July 30-31: Saturday and Sunday
YAY!!! It’s vacation time! With much anticipation we have been waiting for this vacation for what feels like months! We reserved the house back in May, and we have been dreaming of our two weeks of fun in the sun all summer. This year Kelly and I decided to set our eyes on Anna Maria Island. We love it here and come quite often for the day, she’s never been here, and it is close enough for the husbands to drive back and forth as needed for work. The house we found is Anna’s Cottage – 309 Spring Ave; it is on the north end one block off of the main street Pine Ave and is three blocks to the beach. The house is a three bedroom with a pool and is adorably shabby. Check in time was 3pm, so Saturday morning we packed up and headed out.
Here is Andy’s truck: 6 scooters, 5 bikes, 3 tricycles, 3 fishing poles, 2 wagons, beach toys, chairs, and tackle boxes, 1 bike baby seat, and 1 easy shade. We loaded up the van, Kelly’s SUV, Brian’s Camry and off we went.
The beach house was everything we expected and so much more…. We are all in love with 309 Spring Ave.
I had to include this picture, because when we arrived at the house, a FedEx from work was already there waiting for me. I just found it so funny that work beat me to my vacation…. :O) If you are wondering what it is, I have been having computer issues and needed a new battery for my laptop. After we had unloaded all of our stuff, we sat down to enjoy a nice cold beverage… :O)
It was a little late and still a little warm, so we let the boys swim in the pool out back.
We went for a walk down to the beach so Matty could see the water…. All little Matty has been asking for, for the last two weeks, is to see the beach.
Kelly’s cousin Brook is still in town visiting and she agreed to watch the boys so Andy and I could go out to dinner. While posing for a picture, I guess the boys are so used to the family photo they just snuck in like it was normal and smiled. :O) Love them.
The next morning, we decided to take the boys fishing before it got to hot. We went over to the Anna Maria Pier. At the end of the pier they have a bait shop, but much to our dismay they were out of bait. How does that happen? Especially, on a weekend. We let the boys cast a few times and then we packed it up because we knew that they weren’t going to catch anything.
After naps we picked up our golf cart and went to Scoops for some ice cream.
Aunt Brandie and Uncle Laurence arrived today so we had to go over and see baby Ryla. Their rental house is 3 beach blocks from ours. She just loves Matty bear.
For dinner we all went to the Waterfront Restaurant. 7 children and 7 adults. Afterwards, we went over to the beach to feed the seagulls and watch the sunset.
My favorite house on the island. :O)
Sand Angels…
At 8:30 we drove back to Brandie’s house to drop them off, we hopped back on the golf cart, and it wouldn’t start. So funny… so we left it there and walked back home to put the boys to bed. You can see how tired & wet they are… :O) I love being on vacation.
After baby Layne was born, our original plan for me to go and visit got pushed back so for the last four months I have been dreaming about holding, kissing, and smooching him all over…and that’s when the idea popped into my head to make him a quilt. Although I won’t get to see him much as I would like to over the years, hopefully he will always know that he is loved. After tossing around different quilt pattern ideas, I finally decided on the Chevron pattern. It’s classic, clean, and works well for a little boy quilt. 🙂
Mountains! Beach! or Both!... 