Monday: Belk's and Thomas Edison's home

Our day started with a trip to Belk's. We had to drive to Ft. Meyers. Abbey had wanted a shirt like Wendy's, so we found the closest Belk and took off. We did our shopping and found the shirt.
The Belk's here in FL was nice, but not nearly as nice as the ones in MB, SC. The ones in MB have a special service that was missing here in FL. You see in MB there is a Grandma who pushes the littlest one around, spoiling him, talking with him, feeding him goodies and taking him potty. All the while this Grandma :) (we just call her MaMa), is offering suggestions or ideas, finding deals and offering her collection of coupons. Then at the end of the day, she just says, "Put it on my charge card". We missed your company MaMa (& not just because of the charge card part.)

We went on to the Thomas Edison/Henry Ford estates and spent most of the afternoon there.

House and garage

The wrap around porches were great.
Lighting, of course, we were in T. Edison's home. JFYI, T. Edison summited something for patent every year for 65 years, plus at times more.

Henry Ford's garage.

Henry Ford and audio

Model A and a "tin Lizzie" (Model T), modified to be a truck.


We could take a guided tour or opt for these audio's. Justin actually would listen and follow what was going on.

Finish up estates and museum on to the islands.

Of course Justin loved the old cars. He has and an old Ford pickup and a Ford Coupe that are favorites, after his visit to Mr. Ford's house. One of the fun things about Naples are the cars. There are so many fancy and ritzy cars down here in the Naples area. At one stop light you can be surrounded by many high end cars that you'd never see up north on a normal day. I've seen 2 Mazarati's in the week we've been here. Also, if the car mfr. makes a sporty 2 seater, it is here, Cadillac's, BMW's, Porche's, Honda's, and more; all cute little 2 seater sporty cars. I was behind an elderly lady at the grocery store and she was explaining to the bagger, that she must have paper, because she has a 2 seater and paper is the only thing that works. (Not sure about that, but that was what she was saying.)
On to Captiva. We stopped quickly on Sanibel then onto the beach at Captiva.

On the beach, Captiva

More beach

Finishing our day and the sunset

Sunset looking back over Sanibel and Captiva.

Ah...Starbucks on an island in the gulf after a busy day...perfect. When I found this, I thought what a perfect spot for a Starbucks, and I had passed up Starbucks all day. (at one point Wendy suggested we keep a tally of Starbucks we pass). Wouldn't a tall cup of ice tea be just grand. (Venti, iced, black, tea, no sweetner or sugar, if you must know my favorite.)

It was closed :( being on a very small desert island in the gulf, it probably doesn't get much business after 7:00PM.

FL, again.

Bob and Daniel flew out this morning, very early. They drove the Mustang back to the rental place. (Justin first ask, "Where is my dad? His next question was, "Where is the Mustang?) Wendy, Justin and I are going to stay a few more days.

If you have given up me blogging or posting pictures, I haven't had much chance. Even though there were 3 laptops in the condo much of the time, they were always being used. During most vacations I usually put a ban on electronic devices, but it just seemed to be a blogging vacation. So if you'd like to catch up on our escapades through the last couple weeks check out:
http://wenelise.blogspot.com/
http://insight2daniel.blogspot.com/

FL pictures

All eight of us on the beach at sunset.

Family picture on the beach, Naples, FL...
more to come January, 2009.

Waiting for Bob and Daniel

Bob and Daniel had an "all day flight". They headed off Friday morning to Rockford for the flight to FL. With the airport being so small, when Daniel had too much liquid on him, Daniel just ran the bottle out to his parked car. Their flight was delayed several hours, which we knew, but we still ended up waiting quite awhile. They landed on the east side of FL in Ft. Lauderdale, which means we took a trip across Alligator Alley, which is about 90 miles of nothingness (nothing). About 50 mi into the trip there is one exit with gas at deal for $3.79

We can just use the Expedition.

When we discovered that our tire was flat in the garage in SC; we were saying, that we'd need to wait to leave for FL. Justin picked up on that and he said, "we can just take the Expedition."... That would be PaPa's expedition, his special vehicle. We all laughed that Justin could think so quickly of alternative plans. We decided to get van's tire fixed and wait to leave (the van was already packed :).
Pic above is of Justin in MaMa's Escape waiting at Costco, while the tire was being repaired. It is not many boys who can distinguish between an "older" Explorer, an Explorer, an Expedition and an Escape. Plus is can point out Uncle Harold's Explorer, which is different than Bob's Explorer. So we traveled south in our Chevy Express van.

Happy Anniversery Bob and Nora!

The Speziale girls had a suprise 30th wedding anniversery for Nora and Bob.
Our family has been blessed by the Speziale's (abundantly). They are a wonderful family and great friends.
The girls did a great job, good memories, fun games and of course sweet little Kara.