Off to the Beach

     We had a great breakfast with Ed and Betty and then packed up for our drive south to Sanibel Island.  On the way we passed through Tampa/St. Petersburg and had a quick lunch with our former Minneapolis neighbors, Charlotte and Bob.  It was a slight detour which took us across two massive bridges.  The day was cool, but we enjoyed the bright sunshine.  I thought that it was a clever idea to leave portions of the old bridge as fishing piers.

     We got to Fort Myers in mid afternoon, and then spent over an hour buying groceries, swim diapers and sunscreen for the family.  When I got back to the car I was worried about getting to Sanibel in time to check in with the place that manages the prperty we rented.  Indeed, when I called the office ot was closed for the weekend, but the message said to press "1" for afterhours help.  I did so, but the person who answered seemed to be clueless as to what we should do.  So we drove to the property on Sanibel and looked for the "lockbox by the right side of the door" to get the key using a code sent to me.  No lockbox anywhere.  Finally I pulled on the sliding door and it just opened so we went in.  

     This is a nice place.  There are two double townhouses with a small pool in the backyard and the Gulf in the front yard.  Like all new construction here the first level is parking and storage.  The second floor has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kichen and living room.  The third floor has a loft, bathroom, and third bedroom.  The views are just amazing, out over the dunes and across the broad white sand beach.  We have just glorious breezes.  BUT, we had to haul groceries, porta crib and highchair, beach towels, luggage and electronic stuff up the stairs.  Offdah.  Thats a lot of steps.

     We had a quick dinner, admired a gorgeous sunset as we crossed the causeway, and then went to the airport to pick up the family.  I was so happy to see the whole gang.  Stella had a bad plane ride due to a cold and clogged eardrums, but she was cheerful after landing and happy to see Papa and Grandma.  We settled into our home by the sea and got rested up for a busy week.