Let's Go to the Beach, Beach!

The title is to be sung to the starting beat of Nicki Minaj's Starship.  That is what I've been singing for the past several weeks and is the excuse for my long absence of blog posts! Derrick and I joined up with friends and look a week long vacation to Venice, Florida to soak up some sun tropical storm Andrea. We settled on Venice, FL because I wanted to get away from NC and we were able to find a beach house that would comfortably accommodate all 7 of us and still be within walking distance of a beach without breaking the bank. We booked our trip through a company called Vacation Rental Pros and I would definitely recommend them. They were very easy to work with, checked in along the way, and were very timely with their responses to any of my questions.

So, Venice is an 11.5 hour drive from Durham, NC. Derrick and I considered flying for just a second, but decided that driving couldn't be all that bad and it would save some major cash. Alexander and Holly also opted for driving so Derrick and I picked them up in Fayetteville which was right on the way.  We were able to get all of the luggage, beach bags, and games in the trunk which left plenty of room for all of us comfortably settled in up front with our snacks and Roo Cups! Derrick even broke out his tank top for the ride...definitely beach ready.  I told him he looked like a body builder in this picture...don't you think?

The drive was surprisingly easy! We didn't hit any traffic and only got a little bit of rain in the Tampa area.  The only hiccup we had was the lack of mini Oreos. It's all I wanted in the world and the gas station we were at did not have them...it was devastating. Luckily the next place we stopped had them. I may or may not have screamed. I bought 2 bags and Alexander made sure to grab some on the way home to avoid another crisis situation.

We were at the house by 7:30. Isn't it cute? The description called it a mansion....not quite, but still cute! It had 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a pool. Perfect for us!

Here's a view from the kitchen facing the front of the house. That table where everybody is sitting turned out to be perfect for games....and we played a LOT of games thanks to Andrea. 

Here's the living room. Plenty of seating and the ceiling was so cool with those beams! I loved how open it was. I told Derrick that if the bedroom layout wasn't so weird, this could be a really cool floorplan for us one day. 

The first night we played a few games and crashed. It had been a long travel day for everybody. Monday morning we hit the beach! The walk-able beach was OK...there wasn't tons of sand but there also were hardly any people so it was a nice trade off. The water felt awesome and we were able to swim way out and find a sandbar. We also played some bocce that Derrick and I brought along. Michael is really good at bocce! He probably won. I kept forgetting my camera, but here's a phone pic of the aqua water! This was our last really good day of sun until Friday.

That afternoon we laid out by the pool. It was really nice to be able to enjoy the beach in the morning and then be lazy by the pool in the afternoon. Holly and I both took afternoon naps by the pool at least twice. Derrick played sunscreen police.

Sunday night for dinner we checked out an Italian place we had seen driving into town and that Rebecca had also read was good. Rebecca is the foodie of the group and had found some awesome restaurants for us to try throughout the week. The place was called A Taste of Italy and it was delicious!! Derrick, Michael, and Alexander split a pizza by the yard. Essentially, it's three pizzas cut in a way that can be lined up on this huge tray so that the entire table can try the different types of pizza. Here's the inside of the restaurant. We were in a hidden back room. So cute!

Here's the pizza by the yard!

 Here is what William, Rebecca, and I got. It's the Sunday special. They only make it on Sunday and apparently the sauce simmers all day on Saturday. I don't know exactly what it was...pasta and lots of meat but it was amazing!

Venice was an adorable little beach town. They had these painted dolphins and turtles lining the sidewalks. 

 After dinner with A Taste of Italy in the background.

I'm not sure what's going on here.

Here is Holly and my favorite Dolphin. It was sponsored by a Venice Radiology practice. It had pretty fish swimming on one side of him and then...

X-Rayed fish on the other side that lined up with the fish on the right side!!! It was the best one.

The next day was more of the same. It was overcast but Holly, and I still went out to the beach. I managed to get sunburned but it's already tanned out. The clouds started moving in during the afternoon so we went bowling and I bowled a career high 125! That was right after a 62 on my first game...I am not consistent! Derrick is still bowling lefty because of shoulder but he still did really well with a high of 128!

That night we went to the Daiquiri deck for dinner and BOGO daiquiris!

And ended the night with gelato!

Sorry for the picture overload! We're only halfway through the week but I'll finish up with another blog post. I still haven't even touched on my new found hobby!