On Wednesday night we had eaten supper at a place called Dry Dock. We had been told that manatees were sighted there sometimes. When we asked our waitress, she said that to make them come up to the dock they stick a garden hose in the water and the manatees are drawn to the stream of fresh water. Of course, we didn't see any that night, but another waiter told us about a nearby bridge where manatees sometimes gather because of the warmer water. So, Thursday night we went out there after supper to try and see a manatee.
To be honest, I don't remember if this picture actually has a manatee in it or not. Sheila and I saw this huge floating shape in the water that looked like a big plank of plywood or something, and later Sheila and Greg saw it's snout come up out of the water....so we did actually see a manatee in the wild!
After our exciting sighting, we went to the beach so I could see a cloudless ocean sunset...I like watching the sun slip down 'into' the water.
Max loves the beach!
We tried for a good pic of the kids...these were the best.
Cuties.
There it goes! We didn't get to see the green flash, but it was still a pretty sunset.
A rare good smile from Max.
On Thursday we went back to the beach club for our last day, and I got my favorite picture of Tirzah napping. :)
Look! Her legs are actually chubby!
Look! Her legs are actually chubby!
After she woke up, Greg was playing with her. I thought it was cute how she was holding on to his toe.
We were so glad we had a few warm, sunny days. The pool felt perfect!
Pretty and peaceful.
Just a shot of the kiddie pool with the rest of the place in the background.
Greg and Sheila took this one for Dad and Mom Beutel (and Bella!)
That night we ate at Phillippi Creek Oyster Bar, on recommendation from someone at the hotel.
Here are my stone crab claws I talked about earlier. They were yummy!
Max and Nora both crashed on the way to the restaurant, and they slept the entire meal. Max slept on Sheila's lap, while Nora slept on mine.
Greg took advantage of Max being asleep...ornery guy.
Thankfully they woke up without too much crying! Max wanted a picture on the giant turtle.
Greg took this picture, looked at it, laughed, and tried to get another one, but Max was already done. It's almost as if Greg tried to put his shadow directly over Max. :)
The lady who told us about the restaurant said they had a "real shark" hanging outside.
On our way back to our hotel, we had to stop and let Sheila get a picture of the "Unconditional Surrender" statue that we had been driving by all week.
Friday morning, Greg and Nora took a walk outside the hotel.
Not sure if it really was this dark or if it was a camera setting...but I like the picture.
Nora even took some pictures of Greg! I love her little blurry pink shoes in the foreground. :)
Beautiful sunrise.
Since it was cloudy, windy, and spitting rain a bit, we went to Mixon's Fruit Farms, the same place we went two years ago.
Max loved the iguana, Spike. I love his expression!
Max loved the iguana, Spike. I love his expression!
He also sat and petted the turtle the entire time the guide was talking about it. No turtle rides this year, bud!
Max and a Florida screech owl...it is full grown!
At Mixon's they have a huge Koi pond, with some HUGE fish! Greg and the kids fed them.
They also have a very pretty arbor thing, where we took some family pictures. Here I am with Tirzah...I love how her cheeks look so squishy in this one. :)
Our best family shot
Me and my sweetie...I love his tan even though it makes me look sick!
Our pretty blue-eyed girl
And our chocolate-eyed boy
For supper we ate at Caragiulos...we were tired of seafood and asked for recommendations for a good pizza place. We definitely went to the right place! We were able to eat outside, which was great, and the kids even made their own pizzas!
Max excited to start his!
Nora waiting for instructions.
First, you put on the pizza sauce...
....then the cheese....
...and for Max, then the toppings.
Ready to bake! The kids were also given an extra ball of dough, so we made smiley faces on their pizzas.
Look! It's done and ready to eat!
Two smileys
After supper, we realized that with all of the shell-gathering we'd done, we hadn't gotten any shells for the grandmas! To correct this mistake, we went out to the beach one last time.
The waves were the biggest we'd seen yet!
Max was NOT impressed with the wind. "I'm cold!"
I know they're not huge waves, but I was still impressed.
Sniff....goodbye, beach!
We were all glad to get into the van and head back to the hotel...it was pretty chilly out there!
Max and Nora relaxed together while watching Tom and Jerry on the iPod. Seriously, sometimes they share so good together! Other times, it's best to just put them in separate rooms!
We didn't leave Saturday until 12:15 or something like that, so it was the perfect amount of time to eat breakfast, pack everything up, and get to the airport. Thankfully the flights were uneventful (I was still nervous as a cat on both of them), and we got into Bloomington right around 5 pm. I was so happy to be on the ground and surrounded by fields! There's definitely no place like home!
We laid out all of our shells...our kitchen smelled like a fish restaurant!
Not too bad for a week in Florida.
We had a fun vacation, I'm so glad that Sheila came with us, and now I'm glad we are home and settling back in to normal. :)
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