Glorious Florida Winter

We hope you all had a blessed Christmas and wonderful New Year!  We attended a Christmas Eve service at a local church and enjoyed a potluck Christmas dinner with some cruising friends who live in Cape Coral.  Our daughter, Jennifer, and her husband, Jeff, were due to arrive the next day for a week and we were excited to see them.  Their flight landed in Tampa at about 9:30 PM on December 26th and they had a two hour drive to Cape Coral so they didn't arrive until 12:15 AM.  Everyone was tired so after a quick greeting we all headed to bed.  Unfortunately our weather that week was not as warm as we had hoped, but we spent our time sightseeing on Sanibel and  Captiva islands and cruising the Gulf down to Ft. Myers Beach.  The men fished on the pier, but were not too successful.  The last day they were with us, Jennifer and I were finally able to enjoy the beach but it was still a little cool.  We had a great time together and our neighbor took a picture of us on the bow, but the sun reflected off of the windows so it is really too bright.

Jen and Jeff's friends from Des Moines own a home in Bonita Springs, which is about 40 minutes south of Cape Coral.  They invited us to join them on Naples beach to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks.  It was a beautiful evening and we watched the sun set over the Gulf and a great display of fireworks soon after.  The Scotts own a television and appliance store in Des Moines and Flint realized that he worked a short time for them in Des Moines when he was going to an electronics school in 1976.  The more we travel the smaller the world gets.

We spent a day touring the Manatee park and enjoyed seeing the Mommas and the babies as they slowly rose to the top of the water to breathe and then gently lowered back down to the bottom.  Not a lot of excitement but interesting.  It was time to say goodbye to Jen and Jeff and we were sad to see them leave, but life calls and they both must get back to work.  We looked at the weather for the next week and it was to be sunny and in the high 70's.  Vacations don't always match the weather.

Flint and I spent our days during the next two weeks fishing, laying on the beach (Leslie even went into the water), and enjoying the heated pool.  Ah, the life of retirement!!  We biked the neighborhoods within a couple of miles of the marina and were amazed at how many homes had "For Sale" signs.  The real estate market went into a horrible slump in this area and you can purchase wonderful properties for very few dollars compared to the rest of the nation.  We like it so much here that we have decided to stay another month.  We have a number of cruising friends who have either purchased or rented homes in Cape Coral and we have had a number of get-togethers during the past couple of weeks.  The first Wednesday of each month they have a Sunset Celebration at the Yacht Club with $1.00 beer and hotdogs, live music and about 50 vendors selling their wares.  A local reporter approached us and liked the fact that we were "loopers" who loved Cape Coral.  She took our picture and wrote about us in her blog.  Check out the picture and read her blog at http://www.capecoral.com/content/%E2%80%9Chalf-looped%E2%80%9D-couple-buys-home-cape-coral.

Firestones, Krauses and Sarvers

For all of you who are enjoying your snow this week, we will try to keeping from rubbing it in that it is 78 degrees here today.  It will probably be a couple of weeks before you hear from us again as there is soooo much to do here.  If any of you want to get away from the cold, come and see us.  We would love to see you.