Anna Maria Island, Part 1

 We had a beautiful family vacation down on Anna Maria Island, just the four of us.  

I like to recap our trips in timeline fashion, because it's one of my favorite things to look back and remember the details of each day.  So here's Part 1.  

We arrived and, after settling in, immediately hit the beach.  Our vacation home was oceanfront on a private beach, so we really had it all to ourselves and it was even more beautiful than I imagined!

After getting cleaned up and getting the kids settled, we popped some bubbly and enjoyed the back porch.  It looked over the most beautifully landscaped backyard and path to the beach.

Our first night we ordered from Pizza Social,  it was SO good.  

We ended our first day with a sunset beach walk, baby monitor and wine glass in hand :)

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The next morning I was up early and ran to the Publix on the island.  Home again, we explored the backyard (coconuts galore!) and got ready for the beach.

This was the most beautiful beach day.  The ocean was still as a lake.

Also, being 2 on vacation is tough.  MB was a trooper but I know the whole trip was disorienting for her.

Perfect for floating...

We had lunch at the house and then went over the bridge to the marina for our Dolphin Cruise.  

We had such an awesome experience with Captain Paul.  We had a family of dolphins surf the wake of the boat for several minutes.  SO incredible!  

Then shell hunting at a sandbar before getting caught in a terrible storm and having to make an emergency exit via a restaurant dock.  Yikes.

Ended Day 2 with Publix fried chicken and sunset in the dunes...

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That's all I've got time for, Part 2 coming soon...

xLaura

Friday Highfive

TGIF...  Here's a highfive for making it to the weekend! Woop!

 {1}

We made our return to the Aquarium this week.  We haven't been since pre-COVID and lil sis was a newborn.  EB has been begging to go so we used her Summer Reading pass and hit it up.

We got there around lunchtime and got to watch the pelicans being fed.

And EB was so brave and fed the stingrays herself!

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{2}

Vacay Mode

We leave for Anna Maria Island next week and can't wait for this view!!!

I've been saving a few outfits for our trip that I'm excited to wear:

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{3}

Have y'all been watching much of the Olympics this year?  I've been sort of lackluster over it, but I think it's tied to the last year and just being...fatigued by the news and the media.  But still so very proud of the USA.

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{4}

I made huevos rancheros for dinner last night and it was so good.  I forgot to slice the avocado on top, bummer, but it was still delish.  It's just a cheese quesadilla topped with black beans, two sunny side up eggs, and salsa/sour cream/avocado.  Yum!

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{5}

That's about it!  I'm taking the kids to Chic Fil A for dinner tonight.  This is how I feel about being able to take them inside again:

Have a great weekend!

xLaura

Tuesday Talk

 We had so much fun down at Folly this weekend.  There was a major heat wave so Thank goodness for that ocean breeze.  There were porch dance parties, beach walks, margaritas, Bert's corn dogs, and finished up with brunch at the Lost Dog.  Let the good times roll...

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Two new (to me) Trader Joes finds:

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My favorite recents reads:

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That's all I've got!

Happy Tuesday,

xLaura