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My family and I just got back from a wonderful vacation to Captiva Island, Florida. In the days following Beth’s funeral we, as a family, decided that we needed to go somewhere warm to relax and recuperate from a very difficult year. The Zika virus was in the news, so we decided not to leave the country.
Beth used to tell me about a wonderful vacation she went on as a teenager to Captiva and Sanibel islands in Florida. So, as I thought about an alternative to the Caribbean, I thought maybe we were supposed to go there, because it was special to her. After doing some research, I found a place called, 'The South Seas Island Resort on Captiva Island'. Amy Stran, a fellow QVC host and friend, told me she vacationed there before, and once she gave it rave reviews, I booked it.
Kelsey and I flew into Fort Myers airport on Monday, March 7 on an 8a.m. flight (which meant we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the Philly airport by 6a.m.) We had a smooth flight and met Kirstyn, Jeff, Cole and Gavin outside of the baggage-claim area. Cole started running for me as soon as he saw me and Gavin was right behind him. I grabbed them both in my arms and we were off for an awesome four days.
There are three pools at the resort and one of them has two waterslides. I spent a lot of time trying to keep up with Cole climbing three flights of stairs to go down those waterslides dozens of times each day. There was another pool that was more like a huge hot tub. It had to be at least ninety degrees in that pool and it felt pretty good on my sore quadricep muscles from climbing the steps for the waterslides. Gavin especially liked that pool and enjoyed pushing Papa into it every time I tried to climb up the ladder.
I’ll do anything just to hear his delightful laugh and see that heart-melting smile. We liked dining in the restaurants at the resort that first day. We enjoyed pizza and ice cream at a cute little pizza, ice cream and candy shop.
Monday evening there was a stargazing event down at Sunset Beach. A local astronomer came and set up a huge, powerful telescope. The stars were so clear I felt like I could reach out and touch them. We learned lots of facts from the astronomer as he talked about the various constellations and the billions of stars and clusters containing over 100,000 stars. Cole raised his hand and announced, “I went down the waterslide 122 times today!” The crowd of about 50 people erupted in laughter as Cole totally stole the show!
Our days were filled with mornings at the beach, afternoons at the pools and evenings of wonderful dinners. I arranged for us all to take a Dolphin watching cruise on Thursday afternoon. The Dolphins came out in full force and greeted us as soon as we left the marina. They put on a show for us swimming along the boat and jumping out of the water in unison. They are beautiful, intelligent creatures and a sight to behold. We also saw a manatee one day swimming in the marina.
One of our favorite places on the beach is called “The Mucky Duck.” We went there two nights in a row and enjoyed appetizers and live music, but we could never wait long enough to have dinner there because it was a two hour wait both evenings. So, we ended up dining at 'The Bubble Room' and 'The Key lime Bistro.'
Cole and I discovered a new fun past time called “Tiki Toss.” This is a big beach activity there and it involves a long cord with a big “O Ring” on it and a hook on a post. You stand about ten feet away from the hook and try to swing the “O Ring” and land it on the hook. Cole was the undisputed Tiki Toss Champion.
We came back Friday, March 11th and that evening Kirstyn, Kelsey and I attended a fundraiser for team CMMD which is a running group that Kirstyn belongs to. Their sole purpose is to raise money for cancer research. Kirstyn was asked to speak about her mom. She was emotional but did an amazing job and she delivered a wonderful tribute.
I started back to work the next night and as I wrote this, I felt so relaxed. I remember one night Gavin looked up at the stars, waved and said, “Hi Gam! I see my Gam!”
Turns out, Beth was on vacation with us after all.
God bless!
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