Busy, Busy, Busy

We've been way too busy. 

Fun, though!

Boating

Thanksgiving.  I cooked.

Company

Getting ourselves settled in our new home.

Here are a few journal pages I've been doing with a little help from my two favorite girls, Kylie and Michelle:

Hopefully, this will be a quiet week!

The Island for Sunday Scribblings: Vote

Kitchen island, that is.

We'd been thinking of getting one for awhile, now, so when we saw one for a decent price at Walmart, we bought it.

Then had to put it together.

It took us about an hour.  Not too bad.

But, when we got it into the kitchen,

we couldn't decide where to put it.

It almost didn't fit.

Gary liked it here:

But, I thought it looked better this way:

Neither of us liked it here:

Or this way:

He voted to put it here:

But it didn't look good from the other direction:

All evening he'd put it one place then I'd change it. 

Then he'd switch it back.

Then I'd move it again.

This morning he tried it like this:

And it felt right!

Phew!  We finally agreed!

Ahhhh!

We went to Cayo Costa,

a mostly uninhabited island

reachable only by boat.

We walked,

looked for shells,

ate our lunch.

Gary fiddled with the boat,

I sat and read.

This is retirement.

Check out SkyWatch Friday for more awesome skies.

Good Night

I can't get enough of the sunset from our porch.  When we lived in NH, the sun slipped behind Mt. Forist around 3 in the afternoon without fanfare.  In Maine, there are too many trees in the way. A real sunset is such a treat.

Yes!

Now that we are settling into our Florida home, I've managed to find a crafting spot

and have started journaling again.

I started this page in September just before moving to our new park model then abandoned my journal for almost two months.

When Michelle and Tori were at camp, they asked if they could do a page in my journal and I was more than happy to let them.  I'd packed away most of my crafting supplies so they were pretty limited but managed to do a great job, nevertheless.

Michelle did the page on the left and I used her background to journal this week.

I love how Tori summarized the weekend for me!

Thanks, girls!



Maiden Voyage

Since our Florida home is on a canal, we bought a new boat.  It arrived Saturday evening and we got it into the water yesterday.

We spent the day breaking the motor in and ended up at Rum Bay for lunch.  It was so beautiful and relaxing.

I enjoyed watching the birds diving for food,

the dolphins swimming near the boat.

I read for awhile

and took pictures:

Captain Jake

And when we got home, I saw the almost-full moon smiling in the sky.

A Few More Pics

Sunday morning sunrise from our porch.  Our house is on stilts so it's cool to be nice and high.

A rare, quiet moment.

I love her eyelashes!

Erin making birdie friends at Busch

My two girls having fun at Busch Gardens

Kylie at Cabbage Key.  We boated there for lunch.  It's where Jimmy Buffett wrote "Cheeseburger in Paradise." 

The inside of the restaurant is covered with $70,000 in money.  There are bills attached to the walls and hanging from the ceiling.  Every year they donate $10,000 of it to a children's charity in Ft. Myers.

Kylie is Visiting

She and I went for a walk and the pool lured her in.  Of course, she had to get wet

and play in every puddle.

She lost her first tooth!

Erin and Kylie looking for cool shells at Ft. Myers Beach

Grampy and Kylie goofing around at Busch Gardens.