Our Trip To Warmth, Sun, And Sand!

....aka the wonderful sunshine state!

Uploading these pictures and writing this recap must mean we're back to the cold (1 whopping degree this morning), right? Clearly I'm still in a littleee bit of shock/denial about this. It's true. We had 7 full, blissful days in Florida that were so incredibly needed for the both of us and couldn't have come at a more perfect time.

Make that the three of us. Me and Billy joked the entire trip about who was enjoying the vacation more...us or Rocky. He was having the time of his freaking life everyday...from swimming in the pool, to going on bike rides, joining me for portions on my morning runs, to long walks before the sun went down. He couldn't get enough of the warm weather. Taking him with us was definitely the right decision (not to mention he was an angel on the plane and didn't let out a bark once, phew!) and we are so glad we did. He deserved a break from this winter, too!

 "THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE..."

Instead of boring you all with a bunch of writing about the things we did (which can be summed up pretty easily: pool, beach, bike rides, pool, run into Jerry Springer while shopping and almost spill his Starbucks on him #truestory, eat-in particular fish tacos daily, pool, repeat) I decided to just share our trip via pictures this time, and recap some of the bigger highlights.

One of them being this place that is a true slice of heaven...

The Ritz Carlton Sarasota on Lido Key

As most of you know, we traveled to the Sarasota/Bradenton area. We were lucky enough to stay at Billy's uncle beautiful vacation home in Lakewood Ranch. Not only that, he is a member of this Ritz resort so we were able to spend everyday at this resort free of charge. Lucky is an understatement of the year.

This resort is on Lido Key beach (the whitest, softest sand you can imagine) and is absolute perfection. When we first got to this resort, my jaw dropped. The grounds are stunning, it wasn't crowded at all, and 10 steps from the gigantic heated pool is the beautiful beach. There is also a Tiki bar where you could sit and have lunch and order drinks to take out on a walk on the beach. Just typing this makes me extra sads that I can't spend every minute in this paradise...why can't life be a vacation everyday?

So here is how most of our days went down: relax at the pool all morning, go to the Tiki bar for lunch and drinks, then switch to the beach in the afternoons....the best of both worlds right here.

{new ray bans from here, hat is an old find from f21-cute similar option here}

{similar coverup here}

Billy's uncle house also has it's own private pool and the most amazing sectional couch that were perfect for afternoon naps and to just sit outside and enjoy. We couldn't get enough of our surroundings..it was just so relaxing and perfect.

At night, more often than not we would make the 20 minute drive to either downtown Siesta Key or St. Armand's Circle. St. Armand's Circle has a bunch of different cute shops and restaurants...it's a hot spot for sure if you ever visiting this area. We stuffed our belly's with italian food, macarons, daquiri's, and I even got some shopping in (are we surprised?)

And then there was that one day we decided to randomly make the two hour drive to Orlando to spend the day at Universal Studios and see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! THAT recap coming up tomorrow... :)

Last but not least, if you missed these on my instagram, here is a short video of Rocky's going swimming for his second time ever and a picture that is definitely going to be framed in our house. I wish I would've got more of this on video because I think I've watched it over 60 times now...

He is such a ham.

TAKE ME BACK!