Marco - Part III

For the 4th we went out to residents beach on Marco to enjoy their fireworks. We also had to try out some sparklers.



Pappy taking baby girl for a spin in the boat.

Allie did so good this year understanding that she had to wear her life vest whenever she was on the boat. She didn't complain and wore it when we asked.

This was the only trip Gabe took on the boat (and it was only to the closest marina to fuel up the boat). He wasn't a fan of his life vest. Otherwise, he would have loved it. Give it a couple of years bud, and you'll love it.

Stephen fly fishing for snook. (A big thank you to Mr. Allen for letting S use your saltwater fly rod. It definitely got lots of use on our trip).

See that row of rocks lining the canal? We need to send Pappy a fresh truckload of rocks.

Allie loved throwing them in the water.

Helping daddy drive the boat to the shelling island.

Marco has BEAUTIFUL shells everywhere.

If only we lived closer to Aunt Jen Jen and Chris. Allie adores them both.



Chris cracked me up with his metal detector.

He and Allie found 3 treasures.

1. Metal stake

Then 2 quarters.

Most importantly, many thanks to Pappy and Grammy for entertaining us for the week. We had a blast and look forward to our next visit.

Comparison - Gabe and Stephen 12 months

Here is a comparison of Gabe at 12 months and Stephen at 12 months. I think they look alike, but I have many people tell me that Gabe looks just like me. I tell them they're crazy. What do you guys think?

Part II - Marco Fishing

Marco sunrise. It's worth getting up for.

See those little building specs in the distance? That's Marco Island. We were offshore fishing about 10 miles. It was unbelievably calm this day....which I was grateful for. If only I would have known it was going to be this calm before I took my Dramamine.

Typical Florida weather with pop up showers. Enough scenery, on to the fishing.

A shark got this poor snapper before Stephen could reel him up.

Look how hard Stephen and Chris are working. Too bad they bought were fighting the bottom of the ocean. But don't tell them I told you.

Chris was something BIG hooked. Of course, it got away. The big one always gets away.



My 16" grouper. They have to be 20" to keep, so he got to go home....today.


And for the catch of the day....we have....

See that little 16" grouper floating by....now, see that huge shadow a few feet under the water?

That would be a hammerhead shark. 6-8 feet we guess.

This is the closest we got him to the boat before Stephen cut the line.

It was a good day fishing. We took home about 30 snapper and 1 big grouper.

Happy Birthday Gabe

Gabe's 1 year photos (http://www.susanpattonphotography.com/).

Little man, it's hard to believe just one year ago this was you. Where did the time go?

We love you. Happy Birthday.

Marco Island - Part I

As soon as I returned home from visiting Grandma Dot last week (she is at home and doing well), we hopped on a plane the next morning.. Destination - Marco Island. We spent this past week soaking up every bit of the island that we could. Boating, fishing, swimming, beaching, eating, fishing, eating, more fishing. I have some great pictures and stories to share (which I will do in separate posts). This is part I. Mostly of the kids just hanging out by the pool and the beach.

We asked Allie what her favorite part of her vacation was. Answer: Playing with Uncle Chris. Thanks Chris for taking the time to entertain your niece.

I guess Gabe was missing Izzy (he was the only one). I kid. Okay, not really.

Our water baby. This boy LOVES the water. He crawls in with no fear.

And liked to put his face in the water.

He would go under, cough and hack, and keep going about his business like nothing happened.

Allie is becoming more and more confident in the pool, but she still doesn't like to get her face wet. She's definitely not our water baby.

Allie is our beach baby. The girl will play in the sand and ocean for as long as we will let her.

Gabe gets bored. Maybe just extremely thirsty from all the sand he eats.

More Marco pics to come soon.....stay tuned.