We have visitors!!!!

Tracy and Tiffany flew in to travel with us for a week. They (and us) are so blessed that they have husbands who were willing to watch the five little ones so they could come.
The first night in Key Largo we took them to a restaurant over the water with views in the floor into the water. Bring back memories of the dance floor John built over the pool for Travis and Tracy’s weddings?

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On to Key West.
Girls sitting on the dock in the campground. This is one of my favorite pics:
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Family bike ride:
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Watching the scene on Duvall St.:
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Sunset at Mallory Square:
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Hung out on this beautiful beach for the morning:
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Fort Zachary Taylor State Park:
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Tiffany laying on the dock because she wanted to take underwater pics of tarpon with the GoPro. Never a dull moment:
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DCIM100GOPRO

DCIM100GOPRO

Stay tuned for the next blog post which will be done by guest bloggers. 😀😬😬

Sea shells everywhere

We spent the day on Sanibel and Captiva Islands. They are known for the sea shells.
Beautiful beaches:
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For the grands: a dead baby shark of some sort
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Sea shells on the beach:
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And an alligator along side the road. I was no more than 20 feet from him.
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American ingenuity

What do you do on a chilly, windy day? Go to a museum. We went to the Edison & Ford Winter Estates (homes, gardens, lab, and museum).
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford owned summer homes next door to each other in Ft. Myers, Florida. These were two brilliant men. And they were both into gardening. John is standing by Edison’s pool which was one of the first ever built in Florida. He’s glad he doesn’t have to clean it. And, lastly, Edison’s lab. All fascinating.
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More Florida fun

This is Tarpon Springs where they harvest and sell natural sea sponges. Is that redundant? I guess if they are from the sea, they must be natural.
Sponges hanging from the boat:
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And for sale:
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Sunset on the Dunedin Causeway. Pretty cool to park right on the beach:
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I love the pastel colors of the Florida houses. No boring beige here because the HOA has to approve your paint color:
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We didn’t get to stay here but this was the most beautiful campground we had ever seen. And, Slater and Cruise, papa caught a fish:
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They serve anyone at Madeira Beach:
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Sunday: church and gators
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And, finally, a beautiful swamp. The bright green in the foreground is actually water covered with some sort of plant matter that blows on to the surface:
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We are constantly in awe of the diversity in landscape and wildlife we have seen since leaving home. What a creative God we have!