The Trunk's Junk

Catching up on some pics

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Sun, 12 Apr 2015 02:41:00 +0000

This post has absolutely no central theme, I just want to make sure I get all of these photos in the blog for when I print it out later ;)

I love her sense of style

focused

She was super photographer's assistant!

And she's also a dork :)

She loves to do my hair sometimes

And it's always "interesting"

She's so lovely when she's sleeping

And she's almost always silly! She is described by her teacher as being the class clown, and I can totally see why :)

The other night she was taking FOREVER to get out of the shower., and here's why. Yes, she's asleep.

To catch a leprechaun....

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Sat, 21 Mar 2015 02:27:00 +0000

Izzy had to build a leprechaun trap for St. Patrick's day. We came up with a lot of great ideas, but settled on a trap that the leprechaun would fall into.

Of course, we had to entice the leprechaun with lots of green and shiny things. Izzy also decided that leprechauns like orange, which explains the role of orange duct tape that she's cutting.

All in all, I think this was a fantastic leprechaun trap. Note the rainbow made out of pipe cleaners, and the sign that says "gold" :) The gold things on the rainbow are the "shinys" from the "pot o' gold" that's under the rainbow.

I loved how Izzy really took this on as her own project. She spent over an hour adding little embellishments to it. I thought it would be good to add a staircase so that the leprechaun could easily get up to the pot of gold, because the "trap" was right under it. Izzy did a great job of trying to guide the leprechaun ;) What Izzy was trying to write was "shiny, dangly stuff. jewelry perfect for leprechauns"!!!

Because the trap was a little bit bit, I thought it would be better if I dropped it off at school for her so it didn't get all mashed up in the trip. I guess Izzy was driving everyone crazy the whole day, wondering where I was. I wasn't able to get there until the end of the day, but I made it in time! This is Izzy explaining her trap to all of the kids in her class.

It was so fun to see all of the creative ideas that the kids had. They each found a special place to put their trap, hoping to be the one to catch the leprechaun. Unfortunately, that little bugger was a bit too sneaky for all of them, but he left them some "gold" nuggets. Maybe next year we'll get him!

A trip to Space!

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 03:07:00 +0000

We were feeling a bit stir-crazy in the house, and decided to head to the Science Museum of Minnesota to check out their new "experience". I think this must've been opening weekend, because it took us 45 minutes to get through the line for tickets, and most of the IMAX shows were sold our until later that evening, so we did't get to see that part, but hopefully we'll be able to go back and do that because I LOVE IMAX movies!

This picture doesn't quite do the astronaut behind her justice. It's MASSIVE, and it's hanging from the ceiling.

There was a short movie you watch before you get back into the full exhibit. It's not part of the regular museum admission, but it's totally worth the extra fee.

What I love about this is that it's an exhibition that focuses more on the future of space rather than the past. It gives people a great opportunity to see what life is like in space, from the food they eat, the clothes they wear, and how they go to the bathroom!

There are quite a few hands-on areas as well, like this one where people can control the robot arm, simulating what it's like to control the robot arm on the space shuttle.

I wish I could've taken more photos, but it was pretty dark in the exhibit. There were SO many people there, and the line for some of the displays/activities were so long that we weren't able to wait, but I really hope to go back!

After leaving the exhibit, you had to walk through another exhibit that had quite a few artifacts from the Indians that used to live in Minnesota. There was a lot of amazing and intricate bead work on clothing, and they also had this station set up where kids could pretend that they were weaving a blanket with bundles of colored yarn. I think Izzy could've sat here for hours.

This was also pretty amazing! It's a beautiful piece of art made entirely out of different types of true bark. Isn't it beautiful?

My little Valentine....

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 20:06:00 +0000

We spent Wednesday night making class valentines. Not-so-smart me thought that these little origami fortune-tellers would be fun, and from the kids' perspective they were a hit! However, folding 24 of these and cramming them into envelopes that were clearly designed to fit as snugly as possible around the fortune teller was an exercise in patience ;)

And I just had to share this valentime from my dear, sweet little girl. Heart officially liquified.

