Sanibel Island

sunrise on Sanibel

Every year, since I was a little tiny child, our family- or a version of family- heads to Sanibel Island, FL. Why there you ask? Don't you already live IN Florida you say? The answer is yes, yes we do! We live in a beautiful place- West Palm Beach, FL. I actually really could only imagine living one other place, Friesland Netherlands...but that is a whole other story!!! (just look at the flag..how could you not want to live somewhere that has hearts on the flag?)

Friesland flag

So, why do we go to Sanibel? Is it for the great tourist attractions? The fabulous clubs and bars? Is it for golf or tennis or any other sporting thing? No, No and Nope. In fact, it's for the lack of all of those things that we make this trip.

We go to Sanibel because we love the beach. Just look at all that beach. It's on every side and corner of the island!

 We really love low-tide.At low tide there are miles of open beach that appear. The tide pulls back and hundreds of live shells, crabs, starfish, sea cucumbers, sand dollars, horseshoe crabs and much more come out to play.

low tide- small people hunting for small critters

 We always have so much fun at low tide. The kids bring nets and try to catch small fish and crabs. We always take lots of pictures and look for pretty non-living shells. It's a beach rule...no live shells may be taken from the beach. We need to make sure there are lots of shells for the next generation who visits the island too!

Our family loves to eat. We always bring a bunch of fabulous eats to the island...and we grill, grill, grill. Margaritas, good beer, munchies and fabulous dinners! Who would not like that anyway???

There are many more reasons we love Sanibel...more that I will write about soon! Right now, I have to pick my kids up from school.

Cheers
~Casey

Happy November!

I have been busy with Etsy work these last few weeks. It seems people are shopping early this year- which works well for me, as I do mostly custom pieces.

I am having to take a little time off this week though. Having a wisdom tooth extracted. Yay! I am 40 years old- and one would think that those buggers would have the sense to stay put...but nooo- one has decided to give me hell and start to come in. Headaches suck- but a never ending headache is just the pits all around!  So wish me luck! It is my first surgery- my first "twilight" experience. I think that part scares me the most- the being out of it part. Bah- C'est la vie.

To prepare for my outing- I have been cramming, trying to get orders out to people in a reasonable time. I did 14 tiles last week- and am finishing up a big Memory Illustration today. Busting butt for sure. It is amazing what you can accomplish when pushed for time!

we love the beach

As for the family: we have been having  lots of fun.  Hit the beach a few times...

new entrance to the science museum

 Visited the newly remodeled South Florida Science Museum. 

dino exhibit

hurricane tunnel

It is awesome. They have a giant room of aquariums now- with a touch tank and Florida Everglades exhibit. The dinosaurs are a super fun exhibit too- but we LOVED the hurricane tube. You stand in this little clear tube and push a button and the wind inside gets to hurricane force winds! Awesome!

Oh- and Oktoberfest!!! We went with some friends this year and had a great time.

in-case we wanted to go back at night without the kids

the kids had a great time too

snow cone faces

So that is what we have been up to. Hope you all have been keeping busy and enjoying the Fall
weather!

I'll leave you with a beautiful fall day in West Palm Beach, Florida!

Cheers!
~Casey

Slacker am I

It's May...May! I cannot believe it (as our favorite Little Einstein says)! This year is blowing by so quickly...I feel like I should do a quick update...

my hubby and me at lunch on Captiva Island

OK- the last time I blogged was February...that would be my birthday...so Happy 40th to me ;)

our garden when it was just a baby

 March was spring break...my sister's birthday (Happy BD Kel) and the start of spring...ish. It was the month we planted our garden box with herbs and veggies. 

April....ummm I don't really remember April- as we were all sick on and off for what seemed like the whole month. But, we did squeeze in a few trips to the beach :)

phipps ocean park

May was our annual trip to Sanibel Island. Lots o fun and tons of great pics! Also my Mom's and Skip's BD! Happy BD guys!!! xo   Oh- and Mother's Day- Happy Mother's Day to all the Momma's out there...hope it was fantastic!!!

my Mom and me

My oldest son is a master tidal pooler...he caught so many nifty critters:

starfish galore

shark egg case aka mermaid purse

our shell haul

starfish everywhere

cool rounded crabs

little bumpy starfish too

sand dollars were by the thousands

shrimp

crabs

Master catcher indeed! We had a great trip...and it has been a fun last couple of months (minus the sickness) Hope everyone else has had a good year thus far!

~Casey

Garden Update and the Beach

Everything is growing! You'd never guess it's February by the looks of the garden. We have sprouts in the raised bed, buds on the Maples and even the fruit trees are starting to flower...weird! But that is the way of the world it seems. Everything is a bit more extreme. Extreme cold, extreme heat, extreme snow. (my sister lives in RI and they got 24" of snow) thanks to Nemo!

So here are some pretty new pics of our raised bed: 

 Aren't these the sweetest, tiniest tomatoes ever? Just love them! We check them every day and are so proud!

 This is the 'Momma Tomato': my 8 year old named it! He is dying for her to start to turn red!

 We have some radishes that are getting fat at the bottom...cool!

 Lovely lettuce...coming in nicely!

 This is a snowball tree (don't know the actual name for it).  It is in full bloom and quite beautiful!

 These are some quick little birdies. They come in droves to the feeders and love the purple Beauty Berries and Barbados Cherries.

 Love these...they are my happy porch flowers where I drink my coffee in the am!

 and the Sedum is starting to bloom too!

The garden is lovely this time of year and we spend most of our time outdoors! Yesterday it was crazy windy and overcast a bit...so we took the kids to the beach! Love beach days like this.

Look at those clouds.

Man-o-War everywhere.

We found some beach art!

 

We had a blast.  Found tons of sea glass and beach pottery while exploring the rocks and shells!

Hope everyone had a great weekend too!
Casey