Anna Maria Island 2009

We had our 2nd annual trip to Anna Maria Island, Florida and we had such a amazing time! We met up w/one of my best friend's from college, Laurel, and her handsome brood of boys- her husband, Josh, Cole, the almost 4 yr old, and Brady, the 20 month old. And she is currently pregnant w/ her 3rd boy- yikes!!

Our flight to Florida was so cool b/c it was really the first time Gaby was aware of what she was doing. She's been on planes a couple of times before, but this time was like the first! She got such a thrill from taking off and going "up in de sky"!! She brought all her needed supplies to make her trip fun and LOVED carrying a backpack. Of course, Baby Holt was is tow- we couldn't leave town w/out her :) We even got to say hello to the pilots and visit the cockpit!

We arrived in Tampa and had decided to stay one night there so we could go to the Lowry Park Zoo. It's supposed to be one of the best zoos in the country and it did not disappoint. The best part was feeding the giraffes! You can't fully appreciate how big those creatures are until you are face to face w/one. Wow!! And they've got the longest tongues I've ever seen! The pictures from there are priceless.

Once on the island, our daily schedule was pretty much the same every day. Wake up, breakfast, beach, pool, lunch, nap, beach, pool, shower, dinner, play, bed and repeat. Just what the doctor ordered :) So relaxing and so much fun! One day, Laurel's dad (who lives on the island) took Laurel and I, Cole and Gaby out for some fishing. Riding on a boat was really neat and we even caught a little fish. Another day, we headed to a park in the morning b/c the ocean was a little rough. But the rest of the time it was beach schedule as usual.

We love visiting Anna Maria because it is such a gorgeous beach- we are talking turquoise water and white powder sand! And it is just a sleepy little town so we really get to relax and have the beach all to ourselves. No big crowds to get in your way, or your pictures :) We stayed in this great little condo and literally had the pool all to ourselves everyday. Gaby had such a blast running on the beach, searching for seashells, jumping the waves and swimming like a little fish in the pool. She was ALL about the pool! I think she was getting such a thrill from jumping in and swimming underwater that she tended to want to get in there more. We really tried to impress on her that the ocean and the beach are a once, maybe twice, a year thing and she should appreciate it. But try getting that concept through to a two year old! She had so much fun w/her friends, Cole & Brady. All the kids got along so great and played really well together.

We really love going to Anna Maria and will hopefully be able to make it a yearly trip. I want Gaby to have lasting memories of our time there. We are always so happy to be able to hang out w/ the Griffins and look forward to many, many more visits to the island.

Sidenote: As you will notice from the following slideshows, I am in maybe one picture as is the story of my life :) One of the pitfalls of being the family photog. So in order to compensate for that, I hired a photographer again this year to take our family portraits. We should have those pictures w/in a few weeks and I will post them as soon as I get them. Can't wait!