Burchett Blessing's: The Beach

We just got back from a FABULOUS vacation to Watercolor, Florida. It is in Santa Rosa beach and was one of the most amazing vacation resorts I have ever stayed at. It was so quaint and they do such a great job at making you feel special while you are staying there. We rented a precious little carriage house that was connected to an amazing beach house and we just loved it. It was perfect for just the 3 of us and was just a short 2 minute bike ride to the beach. Yes, there were bikes left for us to use and we rented a carriage to attach to the back of Clay's bike for Lilliana to ride in. She loved it and would just sit there taking it all in!

Just as I imagined Lilliana had a fantastic time on the beach and I think she loved the "ool" (pool) even more. It was all we could do to get her back to the house between 1:30 - 2:00 for her naps. Which, she would then sleep at least 3 hours everyday because she had been going since around 7:00 each morning. We typically got to the beach by 9:00 and had paid for our chairs and beach umbrella to be set up for us which was such a huge help. It was so nice not to have to tote all that stuff down to the beach but to just be able to walk down there and have everything ready for us. Clay and I typically tend to go to more private beaches than this so that is usually not an option for us. (Although this beach was not crowded AT ALL) It was the perfect time to go and we were so thankful for the beautiful weather. When we left Sunday morning it was cool and rainy in Memphis and the weather was not looking good for the following week in Florida. It was supposed to rain everyday but we only got rain on Monday.

Because of the rain, we decided to head out to the outlets on Monday and do a little shopping. Lilliana is not the best shopper anymore and since we allowed her to watch DVD's the whole way down on Sunday all she wanted to do was watch Elmo and Abbey. That was all we heard about while we were attempting to shop so we weren't there long. All I purchased were a couple things for Lilly from the Gymboree outlet and then we ate lunch. I think that was a new record for me because I typically don't get out of there without dropping at least a couple hundred dollars!

We had asked around on Monday to see where the popular places were to eat while we were there. One of the recommendations was for a restaurant called Great Southern Cafe. Oh my goodness, it was so INCREDIBLE!! I loved everything I ordered and even tried what Clay had chosen. We had fabulous service and I was so pleased that Lilliana's food arrived when our salads came. That is one of the hardest things when we go out to eat these days, because unless I bring food from home for L, she really isn't all for waiting that long to eat a hot dog or grilled cheese. I think that is what sold me so much on this place but the food was also fantastic.

We also ate at a place called George's, then Crab Trap twice, Poppy's (wasn't very good and had bad service, our only bad experience but wouldn't recommend it), Another Broken Egg Cafe, Bud and Ally's, Pickle's Beachside Grill, and the Watercolor Beach Grill. Besides Southern, I would say my favorite was the Beachside Grill in our resort. It was so fabulous and I had the most amazing salad with crab cakes and shallot vinaigrette 2 days in a row. We also didn't even have to go anywhere to get it and were able to just stay at the pool which made my little love very happy :) Overall, we had a great experience as far as dining went and we were so glad that we had saved up so much cash before leaving because it made the trip so much more enjoyable. It was so nice to not have to worry about checking the bank account or worry about sharing meals, as we typically do when we go places like these. We were able to eat like Kings and Queens and thoroughly enjoy ourselves without any worries. It just made the trip that much more enjoyable and a great lesson learned!

We were supposed to head back on Thursday but decided to stay an extra day and left early Friday morning. We would have loved to stay even longer but I had a packed weekend that included Beth Moore Friday night and Saturday morning along with a long weekend of work and other things. I am pretty sure this is where we will go from here on out. Although it was a little more pricey, it was SO worth it and was one of the most relaxing vacations we have been on, even with an almost 2 year old!!