Our Florida Adventure - Day 29

Boy, today went swiftly by. I wonder if it's because it is our last one. We had breakfast on the patio this morning, Peanut butter and jelly for the girls and eggs and bagels for us. The girls helped me clean and dust while Lee and Tina packed up and loaded their car. Once they left, I worked on stripping beds, sweeping, mopping, cleaning bathrooms, etc., and trying to round up all of our stuff to make an easy load in the morning.

Too tired to make soup for lunch, we headed for one more 1/2 price burger lunch at the Brewhouse. Then home to clean a bit more and take a huge nap on the couch.

I called Beth to see if she wanted any of our leftover food, and then we went to visit her and George for a bit. It was good to see them again, and they gave us some good tips for non-stop flights to Punta Gorda from Knoxville and Lexington. We might look into that! It's going to be hard to leave this place.

One final visit to Venice Beach for another gorgeous sunset, and one more serving of gelato. Then home to do the last mopping, etc.

 

I did promise pictures of the Kentucky Military Institute historical marker - so here are both sides.

Our Florida Adventure - Day 28

Wow, saw a job for a librarian at Jacaranda branch of Venice Public Library! Guess I'll pass this time. Today, everyone was slow getting up as the kids didn't get in until 1:30 this am. Greta helped me make cinnamon toast, and then the girls wanted to SWIM. So we made good use of the pool and stayed in way a long time.

After PB&J for lunch, the girls went down for a nap. So did Papa! Then we got ready to go for supper, which was at the Pavillion Grill for seafood. The girls wore the orchids in their hair for awhile. We finished up the evening at Venice Beach, which had been closed to the public yesterday and had opened back up (thankfully!). The sunset was glorious tonight. Introduced the girls to Ciao Gelato, and called it a night.

Just looked like the sun was melting into the gulf!

Our Florida Adventure - Day 27

More gelato, please! I had a Limone and Gary had Vanilla Bean from Ciao Gelato in Venice after we signed the contract on the house at Sue's office. I LOVE that place. Then we visited a property management company to see what's what, then looked in The Elephant's Trunk thrift shop, then hunted up a couple of empty boxes so I could start packing for home. The car odometer turned over 70,000 miles while we were out.

I stopped and took a picture of the historical marker in Venice by the city parking lot. Looks like it used to be called, Horse and Chaise. We found out earlier that the Venice Airport was one of the places that the 9/11 terrorists trained to fly.

Kentucky Military Institute also had a building here. I'll try to share a picture of that later.

The beach was double red flag today, meaning you can't get on it. We heard that bacteria was in the water, so maybe tomorrow. It has pretty constantly thunder-stormed and rained all afternoon, anyway. There was some pretty impressive thundering and lightning going on. Watch for the lightning at 20 and 40 seconds on the video.

Making a little dent in packing and cleaning. Will do more cleaning after church on Sunday after the kids leave.

Our Florida Adventure - Day 26

Blogging instead of washing dishes - too lazy and it's storming outside. Went into Venice today to sign another paper, and then made a Wal-mart run for water, milk and juice. Should be the last we have to buy.

The kids took off for Disney World this morning a little after 5 am. While drinking coffee on the patio this morning, I noticed Dan's mango tree out back and went to snap a picture - looks like they are nearly ripe. He also has a giant lemon tree (the tree isn't that big, but the lemon is going to be a whopper).

Mango Tree in the back yard	Really heavy nearly ripe mango is almost on the ground.
Giant Lemon	I took a big nap on the couch this afternoon and woke up with a headache. Praise the Lord for Ibuprofen. Made beans and rice for dinner. Am slowly but surely using up the food we bought so we don't have much to take home. Can't believe I've used 5 lb of flour in a month!
Spent about an hour at Manasota Beach until the storm drove us in. We saw a rainbow! The water was a little clearer today so I got in it more with my Florida Snow Shovel, and found a few teeth. I found a couple of bigger olive shells, but they still had the little olive critters in them, so I threw them back.
You can see the rainbow faintly behind Gary and to the right.	Tonight's catch.