Haircut!

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 20:02:00 +0000

Izzy's been talking about cutting her hair for the last couple of weeks. I was so afraid that I had influenced it, because she kept saying things like, "Mommy, I wanna cut my hair short like it was when I was little and you loved it." Terribly adorable, but also scary because of the influence you have over your little ones without even knowing it.

She and I talked about it, and I let her know that I love her and her hair no matter what. I felt like this was another one of those teachable moments for her, and by that I mean it was an opportunity to help her understand that she isn't defined by what she looks like...especially the length of her hair. I mean, if she doesn't like it, she can always grow it back, right? I'm a little ramble-y here, but I want to remember what I was thinking during this time 20 years from now :)

I'm so glad I didn't try to talk her out of this. She looks so happy!!!

Snow tubing!

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 20:22:00 +0000

This winter has been a little lackluster from the perspective of snowfall. Even though it's ridiculously cold, we've usually been able to rely on some snow, but not so much this year. And that's really cut down on the amount of outdoor-time we've had. so we decided to do something about it.

I've been bugging Joacim to try skiing, but he's a bit resistant (probably because we're old and "owies" hurt a lot more than they used to :) so we headed to Buck Hill and spent a couple of hours in the fresh (albeit chilly) air.

The was clearly giddy on the first run up the hill.

When we first arrived there weren't that many people and hardly any waiting, but as the afternoon went on, the lines grew...

I was a little worried that we'd get there and she'd be scared to go down by herself. Luckily, I was completely wrong ;)

Here's Joacim heading down the hill while Izzy and I watched:

January 31 2015 - Joacim snow tubing at Buck Hill from Jenn Trunk on Vimeo.

And here's a fun slow-motion video of Izzy's trip down the hill:

January 31 2015 - snow tubing slow mo from Jenn Trunk on Vimeo.

The Mitten - Izzy's first play

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 02:33:00 +0000

The first graders put on their very first play, and it was called "The Mitten".

Izzy played the owl :)

I have no idea what her lines were.....she had a little case of the nerves and said them so fast that I couldn't understand them. Actually, this happened to most of the kids ;)

IMG 2459 from Jenn Trunk on Vimeo.

It was SO fun to see this, and to see how excited she was! She practiced REALLY hard for it and she did a great job!

Another amazing fall weekend.....MEA weekend included!

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 15:18:00 +0000

It was MEA weekend here in Minnesota, so Joacim and I took both Thursday and Friday off to do something fun with Izzy. I had the best of intentions.....I was going to plan a trip up to Duluth or Grand Marais for the weekend, filled with lots of hiking and bonfires, but time just ran away from me. Nevertheless, I think we still had a pretty good time.

My plan for Thursday was to go to Minnetonka orchards like we did last year, and hang out in the AMAZING weather and then get some pumpkins. Unfortunately, little Izzy wore shoes that were too small, and by the time we got out of the corn maze (where I lost my sunglasses as well) she had a blister on her foot. So that was shot, but we did get pumpkins. WIN!

I wish you could've seen her from the front. She was wearing an elastic headband around her head and was all rocked out ;)

I was pretty bummed when we got home. Sometimes it's frustrating because I have a very particular idea of what I want to happen, and when it doesn't, I get a bit rattled. I think Joacim sensed my mood, and suggested that we try to ride out bikes to Excelsior, which is a lovely little town on Lake Minnetonka (about 7.5 miles by bike trail). I love Excelsior...such a cute little town, and they were having a farmer's market when we got there, so the main road was closed of (made me feel MUCH more comfortable regarding Izzy). I took my camera with me to capture the lovely fall colors that Mother Nature bestowed upon us this year.

