Sunrise to Sunset in paradise!!

The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.  ~Author Unknown

We finally got up before the sun this morning and went out to the beach! It was absolutely perfect! It is just hard to explain how therapeutic it is to be shelling as the sun rises on the gulf, among the birds and wildlife!! It really is good for the soul!!

I missed the beginning....too busy shelling!! :)

 ...And a new day has begun in paradise!!

Hubby was busy shelling and nearly missed the sunrise!!

We did very well shelling today, no really fantastic finds, but we found plenty, and ran out of time before the tide began to come in!! Not bad for only a couple of hours...huh!?

The beautiful Lightning whelk top left was Hubby's find, it's perfect!! We found an abundance of fighting conchs (all sizes), tulips Olives, Murex, sharks eye, pear whelks all kinds of pretties!!  This is half of the board....

...and this is the other half!!

Lots of shark's eye, My Daddy's very favorite shell! ...And a few orange scallops (for Della) :)

Lots of banded tulips!

Hubby's whelk!

I found this huge scallop, and my favorite, an orange horse conch!! I kept it even if it did have a hole in it!!

This is Lily's collection! For some reason she likes to find sticks, bring them back to her towel and chew on them until she is bored with them, then out to get a new one!! Such fun!! If only we could teach her to collect shells!! :)

Here she is checking out her collection!

A beautiful end to a beautiful day!

 Today was another great day!! Lily is so enjoying it here, as of course are we!! Time is beginning to go by so quickly...one day we will stay for 2 weeks again, that is about perfect timing!! Did I mention how perfect the weather is?? The AC doesn't even come on, we leave the patio doors open...it's wonderful!! I could certainly get used to this!!  We love the new condos here at Island beach club, and are considering this to be our new hangout when here!!

We tried a new restaurant here today (still looking for a favorite to replace the closed Hungry Heron).  It is called Sanibel Fish House, it is the old McT's building (for those of you familiar with the area). Hubby had the Grilled Salmon caeser salad which he says was awesome, I had the gried grouper fish tacos, they were awesome!! Prices were very reasonable, especially during their happy hour specials!! We will be going back!! 

BTW Jess completed here NAVLE (Veterinary boards) today, I believe she is relieved but will have to wait until January to see how she did!! Then she will just complete the year (until May) and will officially be a DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine)!! This has been a lot of work and school for her, and we are so proud of her!! This is what she has always wanted to do, and we are excited to see her finish this chapter!!  We Love you Baby Girl, and are so very proud!!

We will be back out early tomorrow to fill up another board or two of shells, and will post more tomorrow!!

::Hugs::

Cheri