Florida 2017- Part Five

 Well, I think I've stretched out these vacation pictures long enough.

So here are some random selfies, beach pictures, etc...

 

 We spent our last day in Sarasota where wouldn't you know, we found another.......

 We had a nighttime flight so the kids wore their pajamas home!

AMI

 You have our..............

Florida 2017- Part Four

Delaney doing a headstand in the pool. The kids loved swimming at night (until we made them get out so the adults could play Cards Against Humanity). We played the entire box!

Why is that game so inappropriately funny???

 

 A quick break for an ice cream sundae!

We had a sundae bar each night "for the kids"

 Delaney and I went for our pre-vacation mani/pedi and she was (for some reason), telling the guy doing her nails "we rented this hideous, I mean hideous, van for our trip".

As you can see, it was pretty hideous! It was quickly named "the storm trooper".

It had 40 miles on it when we picked it up at the airport and not many more than that when we returned it! It pretty much sat in the driveway all week.

 Just another poolside sundae...."for the kids of course".

 Oh hello, gorgeous water!! I can't get enough....

One of my favorite memories of the week was when we were in the ocean and Delaney said "mommy, I think I see Pumps" (Our favorite cast member of Sweet Home Oklahoma). #proudmom

 I spent the entire week slathering sunscreen on Delaney so she wouldn't get burnt!

This makes me think of the saying "Beach Hair, Don't Care"

(Actually, I do care, I just didn't have room to pack a hair dryer, flat iron, curling iron, etc.)

Those things just aren't vacation priorities to me like the ridiculous amount of flip flops I was just sure I'd wear (And yes, my suitcase was over the weight limit again....)

 Remember that dress I got at Chandelier Barn Market?????? Totally worth going up to a complete stranger and asking her where she got it.....

Florida 2017- Part Three

We took the kids to the cutest shop that has an area for kids to paint sand dollars.

 Delaney's was approximately 10 different colors before I told her to pick ONE!!

 When I sent this picture to friends and family back home, the general consensus was she looked so old :-( 

 And as luck would have it, we found a Lilly Pulitzer store where Delaney walked in and said "I need to get some things for my baby doll". I bet the store clerk is still laughing over that ridiculous statement!

 One of the guys found this bike with her name on it!

We didn't rent it but of course made the girls hop on for a picture.

 I was sitting out by the pool on a lounger when I looked up and took this! You can probably guess, I did NOT take this spiral staircase to the rooftop deck.

 Our trip was like a Yeti fest! Everyone had them and those who didn't, got one! I was so glad we got these decals before we left #etsy

 On the morning we didn't have cinnamon rolls as big as our head, we took the kids to this donut store where they make them to order! Delaney got one with strawberry icing and crushed Oreo!!

#itwasforthekids

Florida 2017-Part Two

After a nutritious breakfast of cinnamon rolls as big as your head

(that is a large size container, not sandwich)

 We headed to the beach! This picture has no filter. This water is as close as I've seen to the Caribbean. I said I wasn't sure if I liked how clear it was or if I would rather not be able to see what's swimming around me! The water was about 90 degrees. I have gone to the ocean before and not gotten in #truth, but not in AMI.

The ocean was pure perfection! 

Like her :-)

 

 

 There's that water again!!

 We couldn't believe how close these boats are allowed to get to the shore. We made sure to sit right by them so we could hear their music!

 #mylife

 Is there a better way to end the day???

Florida 2017--Part One

We spent last week with some of our favorite people in what is now one of our favorite new beach towns!!!

I'm not sure how we went to south Florida where it was in the mid 80's all week and missed all of the 90 degree weather back home but I was thrilled!!

If you haven't been to Anna Maria Island, add it to your destination list NOW.

It is a laid back "old Florida town".

I woke up Delaney and we headed to the airport for our "early for us" flight (10:20 a.m.) and 2 hours later we were in Florida!! Is it just us who sits on a plane and talks about our next vacation before we've even arrived???? Delaney votes for Vegas or Hawaii (#thegirldreamsbig) while those of us who pay for vacation vote for Vail or the Outer Banks! Stay tuned on what "we" decide......but I may have already been checking out vacation rentals on Gore Creek!!!

But back to AMI.....

AMI is a 7 mile island less than an hour from Tampa. I think I saw one stop light, absolutely no drive-thru fast food restaurants and ZERO resorts! You rent a beach house, or you stay in a one or two story hotel/motel or cottage. You can drive down Gulf Shore Blvd. (I think) and look to your left and right and see water. Your ocean view as you drive isn't blocked by tall high rise resorts. They aren't allowed. The town pretty much shuts down at 10:00 p.m. Restaurants close at 8:00 or 9:00 and the liquor store even closed at 10:00 (#planahead #drinkearly). Everyone gets around on golf carts. Our group of 12 had 2 bicycles, 2 golf carts and 2 rental cars (although 1 of them was more like a bus). More on that later......

It's one of those destinations where people say they've never heard of it, or they say "I have heard great things about AMI"....

Our week went like this:

1. Beach

2. Dinner

3. Pool

4. REPEAT

(and 3 nights we threw in Big Brother :-)

Once we got settled in ("settle" doesn't seem like the right word for our amazing beach house though). It fit our group perfectly with 5 bedrooms and 7 bathrooms. The adults all had our own bedrooms/bathrooms and the kids had their own space/bathrooms.

(This is about half of our stuff, apparently we thought we were staying a month)

Our beach house was amazing!!!

After we threw down all of those suitcases, we decided to hop on the golf carts (Florida style---suits and cover ups) and go grab dinner.

We ordered Delaney a small cheese pizza.....and this came out!

I told the waitress it was suppose to be a small and she said "this is the small"

Please note, Delaney ate HALF of the pizza #whocaresitsvacation

Then it was back to the house to let the kids swim. One of the adults said going down the slide was her favorite memory from the trip. The slide did NOT disappoint!!!

We couldn't believe there weren't any pool toys for the kids to play with :-)

Stay tuned for more of our amazing vacation tomorrow!!