Anna Maria Island

If you are a regular visitor to my little blog here,(and I hope you are!) then you've probably noticed things have been a little quiet around here this past week. The reason for this terrible crime was that I was away on vacation :) Blue skies, white sand, tanned skin, and sand castle building... it all screams the words beach vacation!! 

My family from the UK came to visit this past week, and we had an absolute blast. We all shed a tear when it was time to hug them goodbye at the close of our epic beach week.

But we definitely had some adventures while they were here... To start, we as a family were interviewed by the local TV station (see the article HERE)where they interviewed my Aunt Rachel and then in the video that the news cameras shot is where my cousins, brother, and I were featured (the video is coming soon!). While we weren't being followed by paparazzi, (ha just kidding) we visited a bunch of mom-and-pop sort of places, including a made-to-order donut, and homemade ice cream shop(yum)! 

The neat thing about Anna Maria Island is how different it is from other beach towns.  There are no modern skyscrapers to be seen or one chain restaurant anywhere to be found (I literally didn't see one McDonald's throughout the whole week, and they didn't even have a Starbucks on the island *GASP*). The Island was a breath of fresh air compared to other grungy beach towns I've visited. I can't wait to go back one day and dip my toes into the warm Anna Maria waters.    



The City Pier Beach

My dad, photographed by me, I thought the angle was cool with his sandy feet and relaxed posed on Holmes beach...

The City Pier

My Step Mom, little brother Connor, and I posing with our spectacular sea shell sand castle

Connor cheesin' for the camera! 

The one negative about the island was the mounds and mounds of yucky seaweed, every beach you walked along you could feel the plant crunch beneath your foot, there wasn't really any way to avoid it.

The whole family dining at the Bridge Street Bistro, most of us got the Seafood Risotto which had shrimp, lobster, mussels, and scallops. YUM!

The result of me getting fancy with my camera...

 

Crazy hair day to the max.

 Mr. Crab {as you can tell I was weirdly excited about our catch}

This mixture of broken down shells and sand, lined every beach we came across, it was pretty and different from what we usually see on our east coast beaches.

The whole family minus my dad, the photographer, all dressed up and waiting for our named to be called at The Waterfront Restaurant.

Just another amazing view of the white sand beaches.

My Aunt Rachel, and my Cousins Ewan and Andrew walking along City Pier Beach at dusk.