Baby To Go: Baby Travel Blog: More Fun things to do in SW Florida

Its amazing that in two trips to Florida this winter, we were able to entertain our lil one in such a wide variety of ways! There is lots to do down there! For more activities in SW FL, check out my first post, Fun Things to do in SW Florida, that I wrote this past February.

This time around, the weather was warmer and less rainy... so that meant more outdoor activities! Here are some highlights of what we did this past week.

1. Lover's Key Beach

You can drive, or boat to this beach. We took a pontoon from my parent's old folks community (its on the Estero River) and when we arrived, there were lots of boats anchored here. The area where we were dropped off (I believe on the east side of the island) was a beautiful, clean, sandy beach with calm, warm water... although be warned... there were no facilities, shade or concession stands.
We stayed for an hour and I was nervous about being out in the sun that long. However, baby C enjoyed crawling in the sand, playing with his pail, and swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. Originally I dressed him in an old pair of pants, for sand crawling, but he kept going towards the water and it was clear (in his little 12 month old way of pointing and screaming) that he wanted to go swimming. So bathing suit, swim diaper, and in we went. This is a great place for little ones to swim, because it is shallow and calm. And, according to the Morgan Palmer SW Florida forecast, it was 75 degrees in the Gulf. This was by far my favorite day of the trip.

2. Sanibel Island

Our other beach adventure was an afternoon trip to Sanibel Island. It took us about 45 minutes to drive over to this island. When we arrived, we stopped for lunch at Sweet Melissa's Cafe... which was very yummy. And then drove a few minutes (following the signs, its a small island) to the public beach. Here we spent about an hour playing in the sand, digging our feet into the water (the waves were a little rougher here) and chasing birds around. We were at the Tarpon Bay Beach, and again this was a very clean (although very shell-y) beach. But no concessions, just a restroom (sans changing table) in the parking area.
And since no beach day can be complete without ice cream, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home. Baby C loved my dipped cone!

3. Congo River Golf
This mini golf, located at 24280 Tamiami Trail in Bonita Springs, just opened a few weeks ago (they had been building it for about six months). My mom, dad and I decided to try and play on Friday afternoon and I planned to put baby C in the Olives and Applesauce carrier, but as a back pack (we forgot to get pics!). My girlfriend had showed me how, and I practiced at home... I still can't do it by myself, but with an extra hand I can get him on my back and its a great way to carry him. So I backpacked him, started playing, and by the 5th hole, we realized he had fallen asleep! And he didn't wake up until we hit the 17th hole (he napped for about 45 minutes... golf was slow because the course was crowded). And I beat my dad... again! Definitely check out this mini-golf, its a challenging course, all brand new... and I plan to return next year because I also won a round of free golf.

4. Swimming, Playing and Eating

In addition to the above adventures, baby C and I went swimming in the pool two times (thats him in the snap and go with his Baby Spring Float Sun Canopy by Swimways attached to the stroller), we took him to the Estero Community Park to play on the playground, and to crawl around and play at the Miromar Outlets Playspace (after he sat in the stroller while we patiently shopped). And if you happen to be in the SW Florida area, check out Cirella's, a great Italian restaurant that randomly has a location in my hometown of Melville, New York and one in Bonita Springs. In the land of chain restaurants (which you know I love my PF Changs and Cheesecake Factory) its nice to know a local mom and pop place... that is also super kid friendly!