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

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

More Art-O-Mat blocks please!

So- lots going on these days.

First...I ran an ad on Etsy for 7 days...and spent all of $5 doing so...and the response was incredible! I took in 12 orders due to that ad...and made a pretty profit!...that we used on our family vacation last week! Thank You to ETSY- for making advertising affordable- and profitable! I will be running another ad very soon!!! These    were a few of the tiles I just did from last week!

 Second- My family did  take a week off to play in the sands of Sanibel Island.   The boys had so much fun catching fish and crabs and finding the coveted Sand-Dollar...unbroken!

 It was a great week of sun and fun! We stay at this awesome house right off the beach... LOVE IT! This was our third...maybe fourth year at SeaWinds...best 'home away from home' ever!

These are some sunglasses my oldest found on the beach...the boys wore them all week (after Daddy sanitized them of course!)

 Lots of Starfish were in the shallows at low tide...found them every 10 feet or so! We, of course, had starfish and king crown shell races.

Here is a small crab Dain caught...man, these boys were fast- catching tiny fish and all sorts of critters in butterfly nets of all things...at one point I think they had 20 plus little fish in their pails.









First thing in the morning- out the door...nets and pails in hand!

Lastly-
I have posted a few times about being an Artist in Cellophane for the Art-O-Mat project.  I am quite happy about it! I have received a few notices of where my blocks have been purchased...CA, Key West, Michigan...how cool is that!
So I was asked to send in another round of blocks...and I just finished them- all packed and ready to go!

 Aren't they cute? I got some new colors- and worked up some new little creatures...love the frogs and owls! Oh- I love them all- they are like my children! hehehe
Here is the link to find an art-o-mat near you. There are some terrific artists that do jewelry, photos, 2D, 3D...you name it...I need to take a trip down to Boca (the closest machine to me)

So that is it...my past few weeks all wrapped up in this little blog.  Enjoy! I certainly have! :)
~Casey