Daniel & Annabel's Adventures: Double the Vacation Fun!!

Make that TRIPLE the fun...we had an amazing two week vacation to the beach AND on a Disney Cruise, AND Disney World squeezed in, too!!

It was an amazing way to end our summer, really. We spent all summer looking forward to this massive double vacation. And we consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have been able to do this, too. The only downside- we had to wait all summer to have this fun. And then when we got back- bam, back to school. But, worth it! So worth it!

Packing for this trip was...interesting. I was just really glad we were driving. We had bins/suitcases for the beach and separate ones for the cruise, because there were things we needed in one place that we didn't need in the other. Anything else was for both. Talk about mind boggling. I just about went crazy thinking like this. At least we knew it would all be with one weather type- HOT. July in Florida is not for the faint of heart. There's one temperature- HOT. But oh my goodness we could NOT wait to get to the beach.

First up- our week on the beach on Anna Maria Island! Disney will be another post. :)

Our family stayed in the same unit we've always stayed in on Anna Maria Island. We don't own it, but it sure feels like coming home every time. Love it there! We drove, which helped with the packing immensely. AND even better- my sister and her family and my mom were ALSO there with us! Actually, it's more accurate to say WE were with THEM, since Christina is the one who wanted to go and invited us to join them. They stayed in a house rental a couple blocks from us. We booked all this a LONG time ago and Annabel immediately started a countdown to this trip on her phone. Hannah, every time I visited them, would say "We're going to the BEACH!" with the cutest little jump and pump of her arms. She was pretty excited, too.

Ohhhh it was just the best week. I truly love the beach. Being there with toddler energy and my big kids was awesome. We played in the sand, we swam (a LOT- did I mention it was HOT?!), we played games and laughed SO much, we read, we walked, we had ice cream every single night (sometimes, twice in a day!), we watched sunsets... it was just a week of bliss.

My phone died (like dead dead) midway through the trip and while I was extremely irritated and mad and sulky and felt "left out" and isolated, I actually spent a good couple days really watching the waves, the clouds, looking for shells, just soaking it all in. Our rental was a sizable expense this year and I consider myself SO lucky I have a husband who knows my need to get out of town once in a while and knows how much I treasure this place on Earth and doesn't say no when I want to join my sister and mom, so I kept trying to memorize the place harder, in case we never make it back. I can't even think about it lest I start crying, but anyway, all this to say, I was in a very contemplative mood, thinking about how every single second things are changing, there is constant movement, nothing is ever the same again, the world has so much impermanence. We are breathing, we are alive. All that stuff. I'll remember these thoughts forever. And it's because I was at the beach, living screen free in the truest sense, watching the waves crash to shore and pull out again without end forever, that I could think these thoughts. Just- cherish life, embrace the changes, soak up the now.

We had some gorgeous sunsets I'll always remember, too. We had some amazing blue skies. All the blues in the world are here at the beach. Blue is my favorite color. And we had lots of shells- so many shells. Sand dollars, too! Turtle nests. Castles. Sand between my toes. We had rain- we raced the storms, we watched the storms, we never mind them too much.

Anyway, good week. A week to remember. Like all weeks here at this beach. I can remember them all quite well, it's kind of incredible. Says a lot about this wonderful spot of ours, this wonderful family of mine. Forever glad we went and that my sister invited us to join them.

I'll share more as the pictures come. Enjoy this little travel story of ours.

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We took two days to drive down and quite literally raced the sunset the second day- I LOVE to be on the beach for sunset the VERY first day we arrive, it's just a lovely welcome to the beach for me. We didn't quite make the beach for sunset, but we were crossing the bridge to the island and this was my view. Incredible. I'll take it. (Groceries before the island is a must- bigger store and all- it's so fun to "know" these things each time we make the trip down.)

Welcome Home!!! We don't own it, but it sure feels like our home. I only wish we could come more often.

We unloaded the car and then made our first ice cream run! Delicious!

This path. This right here. The anticipation of seeing the water. Being on the sand. Gives me the chills.

LOOK!! It's the beach!! So happy to be here!

I took the kids down for a morning walk our first morning there. So nice!

Turtle nests! Love these markers.

Our home away from home.

Christina's house was just a couple blocks away. And they rented a van after flying down. Trying out the van life, haha. Anyway, it was so nice to be so close.

We would go to each other's houses to hang out, to play, to swim, to eat, they came to ours for beach access. And so on. And then we had our own spaces at the end of the day.

Our rental unit had a number of tubes and floats to use, we used the wagon to haul stuff to the beach, and so on. We also these incredible reusable "water balloons" that the kids LOVED! Hannah was especially tickled with these. These things are genius. They open in the middle, have a good magnet to seal them up, you fill them up, throw them, and when they hit, they break open and splash water all over- like a water balloon but then you just open them, refill, and repeat. Quite literally awesome endless entertainment!