Our Florida Adventure - Day 25

Lee and family got in early this morning, just before 1 am. So after getting settled, sleeping a little, and having a late coffee on the patio with Gary, we had bacon & egg biscuits for breakfast. Gary & I had an appointment to meet the fellow that owns the house we are looking at, so he could tell us about all the plants around the house. He owned a landscaping business here. So, we left the kids to finish breakfast and then go to the beach for awhile, and we took off. Paul was very nice and spent over an hour telling us about the landscaping. Gary took pictures and I wrote down the names - there were over 60 plants!! A bit overwhelming. But some really beautiful plants. Then back to Venetian Coffee Roasters for a take-home stash of coffee (Yes, Phil, I got you some too).

We had a late lunch at the Brewhouse in Venice, and then drove everyone toward Venice Beach to the walkway that has the amazing, totally incredible Banyan Trees. The girls immediately started to climb the biggest one.

After returning home and taking a nap, the girls wanted to swim, so we got in the pool and played until everyone was hungry again. Out for chicken and dumplings, and off to bed. They are off to Disney World at about 5 am in the morning.

Our Florida Adventure - Day 24

We started the day at Coldwell Bankers in Venice, where we met Sue and she took us about to see a few more properties. And, BINGO. We found one that we really like. So, the rest of the afternoon, after eating with Sue at the Pavillion Grill (for more coconut soup), was spent at her office. With this house being a short sale, we may or may not end up with it and it may be months, but we will see. It is farther from the beach than I would like (3.5 miles) but way more affordable than the ones on the beach. It should be fairly easy to rent (hopefully) until we get ready to retire.

After supper (the Garlic Parmesan Chicken was really good) we went back to Manasota Beach, took a long walk, found some more shark teeth, and sat and read until the sun went down. While on the beach, Lee called and said they are coming in tonight instead of tomorrow night. Glad I cleaned yesterday!

Gary talking to Lee on Manasota Beach	Front yard hibiscus
Another lovely sunset at Manasota Beach	Tonight's catch
	So, back home and I did some laundry, fixed up little girl beds, made some cookies and cooked bacon for in the morning. This girl should sleep well tonight!

Our Florida Adventure - Day 23

Cleaning day again - maybe that's why I'm so tired tonight. Did not eat out today, either.

I checked out some of the shark teeth we've found with the chart Dan left at the house. Looks like I've found some Sand, Mako, Snaggle tooth, and Lemon shark teeth.

We went around looking at some houses (drive-by) and we have an appointment with Sue tomorrow morning to go in some of them. We got some information from property managers today, too. I don't know if God is saying, "No," "Not yet," or "Hey, I gave you free will - make your own decisions!" Just don't feel like I've heard from Him about this maybe-buying-a-house-to-retire-to-someday. But at least we'll be informed.

I made another receiving blanket today.  Rachel (our landlady) has some nice ideas about window treatments in the bedrooms.

	Yukky seaweed
	We haven't found many interesting shells; probably because we've been so focused on hunting shark teeth! But there's a good identification guide for a few we've found.

Low tide was after 4:30 pm, so we went to Manasota Beach for a couple of hours. The yellow flag was out, and there was yukky seawead in the water again (see above), so even though I was hot I did not get into the water. Most of the shark teeth I found were already on the beach (see above). So, because I was hot, tired, and not finding much, we came home and I fixed supper.

After resting a bit, I made Oatmeal Lace Cookies so I could take some to Sue tomorrow - I decided to give the pillow to someone else that I think will like it more.

Our Florida Adventure - Day 22

We can tell from the beach sunset time that the days have gotten longer. Happy Summer (yesterday)!

We started out the morning at First Baptist Church in Venice. Gary didn't sleep well last night, so we went to the 2nd service. They seem to be a family-oriented, caring bunch of people. Hopefully we'll get to go back next Sunday.

After church, we went to Mi Pueblo for lunch. Our server was a sweetie - she gave us a free dessert and took our picture out front. Fun! Then we came home and slept it off!
Lazy day. Ended up this evening at Manasota Beach. The water was dirty-looking, and rip-tide currents were predicted until late - the yellow flag was out. I didn't want to get in the water much, so not so many shark teeth ended up in my bucket

	I wanted to remember the interesting tree near the pavillion.

Noticing how pretty the sand was with the light glinting off of it, I spread out some shell pieces from my tooth search - there certainly is beauty in brokenness. 

I'll finish up this post with another ocean sound video for Jeff to listen to in his office on Monday. Enjoy!