I did my home for the holidays thing early this year and headed down to Sarasota, FL for a few days of sunsets and white sand.
We stayed at the Suntide Island Beach Club on Lido Beach. (A Christmas timeshare treat from my mom and her husband Bill.) It was a little dated, which I actually liked because it reminded me of how the places were when I was little. So much else has changed. The buildings, the beach…even the water was unrecognizable filled with waves and surfers.
Surfers! In Sarasota! That’s something you usually only see when a hurricane rolls through.
But the sunset was still as spectacular as I remember and that’s what I miss the most. I grew up with sunsets and now am living in the land of sunrises at the beach on the east coast of Florida. I have yet to get up early enough to walk the few blocks to the beach to actually see one. I keep telling myself someday I will be an early riser. Just not today… lol
We had a great visit home! On our first night we wandered around St. Armand’s Circle to see the Christmas decorations and find a place to eat. It was pretty as always but I thought there would be more lights. I guess once you see St. Augustine’s Nights of Lights you start expecting more!
We picked a place with seats outside and ended up at an Italian restaurant called Venezia. After ordering a few appetizers and wine, Keelan promptly fell asleep giving us one of those magical “freebies” where we get to have a quiet evening out without getting a babysitter. The wine was great and the caprese salad and stuffed mushrooms were delicious!
On Sunday we played shuffleboard, saw old friends and after a cloudy start, enjoyed a perfect clear sunny day. The place had nice gas grills so we had a cookout on the beach and enjoyed the view.
I really enjoyed getting to visit with old friends. It means so much when they can make it out and meet up when I make it home, because I don’t make it down as much as I used to. It’s a long drive with a little one!
Lido Beach has tons of amazing shells. Full size, unbroken ones! We took home three shopping bags filled with pretty ocean treasures to add to our landscaping. I even found a nice piece of sea glass, which I never found in Sarasota before. And we found a few unbroken sand dollars as well.
We deemed Monday “Christmas” and went to mom and Bill’s house for food and festivities. Keelan had been driving me crazy all weekend wanting to go to Nana’s and open presents. So the big day was finally here!
He was super excited to get a remote control monster truck and dinosaur car ramp and spent the rest of the day playing with them. (Check out the video at the end of the post)
On our last morning we went for a beach walk and threw rocks in the ocean, had a stand-off with a pretty white heron who wanted our bagel and then said goodbye to Sarasota and headed home.
*He managed to successfully jump over his dad twice before I volunteered. I should have let him have more practice! LOL
