Day 3

I know you are all SO anxious to hear more about our vacation, so here you go:

Day 3 - Wednesday:

We headed to Tigertail Beach in early a.m. again. This time, we went to the left, along the lagoon. It was a LONG walk, if you go back and look at some of the pictures I posted on Day 2. We found the beach mostly deserted, and the waves were fairly big again, but not as much as previous day. Hannah and I shelled a bit, tried to find more sand dollars (no luck). Scott spent a lot of time just holding Scotty in the waves again.
When we left, were attacked by a swarm of flies or fleas that followed us to the parking lot. It was really annoying, these slightly pesky flies. Hannah and I put our hoods on from our cover-ups. This seemed to help a bit. Poor Scott, he ended up carrying Scotty, who was 'too tired' to walk. The walk seemed even longer with these swarming little flies and whiny kids. We managed to make it to the parking lot, thankfully! We got back to the house, rinsed off, and had lunch.

Now, a little about the house we rented. We found it on VRBO.com (vacation rental by owner). Many years ago (our honeymoon, as a matter of fact) we decided we'd do a Florida tour, ending with some time at Disney World. We drove down the gulf coast and spent the night in Sarasota. We then drove down to Marco Island. Scott's sister, Laurie, is married to Bill...and Bill's parents own a house down there. Bill, Laurie and the kids happened to be down visiting the family there, so we stopped by and spent part of a day with them. We fell in love with Marco Island. (we then traveled to Ft. Lauderdale to see Scott's aunt Alice Kay, then headed to Disney, lol). When we were trying to plan a family vacation (when Hannah was 2 1/2) Scott somehow stumbled upon VRBO and looked up Marco Island. He found this house. We rented it back then, 6 years ago. It's a 3 bedroom house, with a split plan (MBR is on one side, other rooms on other). The MBR (king bed, bathroom, TV), dining area, and larger bedroom (with a queen bed) all have sliding glass doors out to the covered lanai and pool.


Our pool/jacuzzi for the week.

The pool is screened in, and it has a hot tub/jacuzzi. The jacuzzi is also the pump for the pool and has a small cascade of water that flows when the pump is on. A large grill is provided on the lanai, as well as lots of seating, and two tables. There's a small back yard with lots of tropical trees and plants.


one of the many tropical plants - the flowers on this looked more like pink leaves!


Another pretty flower...

When we were there the first time, there was a banana tree, mango tree and an orange tree. The banana and orange trees are now gone, but the mango is STILL there!

Mango tree - while we were there at least 7 mangoes fell from the tree. Too bad we didn't see them fall, we could have gotten them before the bugs did!


These 2 mangoes were almost ready...but too high up to pick!

The entire yard is fenced in, and the growth all around (both from the yard and the neighbors' yards) is such that it is truly a private retreat. One of the fun things is finding the little lizards on the screens. There were "teeny-tiny" ones (as Hannah called them),

Teeny-tiny lizard, about 1 1/2 inches long

and bigger ones as well.

larger lizard, about 6 inches long.

Along with the bedrooms and dining room, there's a small galley kitchen with a breakfast nook (seriously, it's a nook, only room for a small table and 2 chairs!). The living room is large, with a big sectional couch and entertainment center that reminds me much of a German shrank (say SHRUNK). There's also a garage, which is handy (and necessary) in South Florida in July! Linens, dishes, towels...all provided. Even the remote for the garage. All you need is food!

Once again, I spent the afternoon in pool with kids.


Kids in the jacuzzi - see the "waterfall"? This was Scotty's favorite place to be. It was like his own personal swimming pool. It WAS over his head, though, so he had to have his vest on. But he spent an awful lot of time in here. We didn't have the heat on, so it was the same temperature as the pool (about 88° - nice and refreshing!)

The kids did a lot of jumping off the side of the pool (much to Scott's dismay). I love capturing them "in flight"...and sometimes, the expressions are worth it!


Scotty in full flight.


Hannah has a blast!


They wanted to jump in together


Cannonball!!! nice form!


Not to be outdone, Hannah tucks into a cannonball as well...but keeps her head UP!


And this picture of Scotty...well...self-explanatory. He was having FUN!

Scott took a much needed nap (had not slept well the night before and woke up at 2:00 a.m.). I've been sleeping rather well! We came in for awhile. The kids played on the DS, I read a bit and tried to nap. We went out for supper at Almost Famous Mel's Barbecue - BEST BARBECUE I have had in a LONG time by far!
(side note: the barbecue here in South Carolina is mostly mustard-based. It's not BAD, but not high on my list...I love "red sauce" barbecue)

Scott and I split a "sampler platter" that included a rack of baby back ribs, a huge dish of pulled pork, and 8 slices beef brisket. There was so much food that we ate our fill and took home at least another meal! Scotty ate mac and cheese, Hannah had chicken tenders and fries. GREAT FOOD, all around. After we ate, we went to one of the tourist shopping spots next door, SunSations, to check out the "tourist junk".
We dropped Scott and Scotty off at the house, and Hannah and I headed back to South Beach to try and shoot a sunset. It wasn't too bad, but I have to say we really did not have a single REALLY NICE sunset day, and usually, you get GREAT sunsets on the gulf. We had a nice time, just the two of us.


Hannah collects more seashells


Sunset


Without people this time


Silhouetted Hannah - the silhouette shots were my favorites


I love this one, because you can see the wind blowing her hair!


Self portrait as the sun was just peeking over the horizon.