Day 2 of 3 Days at South Seas Resort.
See gorgeous Day 1 here
The next day after our arrival,packed with more experiences, was no less full and exciting. After a nice relaxed breakfast buffet at the marina with gorgeous views of gleaming white cottages and blooming bougainvillea, we set off for the beach. What gorgeous beaches Captiva has!
Note Lexi’s Peter Pan Dress by Right Banks Babies. Such perfect colors for a tropical paradise, those patterns are just amazing.
It’s technically supposed to be a dress, but given that Lexi is really tall, it worked as a top for us 🙂
You would think that we would be used to teal waters and soft sand, but every time I get to spend a chance at the beach, I thank myself for making the move to Florida. There is nothing quite as beautiful to me as swaying palms and quiet turquoise waters of the gulf. I wonder if Lexi will be appreciative of living in Florida, or whether it will be almost a given, because she was born and grew up here.
While I played with Lexster, Andrew got sent for a spa treatment at the nearby spa. The Kay Casperson spa at South Seas is located in a shopping center across the street, beyond the gates of the South Seas Resort, so he took the golf cart with him and we stayed at the beach waiting for his return.
This was about the time where Lexi was started to get bothered by the sand ( in general), so I set off to show her how much fun play in the sand can be and how getting messy was ok. Up until recently she was perfectly fine getting dirty, but then something changed and suddenly anything on her hands or wet clothes bothered her. So we rolled in the sand, laughed, got dirty, made sand angels and just had fun swimming and enjoying the weather.
Soon daddy came back, looking like a noodle who just got put through a stomping. I had told him to get something unique when it came to treatments, but of course in the best traditions of meat and potato men, he went with a standard deep tissue massage that was “incredible‘ (his words).
I was a little bit jealous, but I knew my time will come soon. “My time” was a wave running tour that I wouldn’t trade for any massage ( though I certainly needed one after my body was put through such a physical experience).
We got some ice cream which Lexi was so excited for. At that time she wasn’t getting many sweets, so an ice cream cone was a big treat, as you can see by her body language.
It was about 4 pm and Lexi was starting to crash: the combination of sun, water and a long day. We went back to our comfortable suite and, while she slept, I worked on the computer for a bit. One of the things about vacations that I love most is getting back to a cool air conditioned room, putting Lexi to sleep and relaxing for two hours doing some work for Daily Mom or the blog. It feels so relaxing – no pressure, just enjoying the quiet time. I would love my life to be just a series of vacations with work in between. Maybe it will be one day.
Once Lexi was up, we asked her what she wanted to do. “Go to beach!”, she said excitedly. And so we went. This time instead of taking the golf cart, we decided to go to the nearest beach, only a walk away from our cottage. It had a beautiful boardwalk lined by mangrove type trees that we ran back and forth on.
After shooting some items for Daily Mom posts, we just relaxed and went swimming. Soon it was time for me to embark on my own adventure: A 90 MINUTE SUNSET JET SKI TOUR organized by Sunny Island Watersports.
Let me tell you “I LOVE JET SKIS“! I used to take every opportunity to ride those before Lexi. However it’d been almost four years since I had a chance to enjoy one, so I was PSYCHED!
It wasn’t as easy as I remembered it. The waters were so rough and the tour guides didn’t cut me any slack. I had to keep up with the tour boys and that meant going at 40-50 miles an hour (miles or knots? not sure what the screen was showing) on rough water. 90 minutes of constant bouncing, white knuckling and just trying to not get thrown off the jet ski while the waves throw you around is not for the faintest of heart, I have to tell you. We got just a few breaks but when we were done, I could barely open my fists.
The ride was beautiful despite the challenges, we rode all around the nearby island, the sunset was gorgeous, I managed to take some pictures with my cell phone ( waterproof camera next time, please). This was definitely an experience I will never forget.
The next morning, it was Andrew’s turn to challenge his physical skills as he took off on a paddle boarding tour in the rough waters. Early in the morning, at 8 am, he got on a board for the first time in his life and stayed there for 90 minutes. We slept in but when he returned, he was glowing. See, my husband isn’t an adventurous type. Maybe he is a bit more spontaneous and fun now, after 11 years of being under my influence, but it’s still difficult to get him to go do anything fun, especially on his own 🙂 This time we super super excited to go and even more excited when he came back. Mirroring my words about jet skis, he said it was one of the best experiences he has had.
And that was the end of the evening. After grabbing a bite to eat, once again we arrived at our room, exhausted from a day filled with adventures.
Once again, thanks to South Seas for hosting my family and offering such great experience.