Monday, December 03, 2012
Anna Maria Island
We were taken out of school for one whole week to go on a vacation to Florida with some great friends! The place is called Anna Maria Island and is just over an hour away from Tampa. We rented a car from the airport like we have many times before and drove to this beautiful little island where the Salty Dog awaited our arrival. The island is accessible via this long stretch of road and bridge that feels like we are driving on water. My brother and I were very excited to meet our friends. C and E are about our age so we were really looking forward to playing with them. Our rented vacation home was very large and had plenty of room for us to bunk, play and eat. We could see the beach just outside the windows and it was no more than about 5 minutes away...however, it would take us kids about 20 minutes to get there! We just loved picking up shells and rocks and just playing with each other during our walks that it took us a bit longer than necessary to get around. All the adults were fairly patient with us. The beach area nearest to us was very windy and narrow so we didn't play there much, but boy did we find the mother load of sea shells this side of the ocean! SHELLS SHELLS and more SHELLS! That was the theme of the whole trip for us kids. We just LOVED collecting them and comparing them. We came across what looked from afar like a sand dune, when in reality, upon our delightful discovery, was a colossal mound of small seashells!
Our days were filled with visiting local beaches...at which we, yes you guess it, collected lots of sea shells! Sometimes we drove to the beach and other times we took the free trolley. We loved riding it actually and my brother says it was one of his favourite things. Two of the days we also went to this amazing park called Busch Gardens. A predominant theme at the park took us by surprise...Christmas! I guess we were just not mentally prepared to combine sun, warmth, palm trees, sand, shells and, umm, snow!?, Santa, skating, decorations, and carols....but it was very nice once we got used to it.
FOOD...the Mommies and Daddies kept saying how awesome the food was. We went out to eat often and I do admit the food was very good. Though all was great, Ba Ba mentioned he really enjoyed the grouper tacos and sea scallops and the fresh oysters and these two desserts we had.
Fishing! My uncle suggested we do some fishing and rented us some rods and bought shrimp for bait. It was our first time ever and I'm very happy to say I CAUGHT A FISH! Ba Ba was the first to catch a fish and he was on a roll, then my uncle caught one and then Ba Ba handed me the rod and his luck and gave me a few important instructions and before you could say "Anna Maria grouper tacos", I caught myself some dinner!
Well, what can I say more. We really enjoyed our time with our friends and wish we can one day do it all again. On our last day we drew pictures for one another and gave it to each other. I miss my friends but happy that we were able to spend a week together at this fun place.
Our days were filled with visiting local beaches...at which we, yes you guess it, collected lots of sea shells! Sometimes we drove to the beach and other times we took the free trolley. We loved riding it actually and my brother says it was one of his favourite things. Two of the days we also went to this amazing park called Busch Gardens. A predominant theme at the park took us by surprise...Christmas! I guess we were just not mentally prepared to combine sun, warmth, palm trees, sand, shells and, umm, snow!?, Santa, skating, decorations, and carols....but it was very nice once we got used to it.
FOOD...the Mommies and Daddies kept saying how awesome the food was. We went out to eat often and I do admit the food was very good. Though all was great, Ba Ba mentioned he really enjoyed the grouper tacos and sea scallops and the fresh oysters and these two desserts we had.
Fishing! My uncle suggested we do some fishing and rented us some rods and bought shrimp for bait. It was our first time ever and I'm very happy to say I CAUGHT A FISH! Ba Ba was the first to catch a fish and he was on a roll, then my uncle caught one and then Ba Ba handed me the rod and his luck and gave me a few important instructions and before you could say "Anna Maria grouper tacos", I caught myself some dinner!
Well, what can I say more. We really enjoyed our time with our friends and wish we can one day do it all again. On our last day we drew pictures for one another and gave it to each other. I miss my friends but happy that we were able to spend a week together at this fun place.
