Devin and Maya appear to be summoning up a leviathan from the depths of the Gulf of Mexico, but really they’re just tossing shells into the water.  Or are they?

We’re back home now, but I thought I’d round up the vacation with some parting shots from Sanibel.  I may have a few more as I’m working on some panoramas of the beach.  More on that when I get some free time, which should be in the next few months.

Maya does a headstand on the beach.	Devin watches the fire trucks in the parade.
Maya watches the police cars in the parade.	Posing with the neighbors on Sunset Circle.
Sand monkeys at the beach.	Comparing tonsils, or tongue-scraping prowess, or just being silly.
Swinging at the park with Uncle Chris.

I have some new joys in life thanks to our vacation here in Sanibel.

1. Plocky’s Three-Grain Corn Chips – yeah, you’d better believe it.  I’m a huge fan of chips & salsa, and these are, by far, the best chips evar!  Low in fat (no saturated fats!), no cholesterol, low sodium (90mg/serving) and 1g of fiber.  Ingredients: all-natural corn, cracked whole wheat, brown rice, non-hydrogenated corn oil, natural turbinado sugar, sea salt.  I’m ordering some from Amazon [ed. Amazon was out of stock of my favorite flavor] SnackAisle right now so they are at home when we get there.  Note: in Sanibel, you can get these from Bailey’s.
2. Bailey’s Salsa Grande – it’s a trip to Trinidad in a jar!  I’ve been searching high and low for a high-heat/high-flavor salsa.  Hot sauces aren’t the way to go, because heat ain’t where it’s at – it’s heat and taste.  I found some “pepar” sauce while in Trinidad, but as luck would have it I haven’t found nearly the same complimentary flavors and white heat in anything this side of the Caribbean.  I managed to bring back a few bottles, but it’s not the same as that stuff you get in the local Trini eateries – you know, the kind that’s made by hand by some old lady in the back who has a dozen kids running around her ankles and she’s using local peppers grown out back of the shed next to the highway using a recipe that was passed down from her mother’s mother’s mother’s mother from back-a-de-i’land.  Yeah, that stuff.  Anyway, I was traipsing through Bailey’s, trying to find a sauce to compliment the fantastic Plocky’s tortillas and I found Salsa Grande.  It’s made with tomatoes, habanero peppers, jalapeno peppers, onions, salt, vinegar, garlic, cilantro and “spices”.  Humph - “spices”.
3. Added via Stephanie: Publix Premium Cool Mint Cookie Low-fat Frozen Yogurt.  Apparently, it’s like heaven on a spoon.  Or in a large bowl – a very large bowl (isn’t there any way to fit more into the “large bowl”).  This stuff is so good, you have to restrain yourself from downing the entire quart in one sitting.  We were sitting around the table playing Uno last night and the game had to go on “mint ball delay” while Mom and Steph savored their ribbons of chocolate and minty goodness.  Steph informs me that she has yet to find a comparable balance of flavor, mintyness and chocolatization, and creamy heaventasticity in any freezer, anywhere.
4. The Hungry Heron / Island Cow.  These are two of my favorite restaurants here in Sanibel.  If you know Steph, you know she doesn’t eat anything that comes out of water (except maybe an olive), so my chances of getting to eat really good, fresh fish are few and far between (hello, work lunches!).  These two restaurants specialize in local fresh fish, and have a super-large menu with everything from pasta to burgers to, well, fish.  So it’s good for the whole family!  Plus, they are locally owned and operated so that’s great too.

A Florida Ivory Millipede (Chicobolus spinigerus) and what I’m guessing is a fiddler crab (I didn’t see his claws to be certain).  Both from Bowman’s beach on Sanibel.

You probably knew that Maya takes care of herself pretty well.  What you likely did not know is that Maya quite literally can take care of herself and any ne’er-do-wells that may seek to do harm.

We’ve done a few bike trips now around Sanibel, both with kids and without.  Suffice it to say that the rental bicycles are not up to par with our home bikes.  I miss my FCR!  That plus riding into headwinds trailing the Chariot doesn’t make for an all-too pleasant ride: there are almost no downhill runs at all.  Anyway, the biking has been pretty fun.  We’ve even done a few night rides – which can be a bit weird, especially down Tarpon Bay Road.  You can hear the alligators bellowing in the swamps on either side of the ride (not the least bit disconcerting). 
If you’re interested, you can see the map of the various cycle trips we’ve done.  I doubt we’ll add too much more to this – perhaps a ride over the causeway.


View Larger Map

Upon arrival last night, I walked into the bathroom and found this little guy just hanging out.  Nola said that she found him in the toilet about 3 weeks ago and hadn’t been in that bathroom since.  I suppose he was ready to leave, as I scooped him up and deposited him on a nearby vine growing on the outdoor shower.  He looked very thankful to be out of the can.

The eyeball close-up looks like some sort of detonating planet (a la ILM) or a naked singularity formation.

Enjoy these!