This is one of my favorite pictures I took! These cousins are all so special and bring such a fun and different personality to the group. I hope they stay best friends forever!
^these two! oh they make my heart just melt!
^These pictures are the best you can do with 10 wiggly littles! Especially since the oldest is 9 and the youngest is 2! Grandma loves her littles! (and they really LOVE her)
^The only family picture I got the whole trip! I really love the west coast beaches, I mean look how beautiful the water is!
^These sweet girls are always on the move!
Summer time brings many adventures but the one that these kids look forward to the most is the Annual Cousin Trip! Every summer we (the moms and grandma) plan a short staycation with these 10 crazies. Last year we surprised them the last day of school and went to Universal Studios. The kids were so excited and surprised to see each other at the hotel. However, this year everyone decided to head to the Florida west coast (where the beaches/ocean are much prettier). We had the best time trying out several of the local beaches. The first day we drove down to Siesta Key Beach. The next day was Manasota Beach. And the last day we went to Longboat Key and the Glazer Children’s Museum. This trip was actually really easy despite how much driving around we did. I’m not sure if its because the kids are all getting older, or the fact that we are getting better dealing with the controlled chaos that seems to follow us!;) Here’s a breakdown of our trip…
Day 1: Siesta Key Beach- This beach is beautiful and really worth the drive. It would be a perfect day trip from Orlando. It has a really nice facility to with showers, a small restaurant, and playground. Parking is free so I would plan to get there early. The water is really clear and perfect for the littles to snorkel, however, there wasn’t much to see, but my nephew did find starfish! About a mile down the road was the most delicious ice cream shop. After all every good beach day ends with a nice cold treat!
We stayed at the Hyatt Regency is Sarasota and really enjoyed it. The hotel is on a marina and has free fishing, paddle boarding, and kayaking. The kids loved the fishing, and the staff was so patient with all of our knotted fishing lines.;) The Hyatt was the perfect location if you are wanting to beach hop like we did, it had such a central location that allows you to explore.
Day 2: Manasota Beach- We found this beach kinda by chance thanks to the fishing staff at the hotel. We had originally planned on heading to Venice Beach to look for shark teeth but after the recommendation we opted to try this out instead. This beach was about 45 minutes from the hotel and was way worth it! Its not as postcard worthy as Siesta Key but it was definitely cooler! Our kids found so many shark teeth! I think we each brought home about 40 teeth! (Some of the locals assured us that the teeth we were finding were old so not to worry about sharks, but it was still kinda scary to go out deep!) This activity of combing for teeth, kept the kids busy for hours, I think they would’ve stayed all day if we would’ve let them. After we lost a giant duck float, that had to be rescued by the lifeguard ( yes, it really happened!) and became the side show at the beach( I mean it was hilarious! Everyone was taking video and pics of the lifeguard towing in this giant duck float. The beach crowd even cheered when it came back to the shore! I promise its always an adventure with us!) we decided to pack up and head for some ice cream. I can’t wait to get back to this beach, and search for more teeth!
Day 3- Longboat Key and Glazer Childrens Museum. We had high hopes of finding some big beautiful seashells but, instead found nothing but a bare beach. The kids were kinda disappointed so we just headed out to the museum. I really enjoy taking my littles to any children’s museum. We have been to many but really like this one. There are so many areas for the littles to explore and have fun. After the museum we let them play in the splash park outside the museum and then they played at the park and enjoyed a popsicle before heading home. If I had planned the day out better I think I would do the park first (so its not blazing HOT!) and then go into the museum, and end with popsicles and the splash park. It was such a great day and the cousins ended the trip on a high note.
And that wraps up our Cousin Trip 2016! It was a busy beach trip but lots of good memories made and lots of laughs were had. If you are looking for a cool staycation this summer, Sarasota is a great place to go. Now I need a mom’s trip to rest up from this trip! Ha! 😉
xo-Rhea
Read More...
Leave a Comment