Day 16 – The Los Vegasonian's arrival

Today started like the rest – early to rise and excited to see what the day had in store for us. Anna and I grabbed coffee and went out near the pool area. They have some palm trees located just below the pool area at the start of the beach. I hung the ENOs up so the kids could use them after they would wake up.

It didn’t take long and I went out to the beach to start cast netting for bait fish. You would not think that there would be channel catfish right off the beach here, but they are here in masses. It must apparently be a spawning ground because the first cast I caught around 8 baby catfish. The next two casts again gained 3 and then 5. Not the fish you are looking cast net. Several casts later and I was able to land some nice size pilchers.

Jill and Janey, Jill’s mom, came the Neptune and visit Anna around 10am. We chatted at the hotel a bit and then scooted over to the Tuckaway café for a bite to eat. The kids were still lounging around and had no desire to go. LT got his legs burned over the past few days, so while the ladies were finishing breakfast I ran over to Goodz to grab some Aloe. Goodz was a general store which was directly across the street from Tuckaway. Before leaving Anna got a call from Colt telling her they were almost to the hotel, so off we went to see the baby.

Colt, Kelsie and Kendall have a little girl that is almost two. A precious little thing that had everyone’s attention. It was long before Darryl, Toby and Lane arrived. Then Hailey and Danny. Lastly, Dillion and his new girlfriend Sam arrived. Luckily the weather was good and everyone hung out at the beach yapping away.

As soon as Lane got there, the boys immediately grabbed the cast nets and went out to start catching. They walked up and down the beach flinging the nets filling the wells to the brims. Once their mission was accomplished the boys, Darryl and I grab some bait and weighted in the waters. I managed to wrangle in a beautiful large Snook, but that seemed to be it. The rest of the day the lines dangled freely.

Everyone visited for several hours and the girls played with little Kendall. Olivia swooped her up and had played with her in the sand, ocean and pool. She is a ball of energy as all little two years old are. Toby and the ladies took her for a little walk and shortly thereafter she was crashed out of Toby without movement for a good one to two hours.

Around 5pm everyone was heading over to Carla’s for dinner. Anna and I stopped by mom and dad’s before going to Carla’s to say “Hi!” They just got back last night from Russia. We didn’t stay long but for only about 15 minutes before heading to dinner.

The house was moving and shaking when we arrived. All the kids were in the pool and the young adults were all inside on the couch yapping away. Carla was cooking up a storm, Toby was lounging in the pool with the older boys & Darrell, Hayli and Danny were in the patio set talking. Everyone was moving around and catching up.

Amanda, Eric and the kids finally arrived and not a moment too soon. The boys all got in gave hugs and got on their bathing suits. Not sure how Eric and Amada were still functioning. They just drove a mere 36 hours from Los Vegas. Little Rosie was happy to see her Auntie Carla, but she was the only one. Little Rosie is a little shy one.

We all visited a bit longer and finally went back to the hotel around 11pm.

Day 15 – Sea Trout season has begun

Thomas with 3 mullet in the cast net

As momma puts it – "All we did today was fish!" LT and I got up early and tried fishing all throughout the day. We caught fish here and there, but around 2-3pm we hit about a two hour window where we hooked into Sea Trout one after another. We could have raised a farm with the amount we caught. It was lots of fun. Unfortunately, as quick as it started all of a sudden the hits just quit. The remainder of the day was just not as fruitful.

Yesterday we had a little egret that started to hang out by the bait bucket and he would basically beg to get the dead greenbacks. Being the nature lover I am, I could let the poor guy starve so I fed him a few. Now he comes and stays by us the entire time we are out by the water – never more than two to three feet from the bait bucket.

LT stayed up pretty late the night prior with all the excitement of getting to the beach, so I knew it would catch up to him sooner or later. Anna had bought some beach chairs yesterday and brought them down to the beach. Along with umbrella, we set up the usual beach encampment for the day. Anna sat out in the chairs watching us fish later in the morning. Around 11am LT ended up going to take a break and sit with mom a bit. The chair was apparently very comfortable, because he didn’t move out of the chair again until around 3:30pm. The girls were very sweet to make sure he was covered. Even though he was shaded and covered with a towel, he still managed to get a little crispy on the legs.

Olivia didn’t rise to see the new day until a little after noon. She went down to sit by the chairs for a while, but mainly hung out in the room most of the day. She has not wanted to get in the sun to much due to the “burn”.

