Getting used to living in Florida: Our Happy Thanksgiving

I think I will change my layout almost every time I post a blog! I love all the different ones out there. But I am sooo not ready to add the Christmas one. Not yet. I can never get into Christmas until a week or so before it. Don't know why... Just cant. Oh well. On to more fun topics. Did everyone have a nice Thanksgiving? Since living here in Florida and not having family around, our last 2 Thanksgivings have been quite different than we ever had in AZ or WA. Last year we spent the day at Universal Studios. This year we were going to go to my coworkers house, however, on Tuesday, Mike got a work call in Fort Myers. Then he got a call in Naples. Both places had issues that may or may not of been resolved by the fix he did. Which meant, he would work until late Wed evening, drive home, then possibly have to go back very very early Friday morning. So we did a typical Mike and Corinna move. The boys and I went with him, and we stayed until Friday. (Christina flew to Uncle Leonard's & Aunt Michelle's in CA, and the rest of my family drove/flew there as well). The hotel Mike found was typical for us. A one bedroom with full kitchen. Plus it had cocktail & hors d'oeuvres from 5-7, and Wed night BBQ night. Perfect! Free food and drinks!! A heated swimming pool, and a 5 hole putt putt course.

The boys had a blast swimming. The water was warm, and they just jumped right in.

Here, Caleb asked Mike to write "daddy" on a piece of paper, and he wrote 'booger' instead, so Caleb put him in time out.

I had premade some Pumpkin Ginger Soup and Salad to take to Diane's, so we decided to pack a cooler and bring it with us, along with carrots and a few other goodies. We stopped at the store and picked up a rotisserie chicken, 100% natural potato flakes (no fake crap), and Natural Turkey Gravy. I used the maple syrup from the full breakfast the hotel provided, and made maple glazed carrots. None of us are pumpkin pie eaters, so we bought vanilla ice cream (for Zachary) and Caramelized Pear and Candied Pecan Ice Cream, and whipped cream for us. Everything was waiting for me to quickly prepare in our kitchen when we got back from our boating excursion. We debated about what kind of boating trip to take. A Chartered 93ft Luxury Yacht, fancy lunch or dinner included? A chartered fishing excursion? Or rent our own party boat and explore by ourselves. OF COURSE we picked the by ourselves one! We left early Thursday morning, and spent until 5pm on the boat. What a wonderful fun time we had!!

There were about 6+ dolphins out frolicking in the waters. Unfortunately we were so busy watching them that we didn't take any other pictures.

Caleb loved driving the boat!

So did Zachary. Mommy just watched them, and enjoyed the ride.

Here, there was one lone bird following us, and I threw a piece of Chex Mix Cereal up, and he caught it. The next thing we knew, there were a dozen birds following us. We kept throwing the cereal in the air, and most of the time the birds caught it! This was while we were cruising along at 25 mph!

Bye Bye city! Key Islands, here we come!

hmm. I am not sure who is driving our boat. Zachary?

We bought a dozen live shrimp to fish with. Zachary enjoyed helping watch the pole.

We are all water signs. The only thing missing in our wonderful Thanksgiving on the water was Christina.

We caught a fish! Turned out it is a Lady Fish. While it is edible, it has many many small bones, and can easily turn mushy when cooked. It is a bottom feeder fish. We put her back in the water after a short time. But it was still fun catching one.

She was about 22 inches.

We actually snagged another fish. It must of been a HUGE one, because Mike felt it grab, and then he had to hold on. It thrashed for a second or two, and then broke our pole in half. See ya!

There were dozens of birds just sitting and enjoying the scene.

While we were fishing we parked at a Key Island. The boys enjoyed running up and down and picking up seashells. Zachary even found two sting ray skeletons. Unfortunately, as I type this, I remember that they were packed into our snorkeling gear bag, which we didn't unload. UGH. The smell is making me very sick right now. GROSS!! Memo to boys: Lets leave your smelly sea creatures behind from now on!

Almost 11 years and still as in love as ever. AWWWWWW.........

This pictures says it all for me. My toes in the sea water = Happiness.

We had a fun day! Of course, now Mike is begging to get a boat of his own. After all the bills are paid off, and the Surprise house sold, then YES. Until then... We will enjoy these moments as much as possible. And be THANKFUL for all the blessing that we do have.