf place.  The said it was a lot better than the first one they went to.  Here they are waiting for Mark and I.

And of course, the all important score tallying.

I can't even remember who won although it was probably Mark.  I just know it wasn't me.

Cassie was supposed to be working on her AP bio, but of course got distracted again.  Which means she just sat addicted to her computer again.  That caused a huge argument between Mark, her, and I.

Apr. 9 (Day 99) - Sea Kayaks Do Over

So we decided we'd get up really early to get out on the first sea kayaks at 8am.   But of course we woke up and it was raining with some thundershowers.  We decided to let the teens sleep a little extra and when it looked like the storms were going to pass we headed out.  We timed it perfectly so that after the 40 minute drive to Sanibel it was just cloudy when we arrived and nobody was at the kayak place yet.

We all paired up since Laura stayed behind because her ankles were still so swollen.   There was Paul and Kevin, of course.

And surprisingly Alana and Cassie chose to go out together.  And they headed straight out paddling perfectly in unison.  Go figure!

Mark and I were together, but I didn't take our picture.  And lastly, Sarah and Allie.

They had a little route through the mangrove that was really neat but pretty narrow in places.  We were either cracking up or bickering over how to paddle together.  It was all pretty fun.  Quit a few kayaks ran into the trees or each other.  And I have to say it was the first time I've ever heard Paul and Kevin argue. Even that was making me laugh.

There were tons of birds.  The two best things we saw was this baby bird, whose mother was trying to get it to fly.

and the heron that was fishing.  It would jump around in circles and then stab down at the fish.  I was filming it but stopped right before it caught it's fish.  Ugh!  Luckily Sarah caught it on her camera.

We headed back out of the mangrove just as a whole tour was heading in.  It was pretty funny trying to navigate around them in the narrow parts.  And it was funny to hear them all arguing as they went by.

Apr. 8 (Day 98) - R & R

After our really long day yesterday we decided to take it easy.  I think the boys just hung around the pool all day.  Cassie sat with her head in facebook.  The rest of us went up the street to the Beach club.  It was nice because we had lawn chairs and they brought us some drinks.  Allie and Alana were having fun in the inner tubes.  There was actually a little bit of waves since it was windy out.

Apr. 7 (Day 97) - The Everglades

It was a really long day but pretty fun.  We did our day long everglades tour.  We had a tour guide named, "fill in later", that warned us he would talk from beginning to end and he wasn't joking.  We spent many hours traveling from place to place and he would just talk about the roads, the environment, whatever was on his mind.  He was pretty funny and not too loud so you could rest if you wanted, which was nice.

Our first stop was a boardwalk into a wet area.  X said it was normally all dry but the weather had been so bad this winter it was still wet, so the alligator could move around more and we wouldn't see them here.  Not to worry, there were plenty to see later.  We got to see the strangler fig trees that will complete wrap the cypress tree and a large eagles nest.

We then headed to everglade city and to the National Parks boat tour.  We saw so many different animals.  Here is the osprey with her two babies.  She squawked at then until they ducked down in the nest.

We then saw a manatee.  Or rather it's nose, but I didn't get a picture.  Someone else saw something in the water and it turned out to be a raccoon.  The are the only mammals that can survive out in the mangroves because they've learned to like the dew off the leaves in the morning.  The poor little guy thought we were gonna run him over.

We saw four or five dolphin playing in the water and they followed the boat for a while.  The teens were as enthusiastic as ever.  Especially when they ran out of gas in one engine and it took a bit longer to head back to the dock.

Next we drove through the Everglades on the one main road.  There's a man made canal that has alligators just about everywhere you look.  We stopped a few times for some photos.   Eventually even Paul and Kevin would get out.  Still looking really excited.

Our final stop was for our fan boat ride.  We had to wait a while but they had lizards and birds and even a baby alligator to see while we were waiting.  Cassie was the only one that held it.  I was surprised they didn't have it's mouth banded because I wouldn't want that thing to bite me.

On the fan boat we so tons of alligators.  The said there were 3,000-4,000 in just that lake.  It was pretty loud but we had muffler type headphones on.  It was a lot of fun be we didn't go as fast as I thought we would.

We had to unexpected things happen on the trip.  At the end we saw a bald eagle.  It was a young one that hadn't turned white yet.  It was pretty neat to see.  During the middle of the trip we went around the corner and saw this...

Seriously, can anyone say "Lake Placid."