Once we got to Excelsior, we decided to grab an early dinner at Maynard's and then bike back home. Now, looking back, it was fun, but in the midst of the ride back, my legs were cramping so terribly bad (damn kidneys) that I honestly wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it back home! Luckily, Joacim and Izzy were both patient and let me walk as much as I needed to in order to make it back safely ;)

This was a LOVELY weather weekend. At some point over the weekend (I don't remember when :) Izzy and I headed out to the backyard so she could do gymnastics and I could take her picture (at her request), so the following is a collection of those photos. Even though she's not actively participating in gymnastics right now, her strength is ridiculous! And that smile on her face while she's doing this is something I wish I could bottle! There are also a couple of pics of Rosie and Murphy, who were also enjoying the warmth and sunshine :)

Look Mamma! No training wheels!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 17:42:00 +0000

Izzy reached another milestone on Sunday!!! No more training wheels! We've tried all summer here and there...subtle suggestions but no pushing. Then, on Sunday, Joacim took her out for a ride and asked her if we could take them off. She said she was afraid of falling, and Joacim somehow convinced her that he'd catch her, and they were off! I think she took right to it too!

There was LOTS of riding up and down the sidewalk and around the neighborhood. There were a couple of trips around the big pond, and even one outside of the neighborhood onto city sidewalks (with Joacim). I think, in all that day, she rode a total of 5 miles! And the only reason it wasn't more was because it got dark ;)

Such a cute little dork :)

She even started getting "fancy" by standing up on her pedals and "riding"! I LOVE watching her ride her bike now...such a happy smile on her face! I guess I know what we'll be doing a LOT of in the next few weeks!

And from the looks of it, she'll be needing a new bike next summer, which sounds like a perfect 7th birthday present!

Minnesota State Fair 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Sat, 30 Aug 2014 03:07:00 +0000

It's that time of the year again!!!! I LOVE the state fair!!!!

First stop: Miracle of Birth Barn (my personal favorite). This little calf had JUST been born, and his name is Ferdinand :)

THIS right here is the reason I come to the fair (well, one of many) Fresh. Roasted. Corn

Izzy was ALSO excited about the corn, but her lack of teeth made it SUPER hard to eat. That's not to say she didn't try her hardest :)

One of Joacim's picks: deep fried Oreo's. Now, I didn't try these myself, but he and Izzy seemed pretty happy with the selection.

She IS rather egg-ceptional :)

And then it was off to the kiddie carnival.....this is her FAVORITE ride right now :)

I LOVE this picture....captures what great fair memory. That's Izzy at the bottom of the picture!

She was SUCH a good kid that we went to the face-painter and let her pick out her design :)

And THIS is what she picked! Neon tiger!!!

We stopped off at the butterfly barn. This is a great place, but it takes a bit of getting used to these HUGE butterflies landing all over you! I know I let out a few screams myself!

And we can get free milkweed seeds for our butterfly garden next year!!!

RAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRR! (The teeth totally MAKE this photo, right?)

Then we headed down to the animal barns (another one of my favorite parts). This is the first thing we saw when we walked into the cattle barn. I gotta hand it to these kids....they work pretty hard during the fair!

Izzy was fascinated at the horse barn. They had a great interactive area for kids, and she was intent on making this braid perfect.

Somone mentioned that Izzy's face matched the "outfit" that this horse was wearing, so we had to take a selfie!

I felt like we walked for foreEVER, but in reality it was only 5 hours. Although our pace was pretty light we didn't stop much, and that resulted in EXTREMELY swollen hands, knees, feet, etc.

Right after we bot back in the car.....

....and a day later.

Izzy said that the best part of the fair was the twirly-car roller coaster she road. I think it was a toss-up between the roasted corn and pork chop on a stick! I'd really love to go back by myself so I could walk through the exhibit buildings. I bet there's a ton of cool stuff in there, but it's not too interesting to anyone else in the family. Hopefully next year I'll do that!

A Swedish Visitor says goodbye :(

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Tue, 05 Aug 2014 04:18:00 +0000

The last day of a guest's visit is always the worst, especially for friends who are flying back to Sweden. They're flights are usually later in the day, so we spend all day dreading the inevitable. We tried to make it a little bit better this time by going to Excelsior first and hitting the ice cream place. I chose superman because I wanted to feel like a kid again. I remember this little ice cream place from my youth...it was a one-room, red building "parlor" and they always had superman ice cream.

