Tee Ball

 The weather was perfect for tee ball! Jim's on the left, Trenton on the right. Reminds us of John coaching Jim and Jay all those years!

 Trenton hit the ball hard every time. See the ball coming?

 Trenton's ready to head to second base.

 He scores! (But they don't keep score.)

 We all had fun watching the game and playing with Oliver.

 I like this pic because Oliver's watching Trenton at bat.

 When the game was over Oliver ran the bases.

Two adorable boys! 

Family Reunions

 What great fun to reunite with family after being away for many weeks!

 The weather was beautiful.

 The boys sure know how to have fun outside.

 They love the new rope swing.

Mom enjoyed our visit and the shrimp scampi I made for our Mother's Day dinner.

 We spotted turkeys just around the corner from Mom's!

 The male is in display on the left.

Big Pine - Birds

 Our birdwatching experiences were varied and excellent! Ospreys are plentiful, of course, as there are plenty of fish to eat.

 Great blue herons are easy to spot.

 The white bird on the left is a snowy egret and the one on the right is a reddish egret.

 This beautiful bird is an American redstart.

 A life first for us - a black-necked stilt! We spotted up to five at a time at the pond.

 Imagine seeing flocks of up to twelve indigo buntings! They are brilliant.

 This black-throated blue warbler appears more black in this pic but his back is blue.

 Here's a better picture of him. The best place to see birds was while they were feeding in the strangler fig tree right by our site. The deer came and licked up the little figs as they fell to the ground.

 Indigo bunting

The American redstart displays his colorful tail feathers frequently.

This was our best birdwatching year, for sure. We have another life first - a pair of common yellowthroats. It wasn't easy to get their picture. Baltimore orioles, pine warblers and other warblers we can't identify were also plentiful. Maybe someday I'll make a list of everything we've seen in Florida. It would be a looooong list.

Big Pine - Site and Sun

 The Easter Sonrise service was excellent. The choir and hymns were nice, the readings were well done and the view was spectacular!

About a week  or so into April the place really clears out. All the snowbirds head home to hopefully nice spring weather. But this year those headed home to Pittsburgh encountered snow! It's nice for us to have no neighbors close by, because we have a more spacious view to birdwatch, deerwatch and peoplewatch. We are quite pleased with the neighbors we do have; they are super friendly and nice. 

John A. - was there anybody left in Michigan this winter? It seems like they were all in Florida! Well, maybe just all those over 65 :-)

Sheryl had a very good question the other day: "What do you do when you aren't fishing?" When John is fishing and I'm not (on windy days), I go to water aerobics, then swim laps, shower, and sweep all the coral bits out of the camper and the leaves off the mat. Then it's time to walk around, chat with others, maybe read outside for a while. Sometimes I nap after lunch, try to get online and head outside again. John's home by then so it's time to take pics of the catch, relax with others, and happy hour (alone or with friends), dinner (alone or with friends). Birdwatching is especially good late afternoon. There's a pond nearby where we saw a wonderful variety of birds. Later in the evenings we watch TV because the bugs are voracious. Other days found me on some wonderful outings with Margaret while John fished with her husband, Sharkee. We went to Key West one day, drove around, shopped, and had a wonderful lunch at a Cuban restaurant. One day we went to Marathon for a similar outing. Another time it was clothes and food shopping right on Big Pine. Thanks, Margaret, for enriching my love of camp by getting me out of it! On days it was too windy or rainy to fish John and I relaxed inside or talked to friends or did errands. If it was windy and not rainy we went for long walks (up to 5.5 miles) on the road and on the nature trail. Camp has various evening activities, too, like poolside happy hour, ice cream sundaes for $1.00, and a chili/chowder dinner. We go to what we can depending on if we're evening fishing or eating with others. Five weeks just flew by and we're looking to the same site next year for the same weeks!  

Big Pine - Key Deer

 Big Pine Key is home to the National Key Deer Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is near camp so the deer stop by twice a day. This buck has one big antler left. It's one of the biggest antlers we've ever seen!

 Kiss, kiss

 Mouth to mouth carrot (mine to his)

 This Bud's for ME!"

 Time for a little rest.

One antler is growing in faster than the other.

Big Pine Key - Creatures

 It's so much fun to see iguanas! These pictures were taken at a place a few miles from camp called The Blue Hole. There was an alligator in the pond!

 There are many iguanas at camp, too. They live alongside the canals. Sometimes they jump in the water and swim to the other side of the canal when they're scared.  

 This gecko has a very curly tail. It lives under Sharkee and Margaret's trailer.

It's hard to get a picture of these shy crabs because they scoot back down their hole before you can get close.  

Big Pine Key - The Fish

 This big black grouper was fun but hard work to reel in!

 Here I am posing in my full fishing attire with  a nice yellowtail. They are so much fun to catch and great to eat.

 More big groupers!

 Mangrove snapper - great to eat as well as catch.

 What a successful day - 4 black fin tuna! Sharkee made sashimi and blackened tuna. The blackened tuna was one of the best things I've ever eaten!

 What an unusual catch - a gray angelfish. What an unusually cool day - notice my sweatshirt.

 These dolphin (the fish, not the mammal) look much brighter in the water. Sharkee made phenomenal blackened mahi-mahi for dinner.  

John caught this nice yellowtail on Jerry and Kay's boat.

Our fishing experiences this trip were plentiful and varied. Thanks to our friends for allowing us to share such pleasurable fishing experiences with them.