Anna Maria Island

We decided to switch things up this year for our summer vacation since we did Marco Island over spring break and found this cute little island near Tampa called Anna Maria Island.  It was such a fun vacation due in part to a combination of things.  It was great to explore a new place and new restaurants, the house we stayed in was amazing and close to the beach, the kids are at a fun ages where they are more independent, we had great weather, and the island was so laid back and family friendly.  It is definitely a place we would like to return to in the future and a vacation that will go in the books as one of our best yet!

My seat buddy on the trip down.  The kids did great on the plane and it was the first time I didn't need to pack the entire world to keep them entertained.  They were happy enough with the iPad and some crayons.

After flying into Tampa it is about an hour drive onto the island so the kids napped in the car.

The house we stayed in was the blue one on the left.  It is called Seahorse Cottage and was fantastic and only a couple of blocks to the beach!!

The backyard where we spend all of our afternoons swimming and eating lunch.  Up the stairs there is a landing with a table, grill and T.V.  

The main floor had a half bath and one big room that consisted of a family room and kitchen.  The big doors on the right of this picture led you out to the deck and pool.

Another view of the main floor into the kitchen.

It was a multilevel split upstairs.  So you walked up a couple of stairs to our bedroom and full bath and then another few stairs to the kids' bedrooms and bathrooms and a laundry room.  It was more than enough space but we were super comfortable.

Nolan's room.

Quinn's room.  She didn't like that beach ball painting the first night but quickly got over it and started referring to it as the "cute ball" and would randomly go up to her room to look at the "cute ball."

All 3 of the bathrooms looked like some version of this one.  Loved this place!

After unpacking and running to the grocery store to get set up for the week we walked over to the beach to check things out.  The beach was so nice!  Soft sand, clear water, and no high rises to be seen.

Our first full day of vacation was Father's Day.  I had rented Eric a boat for the day so we first headed over to a huge sandbar (it's in the background of this picture) to let the kids walk around in the middle of the ocean.  Nolan flipped out at first because he saw a crab but eventually enjoyed it.  It was pretty neat and a lot of boats anchored up to it.

After the sandbar we drove the boat over to a little beach to let the kids dig in the sand and then headed to a little lunch spot called Mar Vista.  After lunch we drove the boat around a little more and called it a day.  We were off to a good start!

We had dinner that night at a place called the Sandbar, let the kids run around for a little bit in the sand after dinner and then headed back to our place.

Waiting for the trolley.  The island has a free trolley system that takes you to where you need to be.  The kids loved the trolley and it was nice not to have to use the car once on the island.

After we got the kids to bed that night Eric and I sat outside and watched the Cavs when the Finals.  It was an exciting game and was fun to be able to sit outside and drink a glass of wine while watching it as well!

Our days consisted of a lot of this.  Beach for most of the morning and then back to the pool for lunch and a swim before nap time.  

Night two we got dressed and took the trolley to the northernmost part of the island to check out the scene and a restaurant called The Waterfront.  It was a nice part of the island and dinner was good expect poor Nolan got food poisoning from his grouper and ended up vomiting throughout the middle of the night and most of the next morning.

We walked the pier after dinner.

Quinn (of course) has to give you a million different weird faces before actually smiling nicely for the camera.

It's worth all the silliness to get a good one though!

More weirdo Quinn.  Poor Nolan is almost always on point when it comes to taking pictures.

This picture makes me laugh.  Quinn started having this beauty queen session on the dock and Nolan just looked at her like she was crazy.

Riding the trolley home.

The morning after all the vomiting.  Poor kid carried this pot around with him all day.  He was content to sit in a lounger in the shade by the pool while everyone else swam so you knew he wasn't feeling well.  He took a 4 hour nap that afternoon and woke up feeling like a new man.  We laid low that night, ordered pizza to the house, and swam all night.  He was back to 100% by the next day.

Had to snap this picture of Quinn.  Potty training her has been difficult (to say the least).  She refused to use the bathroom without being able to watch the iPad as well so it's like she had her own little private office in there all week.  I'm happy to say that this is a habit she has broken since we have returned home!

Mom and baby pedicures.

The kids found a lizard creeping around the deck and named him "hot chocolate."  The lizard slithered into the crack at the bottom of the door and wouldn't come out.  They got a kick out of watching him in there.  Every lizard we saw after that was of course hot chocolate following us around.

On our way to the Rod and Reel restaurant.  It was a long, hot walk but probably our best dinner of the week.  Such a hole in the wall at the end of a really long pier but good food and the kids loved watching all the fisherman while we waited for our table.  Two guys even pulled in a huge sting ray on the beach!

That's the restaurant at the end after dinner.  It was a pretty night.

More beach.

Ready to go out to dinner on our second to last night.

The Monkey Bus.  This thing was awesome.  It's basically a taxi service but with golf carts and it's free expect for the tip.  They pick you up and drop you off where you want to be.  We loved the Monkey Bus.  

Kid loves noodles.

On our final day we decided to do our usual beach, then pool during the day and then head back to the beach with some food packed instead of going out to dinner.  It was the best decision.  The kids loved digging in the sand one more time and there was a beautiful sunset.

Nolan and Eric's hammerhead shark.

The kids made some friends from Georgia the last couple of days on the beach.  The extra kid sitting on the shark is Lad and he and Nolan had so much fun together.  When they said goodbye that night Nolan said, "hey, text me!"  Haha, on what?!

Beach bum #1

Beach bum #2

It really was an incredible vacation and one that will be hard to beat.