Anna and I went to Pinchers for dinner while the kids stayed home. Anna ordered some blue crab pinchers for appetizers, which were the highlight of the meal. The rest of the meal was so-so. We didn’t stay too long after the meal. Anna walked me around the property and gave me a brief history of the place and told me how it had changed over the years. We drove back and kicked it down some side streets looking at some of the areas and homes on the bay side.

Ended the evening with you guessed it – a little fishing. Nothing but catfish!

Day 14 - Poseidon called us to Neptune

Four pack a smiles!

Had breakfast with Grandma Betty this morning at FirstWatch. Prior to leaving for breakfast we packed up to get ready for our next destination – The Neptune Inn at Fort Myers Beach. Wasn’t long after breakfast – really lunch – that we were heading to FMB. Got in around 1:30pm and quickly unpacked.

Kicking at the FMB - CLT style!

It wasn’t but ten minutes before we were all down by the water. LT got out the cast net and started throwing. He caught plenty of bait fish and we were off to the races. LT killed it with the Snook. He must have reeled in at least 10-15 snook alone. Caught several sea trout which we contemplated on keeping and cooking later, but decided otherwise. Also managed to wrangle in several catfish, which we had no desire to do so. Lastly, LT caught 3 snook, 2 mullet and several other species in the cast net. I tell ya – if we were on an island without food, we would not starve as LT has the fishing/cast-netting thing down.

Showcasing a snook. Would have looked better on the grill or skillet. Out of season - unfortunately!

Up and close on some cool finds. All were released back to the wild.

Olivia showcasing some of the recent finds. It's amazing how abundant the sea life is here.

Big Papa hooking into a Snook. Oli is off in the distance in the water.

Walks, ice cream and simply chilling made up the rest of the evening.

Day 13 - Family time

Everyone slept in this morning and not a lot of racket occurred until around 9am. The boys and girls all lounged around the house until around 11am. We met Lexi, Shelly, Derrick and Newn for lunch at the Miller Ale House. We all haven’t seen them for quite some time and it was nice to get everyone together. The kids all ate at one table and the adults at another. We all chatted for some time after the meal and ended up leaving around 1:30pm. Lexi and Derrick had an appointment they needed to be at around 2, so we simply headed back to the house.

Toby came by to pick up Lane and hung out for about an hour. Her and Anna spent some time looking at pictures and jaw-jacking. I ended up heading to Ocean Angler tackle shop and West Marine to pick up a new fishing rod along with some other necessities.

Tonight was Swedish pancake night at Grandma Betty’s and we were definitely not going to be late. We headed out around 4:15pm and hit the Sun Harvest store for some fresh orange, strawberry-orange and grapefruit juice to take over to Betty’s. When we arrived we were greeted with the biggest hugs. Pat, Grandma Betty’s daughter, was there as well and is now a permanent resident of Fort Myers.

We all helped a bit in the kitchen and within about 15 minutes, once Carla arrived, we were ready to eat. Wow! These Swedish pancakes are way too good. Anna and I powered down six each. No telling how many Olivia and Thomas devoured. It was good to spend some time with Grandma Betty, Pat and Carla – we simply do not see them enough.

Headed out around 8pm and took Olivia back to the house. Anna and Carla left and went to Aldi and picked up some things for the banquet next week. After we dropped Oli off, Thomas and I headed back out for a bit to one of the local canals. Neither of us managed to catch anything, but we had a good time.

Day 12 – Captain Wes and Snook wranglers

Today was the day that all Snook were to fear. LT, Lane and I went out on a fish charter with Captain Wes of the Fish Skinners Fish Charters. Wes met us at the Port Sanibel Marina around 1pm. I tried to get an earlier charter, but all was booked up. The boys and I shopped a little at Bass Pro and got some lunch in prior at Chipolte prior to arriving.

Wes took us on a ride out near Blind Pass Park. With poles up, lines out and bait in the water, it didn't take five minutes before - BAM! Lane hooked onto a Snook.  Once the seal was broken, the boys kept reeling in all kinds on fish for a solid 1.5 hours. We caught several Jacks, Catfish, Snook and Snapper. LT and Lane caught most all of the Snook. It was out of season, so we could not keep any of the Snook. Plus they have a slotted size of 28”-32”, so the likelihood of us getting one within that sizing would have been just a few.

Wes told me that the Snook had taken a devastating hit back in 2010. There was a freeze that lasted for some time and it decimated the Snook population. Apparently, there were hundreds of thousands of Snook along the entire coast of Florida that died.

It was unfortunate that we were not able to keep any or to be able to throw one of these guys onto to the skillet, but after hearing the 2010 story it felt good to throw them all back in the water.

