After a wonderful fun-filled-four-days visiting all four theme parks at Disneyworld, we headed to Anna Maria Island, Florida, for another four days of sun, sand and relaxation.  It had been more years than I could remember since I had seen the beautiful Southern waters of the Gulf.  It brought back memories of our family’s vacations on the Outer Banks of North Carolina on the Atlantic side years ago.

My daughter had found a very nice beach house for us right on a canal and complete with a private pool.  The house was decorated in the sunny and cool colors of the beach:  shades of blue, yellow, lavender and coral.  The white trim throughout the house accented the colors perfectly.  There were several abstract paintings throughout the house that we learned had been purchased in Brazil.  With speakers inside and outside for the pool, we also enjoyed the beach music selections provided by the owner.

I shared a room with my four year old grandson with a twin bed for each of us.  He’s a perfect little roommate and I loved it when he said, “goodnight, Grandmommy”.  Although on a couple of nights, I was actually asleep before he was and he tiptoed in without waking me.  Perfect little gentleman.

After a morning on the beach, we walked the 5 minutes back to the house and had lunch – after rinsing off in the outdoor shower.  Afterwards, we usually watched a video, played or read for a while during the hottest part of the day.  Then it was out to the pool where the fish my grandchildren loved practicing all their strokes and actually playing in the water.  The three older ones swim competitively and have a stack of blue ribbons to prove it.  Consequently, they have little time to actually “play” in the water.  I enjoyed being in the pool some with them, then reading my Karen White book which I’d brought along with me.

I think my daughter had the perfect idea, scheduling the four relaxing days after the four busy ones.  Ten days passed all too quickly and we flew back to Iowa on Tuesday morning…with a bank of memories of a wonderful time together.