It's Tuesday the 30th already!
We've been so busy eating and drinking the time just fly's by.

The pool at Tim & Dea's and Beth & Bob's condo has been hard to resist. It's also a little cooler over there because of their proximity to the Gulf. The RV park is a little "tight" and not very breezy. Plus the dogs have been allowed in the pool.

Getting there, however, is a traffic nightmare. So we have not seen them every day.
But yesterday we had a late lunch/early dinner at the Fish House near the beach on a inland waterway. Lots of shrimp, oysters, and tacos made with lobster and grouper. We went back to swim in the pool and had a wonderful day.

Tonight we are going to Sanibel Island with Kathy and Bruce and their friends Frank and Carolyn.

Tomorrow we are cooking a whole prime at Tim's for NYE and it will probably be our last time together this trip. They are heading over to the Keys to go snorkling on New Year's Day and we will be packing up to head West early Friday morning.

It has gotten so crowded down here that phone service is sometimes out and internet uploads of pictures is too slow to put any on the blog. I'll try before we leave to get all the rest on the site. Late at night or early in the morning it is a little better.

Thanks Cindy for posting a comment.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We spent Christmas Eve with Tim & Dea and family at their "condo". We ate grilled grouper, grilled swordfish, and sauteed snapper. Ellen made more paella with chicken, scallops and shrimp. One of the nicest things was that we ate outside!

Watched Notre Dame finally perform like a football team.

Then played Ship-Captain-Crew. Ellen and I were the only winners and may not be invited back.

The days just blend together. I think today is Tuesday. Ran some errands today and Ellen went to Kathy's to power walk. I ended up at Tim's place and Dea gave me a hair trim. It was getting a little long.

We all met later in the afternoon back at The Outrigger for cocktails and the sunset. We met a "local" who told us about a great restaurant nearby. Instead of the oysters, beer steamed shrimp, and cold brewskis we intended to have at the old favorite Fish House Bar, we took his advice and had a lousy dinner, with lousy service, lousy drinks, and lousy wine.

Of all people to run into down here, while we were eating, in walked Kelly Miller. Kelly bought Flytraps from me and is now here in Fort Myers. Enough said.

We are getting wonderful fresh fish and shrimp here on the beach. So our best food by far has been what we cook ourselves. Last night, Monday, we took fresh Black Grouper over to Bruce and Kathy's and cooked it on the grill. Ellen made a beautiful salad and paella to accompany the fish.

The weather? Well, you know.

Tim and Dea in the kitchen of their "condo" and Dad is under the treeTim & Wyatt

The Outrigger - a beach bar that is Ellen Foyle's favorite

Ellen at the bar
Ellen said if I put her picture on the blog I have to put one of me

Fort Myers Beach - and I believe that tall building is where Bob & Ellen have their place

Another beach view

Fort Myers Beach Sunset

Amanda, Tony, Wyatt, Missy Dan and Courtney arrived at their rental on Ft. Myers Beach around 4:00 pm and we met them around 5:00 pm. Brother T and Sista D arrived shortly after 5:00. I still find it hard to believe they worked until quiting time on Friday and by "cocktail hour" on Saturday they were sitting by their pool in Ft Myers.

The best thing is they all made it safely and without problems. The great thing is it was about 78 degrees when they got here. Life IS good!

Too dark to get good pictures for todays blog. Tomorrow I will give you a good pictorial of the area.

Our "slice" of Fort Myers


The Boulevard (note the back of Blue Boy in the picture)

Our nice neighbors the Leaty's - Mugs the Pug, Jan, and Shirley. They were kind enough to lend us their juicer so we could have fresh squeezed grapefruit juice and vodka for Tim and Dea's arrival. Our parents always had vodka and grapefruit with them when they picked us kids up at the Ft. Myers Airport - something cool for the ride to their condo. I never will forget. It seemed fitting to continue the family tradition. (Turns out Tims cholesterol medicine does not allow grapefruit juice so he had a Crown Royal.)

And, of course, our two girls. Gracie is searching for "goodie" crumbs, and Isabelle is praying to get another whole bone.

What a great night last night!

Ellen left to visit Toni and Karen from Buffalo, NY who are renting a place in Bradenton for several months. She spent the night and that left just me and my two girls at camp. We had a long walk, ate steak for dinner, and got to watch what we wanted on tv - no questions asked.

Thank you Toni & Karen!

