Pool & Ocean Days in Naples FL

We spent more time than ever at the pool on this trip to the beach.  The kids were obsessed.  They both turned into quite the little swimmers.  They went from being hesitant to swim without puddle jumpers to wearing goggles and diving under water to get them.  Fletcher still wears his puddle jumper 99% of the time, but Olive rarely wears hers.  She usually just asks to wear it when she gets tired from swimming.

It's also worth noting that Naples, FL considers June/July/Aug their off season.  It's wild!  Our traditional summer is their slowest time of year.  We love heading to Naples during this time because it means no crowds, very little wait time and great weather.  It's hot, but it's hot in Indiana.

We swam in the pool almost every day.  We swam during the day, in the afternoons and at sunset.  Neither kiddo had any interest in the kiddie pool (that they've loved in previous summers).  They only wanted to swim in the big pool.  I don't blame them.  It was gorgeous.

While Olive was hanging out in the hammock by the pool, she asked if we could just have our house packed up and mailed to us in Florida.  Not a bad idea :)

Ocean days!
We made several trips to the ocean.  It was a lot of fun.  This was the first time we'd headed to the ocean with no diapers, no plans for naps, no tantrums and no meltdowns.  It was amazing!  Big kids are rad.

Olive is always the first one to spot the ocean and the first one to dip her toes in the water.  She loves it.

 We collected tons of shells of all sizes.  There were some huge ones this year!

Cute cousins.

We had a cloudy day at the ocean which was very nice.  It was cooler and really pleasant.

The kids chased birds.

Played with coconuts.

Played construction site in the sand.

And we practically had the whole beach to ourselves.
It was amazing!!

Stay tuned next week for a post on all our favorite beach gear!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

It's time to link up with my favorite blogging buddies for High Five for Friday.  Join us with a few different blog posts and be sure to look around to find some new blog friends

Becky @  By BMG Blog
Della @ Della Devoted
Tif @ Bright on a Budget
Whitney P @ Come Home for Comfort
 

This link party is powered by Link Party Animal

Summer Trip to Naples

We packed our bags and flew to Florida right after school got out.  We look forward to going to Naples every Summer.  We met Kevin's parents and his brother's family down there for a week.  I'm going to pack all my pictures into two posts.  Today we're going to talk about all the fun things we did that didn't involve water.

If you ever find yourself in Naples, we'd HIGHLY recommend the zoo, the Morton Arboretum, Tommy Bahama and the outlets in Ft Meyers.  

We loved waking up to sunshine and palm trees! 

We put on all our swim gear and walked over to the pool.

The flowers are always amazing!  Fletcher stopped to smell most and insisted on being carried a lot of the way.  That's the struggle of being 3.  He wants to do lots of big kid things, but still needs breaks.  

We had dinner at Tommy Bahama.  It's our favorite spot to eat dinner because you can get amazing food, live music, eat outside and it's family friendly.  

His happy place :)  Isn't it fun when you snap a picture of your spouse when you can tell that they're truly happy!?!?  Kevin loves this place.

Fletcher really wanted to dance and talked everyone into joining him on the dance floor.

This is pure JOY!!

Culvers had the best fish tank when we stopped in for lunch.  The kids loved watching it and we got to see a crab rescue a fish that was stuck in some coral.

We stopped in all our favorite shops at the outlet mall.  Vineyard Vines had the cutest set up to entertain the kids while you shopped.

We went on a nature walk through in the community before dinner one night.  We saw tons of lizards, birds and an alligator. 

Tommy Bahama was so good that we started and ended the trip there.

A sunset stroll through downtown Naples is always a good idea. We only window shop because everything is pricey :)

We got to visit the zoo one day while the guys golfed. We got there before lunch to avoid the heat and enjoyed ourselves.  We've been here several times so everything felt really familiar.  We all have favorite exhibits.

We tried out the monkey cruise for the first time.  It was pretty fun to see the monkeys on their islands.

We fed the fish, ducks and turtles.  An eager duck bit Fletcher's thumb.  I'm sure it hurt because his whole thumb was red.  He said he had to pull his thumb out of the duck's mouth - yikes!

Black and white x2!

The giraffes were being really rascally.  They were fighting and not letting each other eat.  We usually look forward to feeding them, but not this trip.

Another day the girls headed to the Morton Arboretum while the guys golfed.  It was hot so we got there early to enjoy as much as we could before lunch.  We all loaded up on sunscreen, sun hats and brought a change of clothes for the kids in case they wanted to play at the splash pad.  We only visited the Children's Gardens and the Japanese Gardens.  There is TONS to see here, but we had to focus on which parts of the gardens the kids would enjoy most.

We headed straight for the children's gardens to see the butterfly house.

We love their interactive gardens.  There are tons of things to water, to sweep and to play with.

Time to explore the tree house!

There was something gorgeous to see at every turn.

So many fun memories from this week!