The boys and I fished the last 1.5 hours until around 4:30pm with little success. We tried one or two more spots and threw several different baits, but nothing was biting except for a Catfish. We headed back on a beautiful boat ride to the marina. The water was free of vessels. Not much traffic out on the water. I would have expected more boats, but this is a little off season for Fort Myers.

The remainder of the day was spent relaxing at the house. Anna and Olivia ended up going out to see Jill. The boys played in the pool and went out to cast net for some bait fish. They ended up catching a cichlid and released it the pool. Crazy boys! They chased it and eventually after about ten minutes, caught it and put in back in the channel. I would have thought that the chlorine water would have just killed this fish within a minute or two. Nope! This guys was swimming in the pool as if it was his stomping ground.

Carla and I spoke on the back deck for an hour or so, while the boys swam and before long it was bedtime. 

Day 11 – Chillin’ in the boiling pot

Not much happened today, but relaxing and enjoying everyone’s company.

I took LT and Lane over to Parker Lakes, mom and dad’s retirement community, where they wanted to fish their ponds. They had fished there on their last encounter and caught many a bass. Needless to say, they were hoping for the same result. 

LT managed to hook into quite a few fish. I let them cast for about 1.5 hours before heading back to house. When we got home, we pooled it!

Olivia and Anna went to Goodwill to shop and see what they could find. They ended up bringing back a cooler and rug. If we keep adding and acquiring we will need to get a bigger truck.

At around 5pm we all went to Kumo, a sushi restaurant. Fire Starter roll was the best in my opinion. Stuffed and full of fish we headed to Josh’s to relax for the remainder of the evening.

Day 10 - Fort Myers, here we come

Spent the time yesterday just enjoying Aunt Donna’s company. We hung around the house, played cards and chitty-chatted. The day ran away from us and before long it was dinner time. Alexander’s was the decided restaurant for supper. The prime rib was on point!

Left Aunt Donna’s this morning and rumbled down the road towards Fort Myers. We headed out around 9:30am and planned to make it to Josh's by noon. Josh was kind enough to let us hang at his place until Friday. Aunt Carla greeted us with big smiles and opened arms when we arrived. She has been staying with Josh and helped him renovated the house - beautiful home! Everyone was excited to see her. Josh, however was not there. He is out in California on a new business adventure, but we will see him in the beginning of August.

After visiting a bit, we headed out to Toby’s and picked up Lane. Lane was going to hang with us for several days. Anna and Carla also picked up a Jeep for use of an additional vehicle during our stay. After leaving Toby's, we drove to Fish Eating Creek Park to check out the camping location where we will be camping in August and to give the boys some time to fish.

Aunt Carla had taken her camper out to Fish Eating Creek about a week ago and camped there a night with Lane, so they were eager to show Thomas all the hot fishing spots. The boys headed straight to the Depot, a pond near the back of the property. Within about 15 minutes, Thomas managed to wrangle in a non-fish species on his rod. Never seen that before, but what a thrill for the boys!

We hung out at the camp for about another hour until we headed back to the house. Since it was about an hour away, it wasn't until around 7pm that we managed to get home. Everyone was a bit exhausted from travel and the day in general. We stayed up a bit and caught up on life and the family happenings before heading to see the sandman.

Day 8 – Datz Crazy

All that artwork earlier in the day really got the bellies rumbling. Datz was the restaurant of choice by the locals. We tried to get in before the LEGO exhibit, but the wait was 1.5 hours. No way were we going to wait that long, so we decided to go to the museum first. This time, there was only around a five minute wait. Much better!

Aunt Donna, Cole, Wendy, their kids and the Schiffers family all munched down on some pretty darn good eatin’. We had a Buffalo Cauliflower appetizer, which sounded better than it tasted. Donna, Olivia and I had the Tuna Poke Salad, Anna has a French Onion soup, which Donna and Olivia had as well as an appetizer and Thomas had the Bacon BIG BIG Burger. Hands down, Thomas’ was the best! Cole behaved good like Daddy and had a Cobb Salad and Wendy had a BLT sandwich, I think.

The nice thing about Datz was that they had a dessert bakery on the bottom floor, along with an adjoining place called Doughs, which served ice cream and coffee. Before we left, we managed to grab some cupcakes and Anna brought a black charcoal ice cream. Can’t really describe the flavor, but it tasted pretty good.

We didn’t get home until around 5pm, so needless to say we didn’t go back out. Cody, Wendy and the kids stayed until around 7pm and then we simply relaxed. We all played cards for a bit and then Thomas and Donna played a game of Cribbage. It wasn’t much longer before we all headed to bed.

