This past weekend, we took a day trip to Sarasota. It’s about an hour and 20 minutes from our house, but we decided to go on Memorial Day weekend, so slap on an additional 3 hours for traffic. JK, it wasn’t THAT bad, but every extra minute in the car with Evie feels like eons. She’s only good for about 30 minutes and then she starts losing her shit.
The main reason we decided to load Evie into the car for that ungodly amount of time was to check out the model of the house we already bought. Yup, we signed and handed over a hefty deposit check, without ever actually seeing in person what the house looks like. There’s not a model near us, and and we needed to make a decision ASAP because the market is nuts right now and we couldn’t risk waiting.
I did do the virtual walkthrough like a thousand times so it wasn’t a total surprise. But, virtual isn’t in person. Even though we were already committed to the house and our lot, we figured it would be a good idea to see what our forever house even looked like.
We weren’t disappointed. The house is phenomenal and there’s really nothing I would change. I probably need more furniture though because this house is 1,600 sq feet bigger than the one I have now. There’s a lot of space, which is a good thing! The only issue I have is that the girls are bickering over who will get the room with the biggest closet. Mind you, both the rooms have their own bathrooms and both rooms have walk-in closets. But, the one bedroom’s closet is really like it’s own mini-room. Of course, they both want it.
Let the bloodbath commence.
Right now, I’m leaning towards G, only because she has more crap than Scarlett…and she’s older. Likely, G will get it because Scarlett is nicer than her and will give in. It’s just the way things are.
Day tripping
Since we had to drive all that way, I figured we should try and make a day of it and take a little trip to the beach as well. Siesta Key is beautiful and only about 25 minutes from the model home in Sarasota.
So, after Evie went up the staircase about 5 times and the older girls did TikToks in all the rooms, we made our way towards the ocean. We decided we should grab something to eat first before actually going to the beach, because everyone was getting kind of hangry. I googled places to eat near me and zoomed to find anything on the water and with good reviews. I found a sandwich shop called Anna’s Deli that had great reviews and was right across the street from the ocean. I figured that was a good choice, since we could shove our faces with food and then get to the beach. I didn’t want to waste precious Evie hours eating.
Anna’s Deli was ok. I split the salami sandwich with Scarlett and, I’ll be honest, I was weirded out by their meat. The salami was chipped. I’ve never had chipped salami in my life and I don’t think I ever want it again. Vince got their signature sandwich and of course choked on his first bite. This man does not chew his food and he has issues with his esophagus. Choking and regurgitating his food isn’t uncommon. It wasn’t the sandwich’s fault….but, “The Choking” is never fun to deal with in public.
I had to catch his upchuck in the plastic sandwich basket. Married life is fun.
1. He’s alive.
2. We ate quick so we could get to the beach quick.
3. The owners of the deli let us park in their lot as we went to the beach. Not because Vince choked, but because they were super nice and were closing anyways. I’m grateful because there was zero public parking because of the holiday and all the parking lots tow if you aren’t a customer.
We unloaded our minimal beach supplies and walked catty-corner across the street to the beach access. The beach was super crowded (duh) but we didn’t have a lot of stuff and weren’t staying too long so we made our way up front and set up shop on the hard sand where high tide was earlier.
All the beaches near us have great, clean, white sand and blue water. You don’t have to go to Clearwater to get it, and honestly we never go to Clearwater because that beach sucks and is for tourists (sorry). However, today, this beach had a lot of sea kelp floating around and washed up on the sand. I was grossed out being in the water because it felt like spaghetti noodles kept brushing up against me.
I only went in once…to pee. Because I pee in the ocean. If you don’t, I think that’s really strange. It’s the one time I will judge people. It’s odd not to pee in the ocean. Why wouldn’t you?!
Evie kinda felt the same way I did about the water and it’s sliminess. Plus, the Gulf was choppy so I think she was a little freaked out. She did love playing in the sand and in the buckets of water I filled up for her. Gianna and Vince lived their best lives and each took a nap on the beach. Scarlett played with Gianna’s friend, Leila, as G napped. They built a little hot tub for Evie, made sandcastles, and put seashells all over G’s body as she slept. It’s the equivalent of writing on a passed out person with a sharpie marker, but at the beach.
We spent about 2 hours at the beach and it was time to head back. Before we got in the car, we walked to Siesta Creamery to get ice cream. There’s something about being at the beach and getting ice cream. Even I am ok with it. Siesta Creamery is a cute, independently-owned ice cream store in the same plaza as Anna’s. This place might have some of the best ice cream I’ve had, and it doesn’t cost you $9 for one damn scoop. The chocolate chunk raspberry was my favorite.
Since I still felt bad about Evie’s smash cake from her first birthday, I let her go to town on the ice cream. She DEVOURED it. Like, I didn’t know she could fit that much in her mouth. It’s impressive.
She was on such a sugar high that she didn’t even cry on the way home. I still had to entertain her, making creations from the velcro felt loops I found in the back seat and feeding her puffs. But she was in a great mood. Not that I am going to let her eat sweets all the time…but I’m going to keep this knowledge in my back pocket for any future trips over 30 minutes 🙂