My parents came with us too. We usually spend spring break with them. The kids love to have them and so do we. It is nice to spend time with them and it's nice to have extra adults to help with the kids. Ken and my dad fish together as well. They rented their own unit in the same condos we stayed at so we were very close to each other.
This is our view from our room. It was a one bedroom unit, but we made it work. I tried getting a two bedroom, but since it's spring break they are very hard to come by. The umbrellas on the beach is where we hang out for the day. We tend to have quite a set up on the beach, but it's great to have some shade as we are all on the light skinned side and can't take too much sun.
Of course no vacation for us wouldn't be complete without sunset pictures. I think I have my Christmas card picture already. Even though Noah thought his shorts looked like a picnic table cloth I thought they were so cute and they look great on the beach.
A couple mornings Ken, my Dad (Mike) and Noah went fishing early at Lover's Key. It's a state park down the road from our condo. They named themselves Hook (Ken) Line (Noah) and Watcher (Grandpa Mike). Ken hooked the fish and Noah pulled them in. They are sea trout and very good eating. We ate these that night fresh with some steak. Yum!! The guys didn't end up catching any other fish, but they did see a shark a couple of times. Yikes! That was enough for Noah to get out of the water and start making sand castles on the beach.
Although on the Gulf side of Florida there aren't many big waves it's fun to "surf" the mini waves. Katie liked it a lot. Nathan liked to play and relax and feed the egret shrimp and minnows.
I can't help myself with these pictures of sunset and matching outfits. I wonder how many more years I'm going to be able to get away with it! LOL
Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sue bought these kites for Easter for the kids. Nathan had the Shark, Noah had the Dragon, and Katie's was a Parrot. The were really nice and lots of people asked where they got them. They got them at Costco in Michigan in case you were wondering.
I can't help myself with these pictures of sunset and matching outfits. I wonder how many more years I'm going to be able to get away with it! LOL
Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sue bought these kites for Easter for the kids. Nathan had the Shark, Noah had the Dragon, and Katie's was a Parrot. The were really nice and lots of people asked where they got them. They got them at Costco in Michigan in case you were wondering. 
Noah looks like he is going to fly away, but really the were easy to fly.
Noah really liked fishing in Florida. Another awesome sunset.
These pictures are in reverse order. Easter Sunday was first and here are the kids in their Florida Easter Church clothes. We go to Church of the Ascension on the beach. It aways cracks me up because the ushers male and female wear tuxedos and they are all really old. The reader looks a lot like Ken's Uncle Joe. It was pretty packed in there and a really nice Easter Mass. I had to take a picture of the kids with Mary outside the church as she looked so beautiful with the tropical flowers. The Easter bunny brought buckets, shovels, and pool toys as well as some candy and some spending cash for souvenirs.
Here's Katie with her kite. On a particular windy day her kite got a way from her. She and Ken chased it down the beach. It stopped when it hit a building and they got it back. Phew!
Weather was awesome all week with sun and 80's. Only one day was a little cooler, but still hot in the sun and we went shopping on Sanibel Island that day and out to lunch. It's great to do these family trips they are a much needed break from the every day hustle and bustle and stress. We have gone to Ft. Myers beach so many times it is hard to imagine a year without it. But alas we are home now and the weather is very spring like(read raining) and I have a mountain of laundry to do and have to go back to work and am suffering from post vacation depression. But...life will go on and I will be looking at our pictures. Until next year ah....