We took our ice cream and headed down to the docs of Lake Minnetonka to eat it and hang out.

When we got to the airport, we were told that Joacim needed to stay with Jasmin until she boarded her plane, so he went to the gate to hang out with her and Izzy and I hung around the airport until her flight took off. I'll be honest, we went to Sonic to grab some food first ;) but then we came back to the parking garage and watched planes take off, which Izzy and I both love!

And this is apparently what Joacim and Jasmin did to spend the time ;)

It was really great having Jasmin here. I spent most of the time worried that she wasn't having a good time, and feeling generally guilty because I was having a really bad week health-wise. I think I found out that my kidney function had tanked on the drive home from picking her up at the airport, and I never quite recovered. So Jasmin, if you read this, I want to say "thank you" for coming to visit us....I hope you enjoyed it as much as we enjoyed having you here, and I look forward to our next vacation :)

A Swedish visitor - TUBING!

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 03:58:00 +0000

One of the great things about having another person with us is that we could finally try out the tube that we bought for the summer, and Izzy and Jasmin were more than happy to oblige :) Anyone that really knows me knows that I'm terrified of bodies of water that I can't see the bottom of (so basically everything except pools and hot tubs (and there are even exceptions to those), and I've been worried that Izzy will pick up on my phobias, but this photo shows me that she's going to be nothing like me in this area :)

We didn't stay out too long because there were storms rolling in, and we made it back to shore and all packed up just in time!

But we were back out the next day, and it was gorgeous and sunny!!!

We also took a little trip to Minnehaha Falls. I absolutely love it here as I think it's such a little gem! I hope Jasmin liked it too!

Swedish Visitor - Minnesota zoo and Valley Fair

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Sat, 02 Aug 2014 03:39:00 +0000

I completely forgot to include this photo! This was taken one of the first few nights after Jasmin's arrival. It was our neighbor's birthday, and they always celebrate it in style...this time with giant pizzas and a cookie the same size! Best part is that was DELICIOUS too!

One one of the days that I had to work, Joacim took the girls to the Minnesota Zoo (these are all photos he took ;)

One of the fun things we had planned was a trip to Valley Fair. It was a pretty warm day (we even ended up going to the water park, but I didn't have my phone or camera so no pics of that :( We started our day on the ferris wheel (per Miss Isabelle).

Here's a view of the park from the top of the wheel

And here's Izzy being a little ornery :)

I was AMAZED at how much Izzy loved to ride the "bigger" rides. I wasn't sure if she'd go on them herself or not (I wasn't feeling well, especially after THIS ride :)

I don't remember what this ride is called, but the sounds from the drives that move this thing is freaky! Izzy and I stayed on the ground and watch Jasmin and Joacim ride this one.

And here they are :)

Our Swedish visitor :)

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 01:18:00 +0000

We were very fortunate to have a visitor from Sweden. Jasmine is the step-daughter of one of Joacim's best friends back home in Sweden, and she came here for her "language trip". According to Joacim, most of the kids her age (~15) in Sweden go on a language drip during that summer in school in order to learn a more conversational English. Usually they go to England where I guess they have these special programs set up for this, but since we're here and she was already familiar with us from when they visited last summer, she wanted to come here. I say "I guess" because, well....it's Joacim and his Swenglish explanations are sometimes lacking in clarity :)

She got here on a Tuesday, and I still had to work, but Joacim WAS able to take some time off so she wasn't alone initially. Izzy was beside herself with excitement the weeks approaching her arrival, to the point where she was driving me batty with questions. The funny thing is that, once Jasmin arrived, Izzy kinda clammed up since she's in her shy phase :(

We were having lovely weather, and wanted to spend as much time outside as possible, so we went to the "fake lake" as we're affectionately referring to it. It's a swimming lake run by the parks department here and it's fantastic. It's relatively shallow, chlorinated and there are no fish or plants to feel gracing my legs. In other words, it's heavenly for me.

