Clearwater Beach, Florida

In January, my family and I went to Clearwater Beach in Florida.  It was pretty cold when we went, so we didn't do much swimming, but it was still beautiful there and so much fun!  The beach house we stayed in was fantastic.  It was right on the beach, and we were lucky enough to wake up to dolphins jumping out of the water several different days. There were so many great shops and restaurants to go to. You pretty much need at least 2 weeks to go there.

Out on the beach, enjoying the sun...

Little sister Dyaln playing in the sand.  She also made my name out of sand mounds.

One of the many seagulls. He was friendly.

John's Pass...This was a great place to shop and eat.  There were many great surf shops, and great sight seeing.

One of the workers from Global Candle Gallery...He was super awesome and friendly.  We had our whole family packed into the little shop, and he didn't seem to mind my crazy siblings.

They used balls of wax, and dipped them into hot colored wax, and layered color upon color.  Then they used carving tools and twisted the hot wax into shapes, or just carved pieces out.

This is the awesome candle that I bought from him.  It was so hard to decide, and I'm planning to get more, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.  The design doesn't melt, but the middle part does.  It hollows itself out, and you can replace it with a short votive candle.

Here is the link for the candle website if anyone is interested.  They have a HUGE selection. 

http://globalcandlegallery.com/

This is what the candle looks like when it's lit.  The inside layers glow.

My family, minus my dad and my older sister Taylor, at one of the great restaurants we went to.  The duck there was amazing.  I want to say it was called something like the Beachside Cafe.  Not sure though...

Having fun playing pool at our house =)

Riley sleeping on the couch. She had a long day.

Speckles.  He was my favorite bird for the trip.

This was the coldest day of the trip... It was misting out and windy, but we wanted to be outside regardless.  These are all the different types of plants and shells we found that washed up on the shore.

My momma and me at Crave on our way back from Universal.  We got ahi tuna for appetizers, and the place was decorated so gorgeously.  All the food was great, but I wasn't blown away by my lobster macaroni. 

Ahi tuna with pickled ginger....So good...Makes my mouth water!

Sunset at Pier 60.  This was taken right down the road from where we were staying.  It was such a great view.  All the palm trees were so different from one another.

Another shot of the sunset.

The sun was pretty much down at this point.  Everything was so colorful.  We were lucky to get such nice photo ops.

Sushi at Kiku.  They had the best onion soup EVER! Their sushi was really good, but I didn't care for the 

Tempura shrimp, zucchini, and I can't remember what else.

Deliciousness.  Didn't like the rolls that have the avocado in them. Can't remember what they were.

Godzilla rolls...Those were my favorite.  We make them are home now.  My dad has become quite the Su-chef.

Caladesi Island.  We took a boat there, and it was beautiful, but not quite the right time to see tha manatees and turtles.  They had gorgeous, whole conch shells all over the beach.