Hangin' in Naples...

Since the whole family was together we not only celebrated Thanksgiving and Susie’s birthday, but we also knocked out Christmas, too! We are nothing if not efficient. We will be back in Naples for Christmas but Kathy and Grace will not be so we exchanged gifts early. We’ll do the rest of Christmas on Christmas day like normal people. ;) Note: This will be our first Christmas in nine years that we will have seen any of our family on the actual holiday. Wild! I wonder if this fact will inspire Susan to play the lottery as clearly it is her lucky year. HA!

The saddest "tree" ever

Jackson and the old people
Naples is full of old people
We like it.

Another beach day

Best parking spot ever!

We started off Saturday as we do most days in Naples. We went for a run and then hung out at Bad Ass Coffee before heading to the beach. We love this routine. We got an incredible parking spot at the beach and were so excited. 

It turns out that this photo may have been our saving grace. The folks who left the parking area just before us ended up being in an accident right in front of us. That couple of second delay was likely the difference between our being in the accident and just witnessing it. Everyone appeared to be OK after the accident but they are always a pain and since we were rocking Susan’s fancy unit we were especially grateful to have been spared. 

Safe and sound we returned home to find that Susie had been ill all day. She was in terrible shape so we decided to eat at home (fresh shrimp- yum!) and do Christmas as she felt up to it. We had a great time and I even managed to embarrass Grace Cecelia a few times with jokes about the Victoria Secret gift card her Grammy got her. That’s right, Aunt Jenna doesn’t go down quietly. 15 and shopping at VS. Tisk! Tisk! ;)

The family waiting for presents to be distributed

Grace: "I am so embarrassed. STOP!"
Me: "Never."

Kathy working out some tightness

And the needle is in!

Things got wild when Jackson actually agreed to let Kathy use dry needles on his aching elbow. He’s been in physical therapy at home but had not let his sister with twenty years of experience check things out until now. He HATES needles of all kinds (he is such a wimp for such a strong man!) so this was not small feat. Kathy maintained her spot as my favorite sister-in-law by needling my right knee which is always a problem child. Susie got therapy on her foot. That Kathy has a valuable set of skills around these parts- I think we’ll keep her!

K & G left early on Sunday morning and Susie was still working on feeling better so it was just Jackson and me left to adventure out. We went down to the Vanderbilt Beach area of Naples (about 20 minutes from the condo) to check it out. It is a much more built-up area than the part we normally go to, but it was cool to see it. We stopped in at a local breakfast joint called “Skillets” and were blown away by how awesome it was. We will certainly return. Vanderbilt Beach turned out not to be our favorite place so we explored it for only a short time before returning to Naples Beach (no idea if that is the real name).

A man and his skillet

Vanderbilt Beach

Imagine my surprise when I’m minding my own business soaking in the sun and Jackson announces that he’s “caught dinner!” I open my eyes to a little crab IN MY FACE. I let out a little yelp and insisted Mr. Crab be returned to the ocean before he pinched someone. (I would not have shed any tears if Jackson would have been pinched but we all know that somehow it would have been me who got nipped and not him which would have been ugly.)

Mr. Crab

Love this view

We soaked in the sun for most of the afternoon before heading home to get cleaned up for sunset and dinner. Sunset is a real event in Naples. Most days that we are down there it is our only scheduled item. We love it. Susie was feeling better so she joined us for sunset. It was lovely.

The best seat in the house

Sunset did not disappoint

There she goes!

Susie then took us to a place called “Tavern on the Bay” which had a cool view of a part of the city we’d not really been to before so that was fun. The tavern also had huge televisions showing a big win by Seattle so that was sweet, too. The food was quite good and the company, of course, could not be beat. We even got wild and went for ice cream that evening- yum!

Dorsal fin in the distance
The dolphins are back!

Swimming in pairs
We love the dolphins!

They get so close to shore!

Monday turned out to be our last day. We planned to stay until Tuesday but Jackson had a work commitment in Denver come up so he needed to head out a day early. I had some work issues come up myself and it was just easier to come home a day early, too. We still had the whole day to hang out, though, so that was nice. 

As per usual we did a run (about 2.25 miles this time- hooray for building up mileage) and then hung out at Bad Ass getting our caffeine fix. We hit the beach and caught some dolphins swimming around. We love when that happens. The beach was pretty empty so we took a long, quiet walk. I love those. We had a late lunch at my favorite place, Tropical Smoothie, before getting cleaned up for our flights. 

Jackson’s flight left 1.5 hours before mine so I had a lot of time to hang out at the airport. Thank goodness they had free wifi and I was able to watch t.v. shows to pass the time. If that had not been the case I think I may have passed away from loneliness. I get used to spending every second with Jackson when we travel and then we have to go our separate ways it feels so painful. Call that silly, but it is the truth. I never (ok, generally do not) get tired of him. 

Jackson and I both had late nights. I landed just after midnight and with all the issues with baggage and such did not get home until 2:00 a.m. Jackson was in a very similar situation by the time he got to Denver. 

I’m going to go to work for the afternoon but I slept in which was lovely. I’ll have a short workweek before heading out Thursday evening to join Jackson for a long weekend in Denver. I’m so excited to go back to the place we once called home. 

One last snap of the condo's view

We had a great time in Naples. Thanks again for hosting, Susie!!