This morning I packed up and drove to our RV park in Fort Myers. Ellen met me here. It's just what we expected - like being one slice of bread in the middle of a loaf. We are here for two weeks so we will make the best of it. Our next door neighbors, Jan and Shirley (and Mugs) from NY, are very nice and will help make our stay pleasant.

We took a drive to get the "lay of the land". Found the rental unit Brother T and family will be staying at and also found the home of Bruce & Kathy who will be here around the first of the week. Ellen remembered a fresh fish shop at the North end of Ft. Myers Beach and we picked up some shrimp for dinner tonight and grouper for lunch tomorrow.

Really, I'm not trying to rub it in, but the weather down here truly is wonderful. Mid to upper 70's in the day and low to mid 60's in the morning. We look at the weather back home every day and it puts a smile on our faces. Not because our family and friends have to put up with it, but because we do not.

It will be great to have some family and friends down here with us for the holidays. Looking forward to it.

Wow! Christmas is only one week from today. Being in this warm weather (65 this morning and going to 80) there are no clues about it rapidly approaching. Christmas decorations are rare down here except in some stores and restaurants.

We are looking forward to seeing family and friends beginning in two days. Safe travels to you all.

From Jim, Ellen, Isabelle, and Gracie ----

Wee Fish Ewe a Mare Egrets Moose and a Hippo Gnu Deer!

Another beautiful day today just like yesterday.

Our expedition today was up the Suncoast (Gulf side) of the Tampa/St. Pete area starting at Pass-A-Grill Beach, St. Pete Beach, Sunset Beach, Treasure Island, Madeira Beach, and more - going North.

We traveled North to find a fresh fish market, and were successful finally in finding snapper, clams, and shrimp in Redington Shores.

Pictures are from the Pass-A-Grill Beach at the start of the drive, not far from the Fort de Soto park we are camped at.

Today was to be a mostly sunny and warm Monday. Started off just that way. Decided to pack up a bag and beach chairs and take Isabelle and Gracie to the dog beach for an afternoon of swimming (for them).
As we were loading up the CRV it began to rain! It clouded up so fast we did not even notice it until we felt the rain. But we went anyway. The rain had quit by the time we got the the beach, however the clouds remained.
We placed our chairs in the sand, let the dogs go, and got out our books for a leisure afternoon of reading and watching the dogs play. It's a Monday afternoon. Everyone is at work, right? Should be no other dogs around. Wrong!
Isabelle loves every dog. Gracie, however, does not tolerate strange dogs coming up to her and getting in her face or smelling her butt. She snarles and growels. That causes problems. And a lot of dogs started coming by. They were good dogs, but not for Gracie. She just wanted to play "throw the ball in the water and I'll go get it", but the parade of dogs would not stop. They would steal her ball, drink from her water dish, and smell her butt. All of which did not sit well with her.
We stayed too busy with the dogs putting them on and off the leashes and never got the books out of the bag. Packed up after an hour and headed back to the RV. Enough was enough.
After showers we left the dogs in Blue Boy and headed out to explore St. Pete Beach. We got a little bit of a late start so didn't do too much exploring. Found a bar on the water to watch the sun go down, but it started to look like heavy rain was coming. Left there and headed back, but found another waterside bar/restaurnat just a couple miles from the park but not before it started to downpour. Went in to check it out anyway. Oysters, shrimp, crab claws, and grouper nuggets. We couldn't help ourselves - ate appetizers for dinner.

We made the short drive today from north of Old Tampa Bay to Fort de Soto County Park at the southern most tip of St Petersburg. This is our home for the next 5 nights and then on to Fort Myers Beach for two weeks with family.

Dan and Courtney stopped by the campground for dinner tonight. Turns out they live only about 15 minutes from the park. Both look great and apparently enjoying their new life in Florida.

This park is huge! Has a dog beach with a dog shower to clean them up after swimming. Miles of walking paths, bike trails, and beaches. Oh, did I forget to say it's 66 this morning & going to the upper 70's. The forecast for the upcoming weekend arrival of Brother T, Sista D, and family is sunny and 80.

Picture taken from Honeymoon Island on Friday looking back at the Tampa area

Dog beach on Honeymoon Island. It was cold on Friday and even though Gracie is begging Ellen to let her go swimming, we wanted to get back to the car warm and dry

This is the view at the back of our campsite at Ft de Soto

Looking back at the campsite from the water's edge

Gracie is showing Maggie around our new home

Sunset

Dan and Courtney (and Isabelle)

The whole group