We spent a fun week in Captiva celebrating Papa's 70th birthday.
Ellie's top priority on our first day was manatee spotting. We found a group of 8 or 9 in the warm shallow water at the marina.
The next morning we bundled up to walk to the farmer's market.
In the afternoon, we went to CROW to learn about Florida wildlife and practice being wildlife veterinarians.
Dr. Emma took her job very seriously.
We went shell collecting on the beach.
We watched the sun set from the beach or the deck every evening.
One night, we went for a moonlit stroll around the neighborhood.
We got to see lots of construction equipment working on the beach restoration project.
We spotted dolphins almost every day. Ellie would run alongside them so she could keep watching as long as possible.
We took Emma to Lighthouse Beach on Sanibel.
Ellie and Ryan did a class at Sanibel Sea School where they learned about currents and made boats out of materials from the Garden Center.
We went to dinner at the Bubble Room.
More dolphin spotting.
Ryan's favorite part of the trip was playing in the arcade.
Elizabeth made fun ocean drinks.
We went to Ding Darling and saw lots of wildlife.
We went on a catamaran tour of San Carlos Bay.
The captains had the kids help hoist the sails and steer the boat.
A pod of dolphins swam right under the boat.
Ryan was always trying to talk people into a game of foosball.
On our last night, we went out for ice cream at Boop's.
