Feb 25-Mar 1, 2010 - Andersens visit

We were excited to welcome daughter Josie, son-in-law Charlie and grandson Jon from Houston, TX. What made the visit extra special was being able to celebrate Jon's eighth birthday.

Once again, I was way too busy enjoying the visit to remember to take photos. Once again, I was bailed out by a professional photographer daughter. Thanks, Josie, for letting me download these photos from Facebook!!!

We gave Jon some activity options for his birthday. He chose a shopping trip to Toys R Us, followed by a visit to the Naples Zoo.

After procuring bird food from the dispenser machine, Jon enjoyed feeding the white ibis.

The white ibis obviously can not depend upon unreliable humans to acess the food dispensing machines, so they have learned to release the food pellets with just the right probe of the bill.

The Naples zoo is a fantastic place to visit, both for kids and for grownups as well. It is small enough to experience the whole thing in a few hours, but it is very satisfying. The animals are close and there are many educational shows. Best of all, there are plenty of playgrounds dispersed throughout.

Josie, Jon and I enjoy one of the playgrounds. Jon is peering out from a bottom window.

Jon is having fun at the playground

 

 Josie and Jon

After a yummy barbeque supper at home, Jon blew out the candles on his fun cake.

We enjoyed many fun activities, including a trip to the beach. Jon is such a good, adorable boy that it was a pleasure to have the Andersens visit. 

Feb 24, 2010 - Twin lunch

Every month or so, my friend, Erika, and I enjoy lunch out. Erika works at the Marco Island Chico's. She is an absolute whiz at putting together fabulous outfits for me and our relatives. Over the years, Erika and I have become excellent pals. We have a lot of common. During the summer she and her husband travel the states in their motor coach, while Team Finnegan does the same thing on our motor yacht.

One day while Erika was dressing me in a snazzy outfit, she mentioned that she owned the same jacket I was in the process of buying. One thing led to another until we had concocted this scheme to dress identically for our next lunch.

Needless to say, we had a hilarious time over lunch at the very posh Waterside Mall. After lunch we strolled around the mall and into the Waterside Chico's. We laughed even harder when one of the Chico's associates inquired, "Did you realize you are both dressed the same?"

The twins

Dec 19-26, 2009 - Cruise West cruise Sea of Cortez

We had been greatly looking forward to our Christmas week cruise in the Sea of Cortez, leaving from Cabo San Lucas. We had taken a couple of other Cruise West trips. The company uses small cruise ships for 100 passengers or less with an emphasis on learning about the area from onboard experts. We received a brocure on the trip to the Sea of Cortez. We studied the itinarary with its focus on whale watching, kayaking and snorkleing. Sounded perfect.

Sadly, perfection is hard to come by, especially if your cruise is a good three to four weeks before the whales arrive. We discovered this fact from the locals on the second day. The kayaks were not usable. Unlike our other Cruise West trips, the food was not good.

What was near perfection was the beauty of the Sea of Cortez. We didn't see whales, but we did see many dolphins and sea birds. Here are a few of our favorite pictures.

Here is our Cruise West boat anchored out.

The Sea of Cortez is a very popular cruising ground

We went strolling along the beach and found this little crab

 Since there were to be no whales, Cruise West took us in vans on a trip far into the mountains. First stop was this tree with flat, external roots growing on the rock.

Next stop was cliffs with pictograms created by indingeous people before the Spanish invaded.

The landscape seemed a very arid, high desert.

But up in the mountains, especially in the canyons, was a surprising amount of water with waterfalls and lovely oasis.

We traveled up to a small town with a church built by the Spaniards. This area was until recently, accessible only by dirt roads.

On the way back, we stopped at a family farm with a simple, but effective method of irrigation. The family has been farming here for many generations. We were welcomed with a tour and snacks.

We spent Christmas in La Paz. To celebrate, Cruise West arranged a fiesta with food and entertainers.