Aunt Donna, Cole and Anna - I called this a Punisher Sandwich!

From Left - Nathan, Olivia, Tyler, Thomas, Conner

Day 8 – The Art of the Brick

Woke up around 8am this morning and got Thomas up to do a little fishing before 10. Cole, Wendy and their three kids (Conner, Nathan & Tyler) were coming by to spend the day with us. Cole is Anna’s cousin and they haven’t seen each other in a couple of years. The plan was to take the kids to a LEGO exhibit.

Made with over 75,000 pieces

The Art of the Brick was an exhibition brought to Tampa by the owner of the Tampa Bay Bolts hockey team for the public free of charge. When we arrived at the museum there was a line several 100 yards long. It did not seem to move – at all! Must be good, we thought! We parked the cars and got in line. Luckily there was a food truck for us to grab a little snack while waiting to get in.

We entered the museum and watched a short movie about the artist and off we went to see some amazing artwork. Nathan, the artist, only used the medium of LEGOs to make all his art. The pictures I took do not show the true size and complexity of most of these pieces. 

After we walked through the exhibit they had a playroom for the kids to build and explore with LEGO pieces. We hung around for about 30 minutes and moved on to the next adventure.

Day 7 - Weeki Wachee - Or Not

House was cleaned and car was packed by 9:30am. We hit the road and were excited about getting to Weeki Wachee. The springs were only 30 minutes from Crystal River, so it would make for a nice short ride. Before we knew it, we hit the city outskirts and then saw the park sign. I read the sign and it said once the park hit capacity it would not accept any more patrons. It was about 10:10am when I read the sign and we debated about having breakfast first. 

We opted to eat at Perkins not thinking the park would fill up quickly. Just before the food came out I pulled up the park site on my phone to show the kids the website. Alert – The park is no longer accepting patrons for July 21^st. Wow – I thought! We did not plan this right. Oh well – on to Tampa.

On the way to Tampa, we called Aunt Donna and told her we were on our way. We changed plans to go to the Florida Aquarium, but decided to go by Donna’s first. Needless to say, she was very happy to see us. Anna and kids had not been down to see her for a couple of years now.

After a little chatter and a few hugs, we got back in the car and head to the aquarium. What a great place. Saw lots of aquatic life I had not seen before. The aquarium wasn't to large so we finished walking through it in about 2 hours. Went to Tampa Bay Outfitters afterwards and picked up some new Keens for Thomas. Then back to Aunt Donna's. 

Day 6 – Triple Sister Springs

Mama and I got up early and started packing today. The plan was to get most of the non-essentials into the car and prepack as much as possible. We still had to do laundry and clear the kitchen, but decided to go eat breakfast first at a place called “Grannies Country Cookin”. Olivia had asked to eat there several times, so what better time to go eat then right before we leave Crystal Springs.

Grannies hit the spot! True country cooking! While we were eating, we started discussing our plans for the next several days. The question was asked, “What is today’s date?” Anna responded, “Today’s the 20^th”. “What? The 20^th? We have the rental until the 21^st. Are you sure it’s the 20^th”, I asked. Yup – the 20^th. Looked like we had a free surprise day left at Crystal River.

Relaxed and knowing we didn’t need to go anywhere, we decided to kayak to Triple Sisters Springs. It is located in the Crystal River Nature Sanctuary. You have to either kayak, boat or swim to the springs. No way to get there via car. As you may guess, there are three springs located in the park. There were a lot of people and water crafts by the springs. We could not have prayed for better weather. It took about 30 minutes to kayak out to them and twice as long to get back. 

When we were finishing up, the kids were in the kayaks heading out of the park. Anna was still swimming and I waited to help her into her kayak. When we got out of the park, we looked for the kids – no show. Anna and I decided to paddle back, but half way through when we hit King’ Bay, I did not see the kids anywhere in the distance. I headed back to the springs to double check and Anna ended heading to the rental. She called a little later telling me the kids were home safe. Beatings took place upon my arrival – okay no beatings.

Needless to say, we were all a little tired from kayaking, so we took it easy. I fished off the dock a bit and we caught a Jack along with a handful of catfish. The kids lounged and took turns inside and outside playing around.

Anna and I headed out to eat later in the evening to a little gem restaurant called Sellers Seafood. Anna had frog legs and we both had Cedar Key long neck clams, bacon oysters and a seafood gumbo. We grabbed a couple of Key Lime Cheesecake slices for the kids. Definitely hitting this place tomorrow for lunch before we head out on the road.

Got back and hit the bay for one last night fishing trip. Beautiful sunset!!!