Naples 2009

The holidays have past and we are in the middle of winter; in our house we get excited at this time each year....because it means it's time for Florida! We are very blessed that my mom and step-dad have a time share in Naples. We are even more blessed that they invite us down each year. I would like to note that they have had this time share for almost 20 years, but it really hasn't been since we have had kids that they have excitedly asked us to join them each year. But I will take it anyway I can. It's a really nice week. They drive so they take all of our stuff down with them. We fly and it's nice because all we have to take is the kids and our take on's. You really can't ask for better. There condo is right on Vanderbilt Beach. We are on the harbor side and the other building is across the street right on the beach. Our days there generally consist of playing in the sand, swimming, going down to the ice cream shop and really just hanging out. We did go to the zoo this year. We went once before when Kaylee was 8 mos. old and decided to do it again this year. There is some nice shopping down there, including a large Bass Pro Shop, can't skip that, and a nice outlet mall. There are some nice local places we always eat at, and even see some family who have opted to also migrate down there for the winter. There's lots of fishing and even pontoon boats to take out. All in all it is so fun and we have generally been really lucky with the weather. This year was perfect high 70's and sunny every day. The down side was poor Kaylee got some sort of viral infection the Wednesday of that week and had a temp through Friday. We had her on Motrin and as long as that was in effect she was still able to be outside and have fun.

Enjoy our photos from sunny Florida!

I don't really remember why Ainsley was upset in this photo, but I remember it was funny at the time so I took a picture.

We were getting ready to go across to the beach and Kaylee really wanted to push Ainsley in the stroller.

Ainsley has no fear. So she would have been fine just running around the beach and into the ocean. Kaylee who does have fear was very concerned for her younger sister and felt it best to hold her hand as they looked at the water.

Starting to build our sand castle, or sand sculpture as Kaylee likes to call it.

Again, Ainsley with no fear enjoyed chasing the seagulls, as she would call "here birdy, here birdy."

Brad dug a big hole in the sand and the girls had a lot of fun sitting in it and jumping into it.

Ainsley loved going into the ocean. Kaylee was a little more hesitant. Daddy was helping Ainsley here, more accurately he was really trying to contain her.

Here we are pool side. Mom got the girls floaties and rings to wear in the pool. Kaylee for the most part wore both, although by the end of the week she would go with just me and not wear the flotation devices. Ainsley, in the pool here with Daddy, didn't want to really wear either and loved to stand on the side an jump to you. If she did have her floaties on she DID NOT want ANY assistance.
This was the zoo. The first day Kaylee had a temp. I felt so bad for her because you could tell she didn't feel well but she SO wanted to go to the zoo. Ainsley was more than happy to push her around. We would try to help her push, however we had to be sneaky about it because she wasn't very appreciative of the help.
The zoo we went to has a boat ride that you can go on to look at all the monkeys on their primate island. This is us looking at the monkeys.

While waiting to go on the boat ride Ainsley decided to chase the ducks. She may have been able to catch this one, but I didn't want to have the full experience of that so after I took the photo she and I walked away from the duck.

This fence was in front of one of the cages of the animals. This particular one was the lions. I was laughing at Ainsley because I wasn't sure if she was really close enough.

They have various playgrounds around the zoo. This one had different animals you could climb on.

Lastly the Bass Pro Shop. Kaylee and Ainlsey do like to go to these because they love to look at the fishies and play in the tents. It works out well for Daddy because he can go look at fishing and hunting stuff and I hang with the girls. Not much there for me to shop for.