Izzy seems to enjoy it too!

Jasmine's visit was luckily during the Aquatennial, with the MOST AMAZING fireworks display! We are very fortunate to have wonderful neighbors who saved us a spot with a fantastic view!

One day we headed downtown to check out the miniature golf course at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. We didn't call ahead, not even thinking that it was necessary, but we got there and all we saw was a sign that said "sold out". Bummer. Not knowing what else to do, we headed to the sculpture garden to take a look around, and now I can finally say I've seen this famous sculpture!

Random summer post....

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Mon, 21 Jul 2014 02:17:00 +0000

This post isn't about anything at all....they're just a collection of photos taken at random and different times that I want to remember :)

Could she be ANY cuter?

A trip to the zoo, visiting the cows (my favorite part of the zoo)

Doesn't this just scream summer?

Clearly, Izzy loves the boat as much as Joacim does (she's watching an iPad under the towel...the sun was getting in her way that particular day :)

4th of July weekend with Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Bri

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 00:53:00 +0000

We were lucky to have Grandma, Grandpa and Auntie Bri make the drive up here to help us celebrate the 4th of July. They usually come around Izzy's birthday, but there was something going on around that time (can't remember what it was though :) but this actually worked out better.

We had a tremendous amount of rain in June (over 13 inches!!!), which ended up moving the annual Taste of Minnesota (typically held on Nicollet Island) out to the Carver County Fairgrounds. I thought this would be a whole lot of fun, and that we'd get a chance to sample some of the local restaurants downtown, but I think that the move caused a lot of restaurants to back out, and we were left with your typical county fair fare :( We made the best of it, though!

There were a few carnival rides there too, which Izzy had to sample. You can't tell, but she WAS having a good time :)

And then that evening, our friends Jessica and Blake offered to host us at Blake's parents house, which is right on Lake Waconia. This is usually a fantastic spot for fireworks, with them normally being set off from the island in the middle of the lake. However, due to the rain again, they had to have the fireworks launched from the far side of the lake. Our view wasn't as great as it could've been, but it was still lovely, and we had WONDERFUL hosts! Plus, when we were leaving, the fireworks from The Taste started going off, so it's like we got a two-fer!

It had been unusually chilly the night before when we were watching fireworks, so I was relieved when we woke up on the 5th to warm, sunny skies. Perfect day for a boat ride!

The boat ride was followed-up by a yummy steak dinner on the deck

And then our own fireworks that Grandma and Grandpa brought with them :)

Later that same evening I was able to get this great shot of the moon. I don't have the best equipment for moon photos, but I'm pretty happy with this one :)

My Midsommar Girl

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 00:08:00 +0000

Just a quick one to show remember the headband that I slaved over....I harvested all of the flowers/leaves/grass and spent 2 hours hand-weaving it.....only to have Izzy refuse to wear it for our friends Midsommar Party. But you know what? I'll do the same damn thing next year :)

Weekend activities

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 03:00:00 +0000

This was a really nice weekend! Izzy and I got to spend some time together, which was nice because the week before may have been the busiest work week that I've ever had. Activities included:

Joacim was traveling, so I was single-parenting
Gymnastics
Gymnastics photos
All-day work meeting followed by all-evening boat cruise
Drive to Canada
Drive back home from Canada

We started off the weekend by playing with playdoh. We got her a cupcake factory and more playdoh as her old stuff was drying out. I think we played with this for 2 solid hours :)

Izzy's cookie

And my chocolate chip cookies (not bad, right?)

The next day we went out on the boat. This was the first day that was truly, truly a nice day to go boating. The sun was out....it wasn't really all that windy. Perfect. Whenever we go, I have to make sure I pack up a lot of options in the cooler for her, and I think that was our only saving grace on this trip.

Luckily, Joacim caught a fish...a tiny one, but a fish nevertheless....

