More Pictures

We spent a whole lot of time on the porch--a whole lot! We had happy hours and played a little trivia too. Lots of talking and just hanging out.

One day this turtle was right by our porch. It was laying eggs!

It made quite a mess of the yard. I looked it up and depending on the type of turtle, it takes 45-70 days for turtle eggs to hatch. We're going to be back in about 45 days, so just maybe we might get to see them.

Butch and Mindy went fishing every morning.

She caught a couple little ones--and threw them back. Butch is a "catch and release" fisherman.

I'm pretty sure that Mindy hasn't been fishing since she was a little girl. I'm pretty sure not much has changed. When daddy was helping Mindy fish, that meant that he didn't!

Taking care of business at the beach. The wifi is crappy in the condo. I cannot make or receive phone calls or texts. There is one little spot on the porch that works sometime. But it's not very reliable. So frustrating. We need to be connected these days!

On hold with Sprint about the phone bill. What a fiasco. I argued with them about what I thougth was a fraudulent internatinal call. Only to find out later--after they adjusted the bill--that it was legitimate after all. Now I have to call them back to have them put the charge back on! Sheesh!

While sitting on the porch one evening, we saw this big bird--I think it's a blue heron. It had swallowed a fish that was much to big for it. We watched as it had difficulty, but finally worked it down. We thougth we saw the fish moving in its neck, but then decided that was just the swallowing process. Pretty interesting. Remember the time that the blue heron ate all the fish in our pond?

Mindy wanted to go to Emeril's Coastal restaurant. She was hoping to see him since his main home is In the area now. She worked at Commander's Palace where Emeril got his start in the restaurant business. His personal assistant worked at Commander's also and had hired Mindy.

Unfortunately, he wasn't there. After all, it was a Wednesday night. Mindy surmised that if he did visit the restaurant, it would most likely be on the weekend. 

The food was delicious! Butch and I shared the squash flowers stuffed with crabmeat. I wanted to try it because my grandparents made fried zucchini flowers when I was a kid. They were so good. My grandfather taught me how to tell which blossoms were going to produce a zucchini and which ones would not. Those were the ones we picked to cook. The crab stuffed ones were good too. We also share the seafood platter. Mindy got a crab cake and decided she didn't like it. So the three of us ate this. The amount of food was crazy. We had no idea, as the menu never mentioned that it could feed more than one person. It was quite a bargain at $45.00! There were crab claws, shrimp, oysters, fish, French fries, tiny fried onion straws and crab stuffed hush puppies. So. Much. Food!

This is how much was left AFTER all 3 of us had our fill! We took the leftovers home and had it for lunch one day. It heated up in the oven quite nicely.

On the 3rd Thursday of the month, Gulf Place has a "wine walk." It's $25.00 per person and you go to 11 of the businesses on the property for a glass of wine and appetizers. You get your "card" signed at each stop and submit it for a drawing for prizes at the end. Our last stop was at one of the resort clothing stores. There was a lady there doing permanent jewelry. I had never heard of that before. 

They are 14K gold and diamonds. You pick out the chain and what charm you want. I got a "B" and Mindy got a compass. So cute. They are welded on. The chains are supposed to be pretty strong. The girl said that she hadn't ever broken one of hers and she had several! We'll see. I just hope if it does break, we don't lose it. Kind of a splurge for sure! They are so dainty and cute. They have anklets too. I might even do that sometime--well, if she's ever there again when we are. The gal lives in Chattanooga and takes her business on the road. She's been at Gulf Place twice and all along 30A at the different resorts.

Oh, and as it turned out, Mindy won one of the prizes from the raffle. Of course she did. She's very lucky girl! It was a cute, beautifully illustrated children's book signed by the author.Mindy had left it at the condo for everyone to enjoy. 

The whole week was a lot of fun. We can't wait to spoil Sandy and Stephanie too! There's something special about having them all to ourselves! 

When we got home, this arrived.

It's an edible arrangement. Mindy sent it as a "thank you" for the trip--and because I was lamenting the fact that I ate out way too much! We've never had one of these before. Since the family was coming over for a pool party/Father's Day celebration, I knew we'd be sharing it.

Fresh fruit is exactly what I need to get my act together now that we're home!!