JUMPING ON TO SAY HEY...

Just jumping on to say hello. We are headed out the door and I wanted to post a couple of quick pictures of Brennen at the beach - "jumping the waves." This is why I love a camera with a fast shutter and why I detest point and shoot cameras which have delays when trying to capture moments like these. Thank goodness for "Big Papa!"

We are having a fabulous time. Christmas dinner at the Dolce Vita restaurant was incredible - as always. Brent loves tradition and he was adamant that we keep that tradition going this year by having Christmas surf and turf on Sanibel Island at the Dolce Vita restaurant again. So we did. I missed my parents and my in laws tremendously on Christmas day but it was also great to be here in this 80 degree weather for the holiday too. There is nothing like trading snowy, rainy, 18 degree Indiana weather, for Florida's palm trees with Christmas lights adorned around them, sun, and sand. I have to admit that my Dad called me yesterday though and told me that we are never allowed to be away on Christmas day ever again. HA HA! He informed me that Christmas has been horrible without us there in Indiana the past two years and that this year was the worst. He told one of his best friends that it just hasn't been the same since we have begun vacationing over the holiday. He informed me to tell Brent that we wouldn't be booking any vacations next year until at least the day after Christmas. :) When I told Brent that, he said..."Well, it looks like your Dad better be buying a plane ticket and joining us here beach side come next year then." Keep in mind that my Dad and Brent get along very well so when you hear the two of them giving one another a hard time, it's hysterical.

So, it looks like we might have a small family feud on our hands come December next year. Hee hee! I feel bad for my Dad. They even tried to kill time and go see a movie on Christmas day only to be cut in line by a woman who then tried to offer up a coupon of $3.50 in return for her cutting in line and then they got into the show only to have their tickets canceled once they were inside the theater due to a malfunction with the movie itself. Needless to say, he called me and let me know that it was not a good day. Ha ha! I'm his only child and thus, my kids are his only grand kids. I feel bad that he and my Step-Mom and well as my own Mom aren't able to be with us in person on Christmas day because we are gone. Brent loves being away for these 2.5 weeks at this time of the year though because it is the one vacation each year when he can be gone and truly not have to worry about what is going on back at the office. He can get away right now and not really have to work much from afar while he is here. This time of the year is more relaxing for him. Therefore, it ought to get comical next year when we try to narrow down our Christmas plans. Hopefully, you'll all still be around to see what ends up playing out. :)

Lastly, Brennen has begun a collection of these little conch shells that now stink to high heaven outside. Thank goodness they are outside and not inside. They have the live animals still inside them and they decided to rear their ugly heads last night. YUCK! They look like snails. How people eat the mollusk inside these conch shells is beyond me. Brennen wanted me to share what one of them looked like - while inside their shell. This was the best I could do.

For now, we are off. Maybe to the Naples Zoo, maybe back to beach, maybe to the everglade boat tours, we don't know for sure just yet. Therefore, we are off to decide. I'll be back to post more soon. Thanks to each of you who posted a comment about Kenidi's melt down yesterday and to those of you who emailed me personally about it. I loved all of your notes and your kind, kind, words. I put them all into a folder on my computer to save for Kenidi so she can read them someday. Your support means more to us than we can ever begin to describe. And a big thanks to those of you who don't normally post but did yesterday and to those couple of you who were lurkers that came out of the closest to post. I love that and truly appreciate each of you.

Much love, Angie

PS...Still adding one new photo a day over on my photography web site blog. Click HERE to view them if interested.