And Izzy was...well....bored. She can fish for about 10 minutes, and that's being generous. We're going to have to figure our some way to entertain her besides shoving food in her!

Cruise along the St. Croix

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 02:44:00 +0000

I had a chance to take a cruise along the St. Croix river this week. It was a work-related excursion, but I managed to see a few cool things on my trip.

This is the Stillwater lift bridge....one of few existing....cool, right?

While we were on our little dinner cruise, there were 2 hot air balloons that came over the bluff a little farther up the river and then they headed down to Stillwater. This one you see right here is dipping the basket in the river....CRAZY!!! Turns out he was showing off for a classic car gathering there, but it was pretty cool to watch (and a little scary at first too ;)

There was also this cool car/boat thing that we saw. These people must've been at the classic car show, and then just drove into the water and took off. So cool!

Last day of kindergarten!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 02:33:00 +0000

I've seen so many comparison photos of kids on their first day of school and their last day of school. Here's Izzy's for kindergarten. I think the only difference I can see are the two missing teeth :)

Field trip!

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 03:17:00 +0000

I FINALLY got to go on a field trip with Izzy! I've been wanting to volunteer for one of these for awhile, and the stars finally aligned and allow me the time :) Luckily, this was also a short one since it was so close (the Minnesota Arboretum), so I didn't have time to go completely crazy!

The great thing about this age is that these kids make you feel like you are the most awesome person ever. And who doesn't want to feel awesome?

These two girls are probably Izzy's best friends at this point. They're sweet and fun ;)

This photo makes it look like they're under control, but that's only because it freezes a moment in time. Seconds later it's chaos. I gotta hand it to Mrs. Langan....she always keeps her cool and just keeps on talking :)

Silly faces for some silly girls :)

I forgot how pretty the Arboretum is. I take it for granted that it's literally a couple of miles away from our house, and I certainly don't take advantage of it enough! I hope to change that this summer though.

There isn't a single kid who doesn't LOVE a koi pond, and this one came with a waterfall!

A quick selfie before we got back on the bus to head back to school.

Tired girls = grumpy girls (actually, they were just joking around with this face....they were all sorts of wired!)

I had such a great time with the kids that I was a bit sad that it was over so soon! I'm sure I would've felt completely the opposite had it been an all-day trip too though :)

We've got a 6-year old now!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Thu, 05 Jun 2014 02:54:00 +0000

Happy 6th Birthday Loppan!!!!

I believe that EVERY birthday (mine included :) should be celebrated.....you should feel like numero uno on your birthday, and I want Izzy to feel that way too, so I always start with birthday donuts.

I also had some trick candles this year that wouldn't blow out as easily :)

This birthday girl wanted her hair curled, and she wanted to wear her new outfit.

After school was over, we invited the neighbors over for cupcakes and popsicles!

We took a selfie in the car before swimming lessons.

This was the last lesson of this session, and she did great!

And there was a gorgeous sunset to boot!

And she still had a few more presents to open when we got back home!!!

I'm pretty sure she had no idea why we got her the safety gear....

Until she saw this!

She wanted one last year but I wasn't sure she was ready (or that she remembered) so I was happy to see the smile on her face as she was practicing in the living room ;)

I really really think she had a great birthday!!!

VACATION!!! Sanibel Island Day 6

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Wed, 21 May 2014 04:49:00 +0000

Thought I should throw in some photos of what our room looked like so I could remember it :) Pretty decent accommodations!

Last walk back from the beach (insert sad face here), looking for lizards

Insert REALLY sad face here, as I thought we'd be coming back to Minnesota to better weather. This is harsh.

Absolutely beautiful day....and week actually. No rain at all....until we were ready for takeoff. Luckily this only lasted a few minutes, but I'll admit that it was pretty cool to see the wall of water hit the airport :)

And then blue skies, and beautiful clouds for the a majority of the trip home. Still cool to see the burst of rain coming down from above....