If you follow Team Finnegan's blog, you know I like to include hyperlinks with additional information and resources. In keeping with this, I attempted to bring up the website of Cruise West, both to give you a link and also to check on itineray details. Whoopsie daisy! I was astonished to learn that Cruise West folded up shop in September, leaving passengers on a round the world cruise stranded in Newfoundland. Some of these passengers had paid for their voyage with a check, as Cruise West offerred a discount for this payment method. Several were out as much as $50,000 with no reimbursement alternative but to email the company. Lesson: always pay by credit card and pass by that possible discount.



Nov 29, 2009 - Trip to Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest

We headed out for a nature jaunt to one of our favorite places - The Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest. We never know what we'll see there, but it is always lovely and scenic as all get out.

Where is the Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest, you may well ask? You drive out of Immokalee on highway 29 toward LaBelle. On county road 832, turn right. Basically, the park is in the middle of the state of Florida. One web site comments, "visitors can still walk in and observe pre-Columbian Florida."

Here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of a Florida forest. For those used to the alpine forest, there is quite a difference.

Along the east side of our favorite dirt road is private property. However the water and grass prairie in the private property is prime water fowl territory.

We saw a number of birds on our outing. The first was a turkey vulture.

A red shoulder hawk

This bald eagle was a looooooooooooooong ways away

White ibis in tree. The spotted bird on the right in an immature white ibis

Snowy egret

Pied billed grebe

Loggerhead shrike

Common moorhen

My personal favorite wading bird - the little blue heron

An anhinga, drying it's wings

A great egret stalking

Great blue heron

Finally, it wouldn't be a trip to Okaloacoochee without an aligator.



We were very happy with our trip to Okaloacoochee. Since we had forgotten to take a picnic lunch....again...we headed out to La Belle to look for a restaurant. On the way, we had two wonderful surprises. First, Robert saw a crested caracara on the side of the road. We had been looking for one for five years. Second, was a huge flock of wood storks, an endangered species.

Crested caracara, which is a member of the falcon family

Wood storks

After a very exciting outing, we found the KFC/Taco Bell in La Belle. Of course, this was followed up with a cone from McDonald's. Hey, Team Finnegan knows how to live large.

Thanksgiving, 2009

Talk about a fun time!!! For Thanksgiving, 2009, we hosted two families with kids in similiar age groups....daughter Katy and family from Turlock, CA and daughter Daria and family from Williston, VT.

The most amazing thing about this visit was the four grandchildren played for hours each of the four days in either the pool or around the pool table and never once was there a squabble, harsh word or tear. They made up games and played in perfect harmony. It was so much fun to watch. Sadly, I was having such a great time that I forgot to take any pictures. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Fortunately, daughter Daria is a professional photographer who gave me permission to use the pictures from her blog.

Noelle, on the left, is Katy's daughter. Summer, on the right, is Daria's daughter. Both girls were 11 and in the sixth grade when this picture was snapped.

Enjoying one of the many pool games, Justin Nielsen, 15, Baxter Bishop, 9, Noelle Nielsen, 11, Summer Bishop, 11.

Baxter and his mom Daria are having a very happy day in the pool.

One day Katy, Daria and I headed out to Chico's on Marco Island for a shopping spree. My friend, Erika, is a whiz at finding just that right look, plus she is a lot of fun. We all had a blast, plus added to our wardrobes. Later that evening, Daria and Katy had a fashion show for the guys.

While we were shopping, the rest of the group went exploring the Everglades and Everglade City with Grandpa Robert.

We did not cook Thanksgiving dinner at home. Although initially a controversial decision, the benefits soon became apparent as we surveyed the feast available at our club. It was a yummy spread. Even more fun was walking away from the dirty dishes and strolling out to the pool area for a group photo.

On the left is the Bishop family - Daria, Andy, Summer and Baxter. In the middle are Robert and I. On the right are the Nielsens - Katy, Chris, Noelle and Justin.

Soon after the group photo, the kids put on their bathing suits and jumped into the resort-style pool at the Players' Club. While the kids happily splashed, the rest of us lounged.

Katy looking extra glamorous

Me being extra silly

The day after Thanksgiving, the Bishops had to leave. The Nielsens were able to stay a couple more days. We really enjoyed a kayak adventure through the mangroves with superb kayak guide, Joseph.