The island washes one ca-jill-ion shells ashore with every tide. Sanibel Island is known for it's shelling beaches. We stayed on the southwest side, walked the heavily blanketed beaches of shells, and collected all kinds. The water was warm, the pool was warm, the weather was hot. Lucky for us, the rain only reached us at night. We were well deserving of what transpired several weeks before our scheduled vacation. It was a perfect getaway the week after WE MOVED!!!!!
That's right. We packed up our 16+ years of STUFF and moved as a family for the first time. The move still comes as a shock, even though we have talked and planned it for nearly 5 years. This is the house that Eric and I designed and moved into the day we returned from our honeymoon. This is Riley's first home. This is Ellie's first home. This is Cooper's first home. It was truly a bittersweet move, as we are still trying to overcome the shock of it happening so quickly. It sold in May. Our last day of school was June 6, we moved on June 9 and June 15 and took our pre-scheduled family vacation on June 20-27. It has been a whirlwind of a summer and it's already the middle of July. Thankfully, we are all healthy. Thankfully, we are all together. Thankfully, we have a place to stay until we find or build our future house. I scour the real estate websites and county auditor GIS every single night. The perfect place will surface. In the mean time, we are trying to enjoy our summer :)
It took several days for Eric and I to unwind from the move, but we did so in the perfect place! If you haven't visited Sanibel Island on the Gulf side of Florida, you really should! Bicycles for transportation, quaint Florida shops and excellent restaurants and cafes are at every corner.