Sunset walk...well, barely a sunset on this occasion, but still a nice little stroll down to the beach. We looked to the left and oh man look at that storm rolling in. We didn't stay too long.

Play time at the beach the next morning! With Graham taking morning naps, getting us all together for morning beach time was sometimes challenging- we just had to make advance plans and say hey let's be up and out the door and at the beach at this time. Snacks and water helped us all last longer, too. In the end, we had a good mix of pool time at our place, pool time at Christina's place, and beach time- we made it work. It was all so much fun.

Christina's house had an incredible pool area! So much greenery and a nice amount of shade. It was so peaceful and all theirs. We loved it there!

We spotted a rainbow!! So fun!

On this occasion, we all got ice cream together! Hannah really enjoyed her ice cream!

Graham enjoyed his ice cream tastes so much that he was big mad when it was all gone!!!

You can see Daniel playing with Hannah- she thought it was so funny that Daniel would put his feet up and then she'd get him to let her through. Again and again.

One of my favorite sunset nights. Just wait until you see the sunset pictures!!

I love this sweet picture.

Cute family!!!

This next one of my sister and her daughter is one of my all time favorites!

Look how pretty!!!

Ready for another day on the beach!

Jason takes really cool pictures! Wow!

Sweet picture of these two playing.

Annabel and Daddy are out on the water with their pool noodles, having fun out there.

Another all time favorite- love the hat on Hannah!

Daniel was SO sweet with Hannah! Playing and building and going along with her plans. She was nervous about being buried in the sand- we had talked about it before this beach day- but he did it too and then he slowly and gently covered her up when she decided she was ready, and then she worked herself up wanting to buried to her waist. She was so brave and did a great job- it was SO cute. Daniel was so patient with her. They then turned themselves into a car! Complete with buckets for wheels and a steering wheel! So fun!

Ben and Annabel really enjoyed lots of time out in the water. I love this for them.

Back at Christina's house- pool time before dinner. (This was right about when my phone flat out died. Wahhh!! All pictures from here on are from Ben's phone or other shared pictures.) Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bob were here to visit this day, too. They came in the afternoon, after our morning beach time and lunch. They were here for dinner and then stayed for games. We laughed SO much that night! We had the best time playing LONG into the night!

I love this sweet picture of Annabel and Graham.

Thursday's main goal- getting into town to paint sand dollar ornaments! My sister found this activity online and I knew we had to do it! We all had SO much fun painting sand dollars. Annabel made a pretty blue design. I painted a sunset. Hannah had fun with all the colors. My sister, the talented artist among us, painted an adorable seagull. It really was a fun activity and a great way to spend part of an afternoon. We picked them up later when they were dry- the shop had strung them up with pretty ribbon and wrapped them nicely for getting home. Our family were immediately the caretakers of them all, since we drove and we could protect them nicely in our car (better than on a plane).

This is Christina's- look how cute!

Sand dollars by Hannah, Allison, and Jason.

Annabel's adorable sand dollar!

Grandma Cheryl's pretty sand dollar.

Ben and Daniel took the time to wander around town while the rest of us painted. They had a good time, though it was really hot! I love all of Daniel's photo ops!

Dinner that night was at Christina's house. We tried to switch off for meals so the "hosting" was balanced and it worked out great. It was nice to have a change of pace and be at different places.

Back to our beach for the sunset!

So begins our last day...

Funny side story...we had things delivered by Amazon several times on our trip! Thank goodness for Amazon two day or same day shipping, eh? I had to laugh every time, but hey, when you need something, you need something. Our purchases- a new bag for my mom (hers fell apart), this tent (pictured next), a new phone for me (twice, because they sent the wrong one the first time, grrr!), and a few other things. Anyway, it was just a funny side note from this trip that Amazon rescued us multiple times!

Another side note: These tents were ALL over the beach this trip. We'd never seen so many like this previously. Lots of people rented them for the day (you pay, they set it up for you) or you could see people had brought their own. Anyway, with it so hot, we decided it might not be a bad idea to get one. It was not the easiest to get set up, nor did it give us a great amount of shade the way we did it, but it was fun enough to try out. I suspect if we'd practiced more we'd have nailed it by the end of the week. As it was, we only had it this last day. Still, fun!

Afternoon pool time, one last time. Cute story I just remembered- Hannah kept asking to go to Annabel's pool. She liked the steps we had, and I don't know, it's just different going to another pool sometimes. Anyway, I loved this. So cute!

And gosh I'll miss this pool- it's a really nice pool.