We left on February 24th. I will remember this day for quite sometime because THIS was the VERY DAY that Eliot began his "WHY?" phase. EVERYTHING is questioned with "why?" And it's not a simple "Why?" It's a long, drawn-out "Whyyyy?" I have answered hundreds of why questions in the last week and a half.
We had our own (large) private pool and hot tub too which was great. Eliot is just like I was when I was a child; a fish. He can't get ENOUGH of the water! He even got Nana to come in the hot tub once too which is unheard of. I knew the only way anyone would every believe it was if I got a picture to prove it.
The owners of the house had lived in it before and they had two small boys themselves so there were many toys for Eliot to play with INCLUDING a power wheels Escalade in the garage. Of course, after we got him so excited for it, we learned that the battery was dead so off to Walmart we went to buy a $63 battery and a $36 charger (OUCH). And then??? He wouldn't even drive it because he said it was "too noisy." Several times he did ask to "go out and see my car now." So we would go out to the garage and he would just sit in the car, refusing to touch the pedal.
Our first trip out was to the Seashell Factory. Although we never actually saw any seashells, they had lots of animals (prairie dogs, cockatoos, swans, parakeets you could feed, lizards, snakes, turtles, wallabies, raccoons and more). Eliot really enjoyed his time there. He insisted on holding the map and pretended to read it too. Oh, and the firetruck they had there (all the way from NH) was also in the running for Eliot's favorite part. He wanted to be our tour guide and navigate where we were headed; so cute!
The funniest part of the whole day was before we even got there. We had just left the house and Ted ran into the 7/11 up the street for (whatelse?) a RedBull. Papa is sitting in the front seat and Nana and I are in the back playing with Eliot. Out of nowhere we hear (from Papa) "MAN!! This stuff is STRONG!" I look up, wondering what could possibly be so strong and find him holding my bottle of lemon foaming hand sanitizer. He thought it was binaca (which he then proceeded to call 'bianca' for the remainder of the day). I lost it. Goodness, I had not laughed that hard in quite some time. I wish Ted hadn't missed it. (Disclaimer: Papa Dick is OK. No harm done).
One thing I really wanted to do for our family was have our family photos taken. Since I do this for a living, I am used to making memories for everyone else's families, but we've never had an official family photo session ourselves. (We once had a mini-session for our Christmas photos done by a photographer friend, but never a whole session with unlimited time just for us). AND, we chose the most beautiful place; Sanibel Island. We were fully clothed (obviously, for a photo session, we would be) and by the end of the session, we were all soaked pretty much from head to toe. That water was GORGEOUS! I was in jeans and went in the water all the way up to my waist. I just couldn't resist the opportunity. I am usually not a beach person. Between the freezing cold water, salty, sticky feeling, sand, and breeze that blows not only the sand in my face, but my hair in my face as well, I tend to prefer lakes or pools, but this beach was truly an exception. It was just lovely.
I had posted an Ad on craigslist for a photographer to photograph our little family and received probably 30 or so responses. I made sure to specifically state in the Ad that I was indeed a photographer myself so I had pretty high standards. I received responses from so many wonderful and talented photographers (some charging as high as $2000--- yikes!) and some from some not-so-talented photographers. The one I chose I chose because he didn't do what I do. He is not typically a family and child portrait photographer. He is a sports photographer who is hired by publications all over the country to shoot sporting events like snowboarding and wakeboarding; so cool! His work with light is just beautiful... and the price was right since he said he only does family stuff on the side for some extra money.
We had a blast. It was so much fun. I totally recommend that everyone have the experience of getting your family photographed in a natural, outdoor setting. It's so much fun and the memories you make are captured and kept forever. I'll share one photo here (because that's really all I have right now) and I'll post more later.
The last big thing we really did was our trip to Naples Zoo. Nana had mentioned that there were camel rides and of course once Eliot heard that, he would not let go of the dream. He HAD to ride a camel. We got there just in time and we got the last ride of the day. I went with my little guy and also had my first camel ride.
We also went on an open air boat ride to see all the primates living on their separate islands. The tour guide explained that primates (such as apes, monkeys and lemurs) view water as their natural boundaries so they don't ever try to escape-- so cool. Eliot had pretty much had enough of the 20 minute boat ride after about minute 6.
It was a very nice trip and finally (after our last two trips of poor weather) we had great weather; sunny and 80 every day. We really just did a lot of hanging out. It was nice to just be together as a family.
Eliot is just growing so much lately. It really does seem as though it is happening right before our very eyes. He loves puzzles now. He can do them all by himself. I really have to FIGHT the urge to help him (Ted is much better at this than I am). I am not sure how good a 2.5 year old is supposed to be at doing puzzles, but I am thoroughly impressed with his skill.
Not only is my boy a puzzle genius, but he speaks so well now. It blows my mind that just a year ago he was only saying maybe 10 words and now he can speak in paragraphs AND he takes EVERYTHING IN... which is mostly good, but not so good when he repeats words that, well... aren't so nice. There is nothing he doesn't understand and his vocabulary is amazing. I am so proud of my smart little guy.
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