"Adults Only" Trip: Captiva Island, FL

Orlando takes its power lines very seriously.

 Every couple needs a little "get away" time, and Tim and I are no exception.  The only exception with us is that we never get away!  I do every activity imaginable with a small person standing right next to me, asking questions, or trying to pry the door open.  So suffice it to say, Tim and I needed some down time.  Some time to just veg, relax, sleep, do whatever we wanted on whatever schedule we wanted to follow.  Just the idea of sleeping in made me want to get a hotel room!  So my co worker Katie decided to try out parenthood by moving into my house for five days and Tim and I hopped a flight to Orlando.
We got a rental car and stopped by the Mitchell's house, an exact halfway point in our journey.  After a quick visit, we headed south to Tween Waters Inn in Captiva Island, FL.  The resort got its name because its 13 acre compound stretches from the ocean to the gulf, hence "tween waters".  We checked in right before dinner on Saturday night and scored one of the renovated rooms!
Our flight in on Saturday morning was very uneventful because it was so early ( 6 am flight).  The flight back was packed because it was a 4 pm flight out of Orlando--home of the "family vacation".  We were sandwiched between the family of 3 that included a 6 month old and two kids behind us that kept kicking our seats.  I just put on my headphones and zoned out to HGTV (God bless Jet Blue and their tvs).  The family next to us joked "The baby is very good, we promise!  Let us know if you want to take a turn with him!" to which I replied "No thanks!  We left 4 at home!"  The dad turned to me and said "Good plan" with the look of a soldier who had seen too much on the other side.  

I'll be honest.  Ending up with two queens turned out to be awesome.  There were several times that Timmy and I passed out for nap time on our own beds.....and it was heaven to stretch out like a starfish.

Timmy taking in the balcony view

We were in the Palmetto building.  There were several buildings of hotel rooms and 2-room combos along with the cutest little cottages.

I'm not gonna lie....we shared dessert every single night.  Tim ordered this one--mocha mousse cake.

A walk on the beach after breakfast.  A little windy the first two days, but we didn't mind at all.

Those soft baby feet on sand....it was magical.

The water was "brisk" the first two days but warmed up enough that we could go swimming without cringing when we hit the water.  

Coconuts!

Our view of the pool.

Doing it up right at the Oasis Pool Bar with pina coladas and raspberry daquirris.

My night to pick dessert!  Molten lava chocolate cake with homemade cookies and cream ice cream!

The sunsets at this place are amazing.  We ran out to the beach every evening at 7:50 PM to catch it.

Captiva is known for its shells.  Everyone is a shell hunter around this place.  We found lots of sand dollars too, and I hear that the star fish show up when it gets warmer.

King George should do this to all of its mailboxes.

We rented beach cruisers for two days and rode all around Captiva.  It was so much easier than trying to park the car.  We went all the way down to the bridge into Captiva and all the way up to the restaurants/shopping area.

We went to Keylime Bistro for our last dinner there, and there was no contest about dessert--the place is known for its cream cheese based key lime pie!  It was the best I have ever had.

Our last night's sunset

We brought home lots of souvenirs for the kids-- t shirts, shark tooth necklaces, shells, etc.  I had to get this print when I saw it at one of the shops.  It's a local self-taught artist and I just fell in love with the message:  "Kiss your children now, for soon they'll swim away".

Caroline & Crew in DC

 I haven't been a chaperone on a field trip in a while, so I signed up for Caroline's 6th grade trip to Washington DC.  I didn't put the dates together that it was the day before the last day of school before spring break (did you follow that?) and as such, Washington DC was filled to the brim with field trips and spring break school trips.  The place was PACKED.  We waited in lines everywhere.  Even the bathroom was 20 women deep every time I needed to go!  But it was still fun to hang out with Caroline & Crew and visit the nation's capitol.

Caroline and LoLo--let the wild rumpus start!

True story:  We were on 2 charter buses and the one in front of us pulled over in the Food Lion parking lot mere minutes after leaving the school.  Turns out that the horn turned on by itself and would not turn off!  They hauled us off our bus so they could use it to transport the other bus's passengers back to the school to wait for a replacement bus.  We spent 20 freezing minutes in a Pizza Hut parking lot.  Then we were back on the road.....45 minutes past schedule.

This ride is gettin' cray-cray!

Almost there!

Made it to American History Museum.  Caroline photo bombed my naval ship model!

Nothing like comparing someone to a Nazi lover to get them to carpool!  Oh, the peer pressure of WWII!

We played with a machine that told you how awesome you would be at riveting.  Lo Lo was told to go back to pushing a broom.  I was told "Great job, you're hired!"  So there's always something to fall back on if the teaching gig doesn't work out....

Berlin Wall 1989

Paint set from 1900's (toy section of presidents' children)

Easter eggs from the Lawn Roll @ the White House

They had a set up where you could pick a president and get a background and speech!

What they looked like on the monitors!

Michelle Obama's dress from the Inauguration Ball

Gift shop:  The girls had some sensory time by playing in a bin where you could fill a whole bag of marbles for just $6--a bag the size of a tea bag.

They were really beautiful though.

Some of Caroline's favorites

Girl scout uniform.  Cookies not included.

A 23 room doll house

All of Caroline's friends met up with her at the gift shop and you guessed it....played with marbles.

Taking a break under the cherry blossoms.

On to the Air and Space museum!

Lo Lo:  "This is awfully heavy!"

Caroline helped out while Lo Lo barely lifted a finger.

We bought freeze dried ice cream (of course!  Nagle twin tradition right there!) and this flexi-sphere.  You can shape it into a ball, hourglass, etc.  just endless possibilities.  It's supposed to calm you.  Lo Lo fashioned it into head wear.

Caroline took a turn with the flexi sphere as head wear too.