I won't lie and pretend that we were happy to be going back to the crappy weather in Minnesota. We had a really great, relaxing vacation. I was able to completely disconnect from work, which was sorely needed, and Izzy really strengthened her swimming skills. I think we all enjoyed lots of Vitamin D too! I'd definitely recommend going to Sanibel for a visit to anyone ;)

VACATION!!! Sanibel Island Day 5

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Tue, 20 May 2014 04:43:00 +0000

For our last full-day in Sanibel, we took a Captiva Cruise to Cayo Costa, which is an island that's accessible only by boat, north of Captiva. This was, most definitely, the highlight of the trip.

The driftwood "sculptures" (remnants of hurricanes) were worth it all by themselves!

And they were also useful as bag holders :)

The sun was so ridiculously intense, and the sand so white, that it was nearly impossible to do anything without a hat, sunglasses, and lots of sunscreen ;)

This photo below is straight out of the camera. It was THAT beautiful! I think we all would've loved to go swimming, but there was a pretty significant sand shelf about 3 feet beyond the beach, and the surf was pretty rough and constant right there (we were on the gulf-side of the island). Also, being a barrier island, the water isn't really all that clear as it's full of broken shells.

You can see how the water would change colors...from deep blue to an turquoise to almost lime sherbet.

This is the boat that ferried us back and forth. It was a shallow, 2 hull boat that allowed for easy beaching.

Family selfie!

We got back to our room and made a hodgepodge dinner with the remaining food that we had and started to pack up. After sorting through all of the shells that we were planning on keeping, we all headed out to the beach one more time to put the rest of the shells back, and sort of "say goodbye" to the lovely island. We were really happy to see that it was low-tide when we were there...no idea how we missed it the whole week, but really wish I would've seen how shallow it truly was, and for how far out from the beach. Anyone who knows me knows I'm...well...terrified of water that I can't see the bottom of (i.e., lakes, ponds, rivers, oceans...pretty much everything except pools and hot tubs ;). Knowing how shallow it was would've helped. Anyway, walking along the sandbars we started noticing all of these sea snails, and sea "worms". We got kind of excited because most of the shells we'd collected were small, and a little battered, but sadly for us, most of these bigger spiral shells were occupied by some pretty pissed off sea creatures :)

I loved the trails they made...

Izzy found a lot of shells that looked recently abandoned, and were still hooked together.

And this hawk was so amazing to watch. It was flying so low...hunting.

Just, seriously, and amazing adventure that day!

VACATION!!! Sanibel Island Day 4

noreply@blogger.com (Storaloppan) — Tue, 20 May 2014 01:50:00 +0000

Another day of nothing planned...just the way I like my vacations :)

Thank goodness for outdoor showers to rinse off the sand!

Dinner this night was at Doc Ford's again, but this time we went to the one on Sanibel. We didn't feel much like driving, and it was running into prime dinner time.

I couldn't get enough of this salad. Arugula with caprese....GENIUS! And this is still something I eat weekly ;)

This was some mango maui special they were having....yuuuumy!

We decided to head down to the other end of the island for some ice cream after dinner.

We drove to the farthest point, which is a lighthouse, and parked the car for a sunset walk along the beach. It was a secluded little spot with a very calm beach...lovely.

LOOK! Hermit crabs in NATURAL ENVIRONMENTS :)

This bird wasn't afraid of anything.....clearly too busy fishing.

And he was quite successful!

And he flew away after his meal.

Pelican's are the strangest, sometimes funniest, creatures. Looking so graceful in flight....

And a hot mess on landing :)

Her obsession with shells was reaching an all time high

We eventually made it to Pinocchio's for some ice cream (highly recommended!!!). The ice cream was delicious....they put this cute little animal cracker on top of Izzy's. We ended up meeting this lovely woman who resides year-round on the island. She entertained us with stories of what it's like to live on the island during a hurricane, and was just a lovely person. Very glad we went there :)

When we got home, I realized my error with the sunscreen. Do you?

And she was out like a light upon lying down.....