Wednesday - January 4

 We had a very busy day starting with Connor and Anne going to the pool for an early-morning swim (Anne walked).   Breakfast at Buckingham Farms; then to the 10:30 Eco tour at Babcock Ranch.   We boarded the camouflage buggy with 3 other folks from upstate NY.    Roger was our tour guide and excellent.

 

The boys walking into the eco tour area

Connor - Anne - Liam

The buggy

Wild hogs

The 4 piglets 2 weeks old

Sandhill crane

Little Bambi's

Roger and Chomper (2 1/2 years old)

Liam petting Chomper

Pretty drive thru the swamp

Anhinga bird

Several of these "green" tires were on the grounds for the holiday season

This is such a fun and educational tour - Mark and I had not been on it in 3 years but always learn something new.     Anne and the boys really enjoyed the 90-minute tour.

 Drove around Babcock Ranch to see all the homes, schools, shops, restaurants, etc.    

Stopped at Sun Harvest for fresh squeezed juice (strawberry/orange and grapefruit) and enjoyed all the samples.    We had some ice cream (their chocolate/key lime twist is sooo yummy).   

Fun place for yummy treats

 Next stop was very sobering as we drove to Fort Myers Beach and all along Estero Boulevard - oh my, seeing up close and personal and over 3 months since hurricane Ian hit was absolutely incredible to see all the devastation and clean up yet to do.    Very heartbreaking seeing familiar landmarks, restaurants, etc., all gone or still a pile of rubble.

Our final stop was the Miramar Outlet Mall - the boys had good luck buying some golf shirts, I got a shirt at Chico's and just fun browsing and walking around on this very pretty day.

Got back to Flo at 4:15.....the boys took off on our bikes to play pool in the clubhouse.

Liam and Connor went to the Hertz Arena tonight to watch the Florida Everblades play against the Greenville (SC) Swampy Rabbits (hockey).

We got an e-mail from the Red Cross today thanking us for our help during the hurricane recovery but all services have now been suspended.