Wekiva Island

I wanted to share some local travel-related adventures even though our Wanderlust Wednesday linkup is not until the second Wednesday of each month. Consider this a save the date to get your travel posts ready for May 11th if you want to join Kerri, Kate, and myself.

I still can't believe it took me over 10 years of living in Central Florida before visiting Wekiva Island for the first time last year with Kate and our second in commands (that's a running joke we have not meant to be taken seriously). What a great day we had relaxing along the river. The water is cold but it's refreshing like spring water and there's a ton of amenities and activities to make it a fun day trip. Plus it's dog-friendly so you know I'm already sold.

Since our first trip to Wekiva Island we've gone back a few times to take my parents and then most recently my best friend last weekend. (recaps here and here).

If you're looking for a fun day outdoors, Wekiva Island offers canoeing/kayaking, paddleboarding, fishing, volleyball, boating and swimming. Additionally there's live music (on certain days), an on-site restaurant, and cabanas for rent if you want to have your personal space. I consider this a hidden treasure of Central Florida.

Weekend Whereabouts

 

What a nice little break this weekend was.
I indulged in some of my favorite things ~ sleeping in, snuggling with Lola, quality time with my bestie, and some outdoor adventures.

After posting the recipe for Paleo Bang Bang Shrimp Tacos last week, I was craving the real deal so it was an easy decision to have our Friday night dinner date at Bonefish Grill.

The rest of the night was spent relaxing and catching up on some shows at home with my favorite snuggle bug.



Saturday was a Home Depot and Bed, Bath & Beyond type of day, except we didn't go to BBB. Instead laundry, grocery shopping, meal prep, and garden shopping at Home Depot happened before we headed out to continue the search for a new home.

We found a house with the perfect floor plan and it happens to have the most gorgeous kitchen! This week we are going to work on confirming all the details and possibly putting an offer on the house.

Hours of house shopping definitely leaves you feeling exhausted and hungry so we went to the new Buffalo Wild Wings in our area for some dinner and a cold beverage.

 On Sunday, the bestie and I spent the day laying out, chit chatting and canoeing on the river at Wekiva Island. We had so much fun and it was the perfect way to end the weekend

Linking up my girl Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Weekend with the Parents

This weekend was pretty busy with my parents in town and we also had our first taste of Fall weather which was perfect for some outdoor fun. On Friday night, K and I wanted to take my parents to somewhere new and different for them so we chose Izziban Korean BBQ and Sushi restaurant. They have a cold bar with different salads, seafood and sushi and then you pick different meats to cook on the grill in the middle of your table. It was a nice time catching up with them and we left overly satisfied and ready to crash.

 

On Saturday the four of us headed to Epcot's Food & Wine Festival. Unfortunately the lines were insanely long for most of the good food and drinks so we opted for the shorter lines and had some drinks in Norway, Canada and Africa.

We saw the Reflections of China movie which my parents really liked.

 And then listened to a really good band in the UK that played songs from Oasis and several other bands.

Since my mom's side of the family is Canadian, they enjoyed exploring Canada and of course had a drink there. If you follow me on Instagram (emilyalisonb), you might have seen my photo from the telephone booth in Canada. I guess they're not just a British thing!

Then we went to the Eat to Beat concert featuring Starship which was perfect for my parents since their music is from the 70's and 80's.



  Finally we settled for some dinner at Chefs de France which was amazing! We had some escargot as an appetizer and shared a bottle of red wine over our meals.

On Sunday, we headed to Wekiva Island. After my mom saw the pictures of our recent trip there with Kate and her husband, she wanted to go check it out for herself. We also took Lola along this time since we figured out it was a dog-friendly place. It was a nice Sunday afternoon relaxing by the river.

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.

Wekiva Weekend

Weekends just go by way too quickly but thankfully I was able to catch up on some sleep and rest so I'm ready to take on a new week. Friday was a relaxing night with some Italian for dinner and we watched Hot Pursuit from Redbox which was medicore but good enough for a quite night at home. Some funny parts but the typical 3-star movie. 

On Saturday morning bright and early we headed to Wekiva Island to meet up with Kate and her hubby for some outdoor fun. We finally had a day with no heavy rain in Florida so took full advantage and even managed to get a slight tan.

After several hours in the sun we headed to Graffiti Junction to grab some dinner and drinks.

The rest of the night was spent relaxing at home with Lola.

Sunday was my day to catch up on stuff around the house (laundry, recipes, cleaning and weekly food prep) along with blogging and my online photography class.

How was your weekend?

Joining the lovely Biana for her Weekending linkup.