Feb 2007

February 4, 2007

Tough day today. We are supposed to be here celebrating my brother's 50th birthday, but he died several weeks ago from a heart attack. We all tried not to think about it, but at times we simply couldn't avoid it.

My parents and us drove to North Ft Myers to take out my niece and her family for lunch. After lunch we went to a local park to let the kids all play together and for my niece and me to go over some paperwork/details related to her Dad's death. Unfortunately there was a birthday party going on at the pavilion at the park, so another reminder of my brother's absence today.

We enjoyed spending time with my niece and her family. We also stopped in Everglades City on the way back to the RV to visit my aunt and uncle.

Long day. We tried to keep busy to get through it. I wish my brother could have been with us to celebrate.

My back was extremely painful this morning and I could barely get down the stairs, so Jere and Joe went on a canoe trip without me. The trip was lead by a ranger from the preserve and lasted almost 5 hours through the Everglades. They saw lots of birds and gators and learned about the local history. There was no way that I could sit in the canoe for several hours without being in a lot of pain, so I reluctantly stayed at the RV.

We went to the Everglades City Seafood Festival for dinner. It's extremely popular and they say 40,000 to 50,000 people attend. It is an extremely small town, so with that many people, lots of crowds! We did get to eat Gator Nuggets--like many other things, gator taste likes chicken.

We stayed to listen to a part of the country music concert, but left after a few songs -- too many people, too much beer, way too much cigarette smoke. Plus, my brother, who died several weeks ago from a heart attack, lived in Everglades City and loved to go to this festival. He was supposed to be there with us. As much as I tried not to think about it, after awhile, I simply couldn't avoid the sadness that I felt.

We were thinking about going to the beach today, but decided to just be lazy around the RV. Joe and I spent time on schoolwork, while Jere got caught up on some reading. We again enjoyed watching the gators in the lake. Joe went fishing this evening and was thrilled when a gator jumped at his bait. Luckily, he did not catch the gator :-)

Good news: Nice relaxing day
Bad news: My back still hurts (a lot)

Thursday, February 1

My back continues to torment me, so Jere went to get groceries and run some errands today. Joe and I stayed at the RV to work on homework. It's very warm today (84 degrees and sunny) so the gators in the lake where we're staying are coming out of the water and laying at the edge. They don't bother anyone and I've gotten used to staying next to a lake with 5 gators.

Late in the day we took a drive on Loop Road with my Dad, while my Mom stayed at the campground to register campers. The campground is full but they put people in overflow spots. There are 27 campsites, but there was at least 40 campers here today.

We stopped at one spot along the Loop Road and saw lots of interesting birds and a river otter. He was fascinating to watch as he swam around catching fish. He would catch the fish and then sit on a log and crunch it; eating it bones and all.

Highlights for today:
The otter eating fish
Walking around the lake as Joe and I discussed some word problems he was working on for school.
Watching the gators in the lake