I'm a couple months behind in posting this. Hopefully I can back date the post to June
Our family hasn't taken many vacations over the last 25 year. And of the few we have taken, all of them have consisted of staying with family or friends and always dictated by a soccer trip either before or after the vacation. This time...we took a real vacation, planned months before and dates carefully picked so everyone could take time off work and Reagan had NO conflicts with Husker soccer or school. Chris and I worked extra hours and sold stuff from the basement to pay cash for this trip to Florida with our family of 6.
Bad luck hit when Reagan tore her ACL during a spring game in Colorado in late April. She made the decision to travel with her team to Iceland (duh...trip of a lifetime) in May and then have surgery June 1st (3 days before our flights). I may have cried several times. Thankfully I was able to be with Reagan on surgery day and spend the night the next several nights before jumping on the plane on June 4th. But I really missed her in Florida.
We stayed in a wonderful VRBO owned by someone in Nebraska. The master plan community was perfect until we realized there were no coffee shops within a 30 min drive. WHAT? How is that possible? We had a great pool, golf cart and enough space for everyone in the family.
ME & MY GUY!
I could have spent many more hours/days at the beach
This trip taught me that I am more of an ocean-beach girl than the rest of the Raabe clan
The family at the ocean
Joe's first time at the ocean
Fort Meyers Airport is small enough that this is how we deplaned
Gotta take a selfie
We had the chance to catch up with a couple Nebraska friends who now live in the Fort Myers, FL area. Emma and Sierra graduated HS together. Sierra has a super cute apartment with a great view. She's living her best life.
Chris, Joe and I took a hike and got caught in an absolute downpour about half a mile from the car. After looking for wildlife the entire hike, as we jogged back to the car Joe nearly stepped on a HUGE yellow snake. He tried to warn us but it was raining so hard we couldn't hear him yelling at us.
Who doesn't love this?
Take me back to the beach
One of our favorite parts of the trip was this "SwampTour" down the Peace River on an incredibly LOUD airboat. We saw a gator nest and some gators along the way and then suddenly we turned around to get a closer view of this bad boy...about eight and half feet long.
Our last day we spent some time with Jim and Lindsey Heck and the 3 girls.
Nebraska transplants...oh how I miss them!!
The Heck household has a cute puppy, a snake, and several reptiles.
Liv loves snakes
The eye of Hurricane Ian hit Fort Myers, FL in September 2022, nine months later there were still many signs of the devastation Ian dished out. This picture is a boat graveyard outside of a restaurant.
Not sure when we will take another vacation but I have started a travel envelope.
Lots of big things coming up in the Raabe family...
Baby Willow - October
College Graduation - December
High School Graduation - May
When will we find time to travel???
