South Seas Island |Florida Family Getaway

Have you ever spent Thanksgiving away from home?  I don’t mean away from home at a relatives house, I mean away from home at a beautiful resort.  I can honestly say that we had not, but boy are we glad we did!  As I write this post, I am sitting on the back porch of our villa overlooking the sun rising over the water.  I can tell you that it is one of the most relaxing and beautiful views — what a great way to start your day.

My daughter is home from college and our good friends of over twenty years are spending this holiday vacation with us. And after spending a couple of days here, I am thinking that this holiday vacation surrounded by 330 acres of wildlife and water is exactly what the doctor ordered.  To say that we have laughed until we cried, ate until we were ready to burst and relaxed like we haven’t in a very long time — is truly an understatement.  As our children get older, precious moments become more important to us and this was a vacation that we will remember forever.

Once you enter the gates of the beautiful South Seas Island Resort, you never have to leave again.  I don’t know that I have ever vacationed at a resort quite like this – there are boundless opportunities for adventure and relaxation.  With a beach, two pools, water slides, sailing, amazing over the top restaurants, shops and hold your breath… a Starbucks, there is no reason that you would ever want to step foot outside this resort.

I don’t know what I expected when we were invited to spend Thanksgiving Dinner at South Seas Island Resort but what we got was so much more than I could have ever anticipated.  Our family and friends enjoyed the Thanksgiving Feast so much, that we may decide to make this an annual tradition.  The choices, the displays and the preparation of the food were just fabulous!

Honestly, there was more food than was even listed on this menu.  One of them being the Squash Risotto that was out of this world. My picky husband, who didn’t think he liked squash, surprisingly fell in love with this risotto.  Some of our absolute favorites were the seafood display, the leg of  lamb, the juicy turkey, the fabulous macaroni and cheese and the charcuterie and cheese display. I loved the fact that there wasn’t a planned “kids menu” and so did the kids.  The kids were welcome and encouraged to try all the entrees on the menu. 

In the end, what I love most, is that we can stay together in their villas.  This provides us with the opportunity to hang out as a family and with our friends… coloring, playing cards, enjoying cocktails, and cooking together.   We planned our meals ahead of time knowing that with a party of 10, we couldn’t eat out every meal.  I made my Pork Meatballs, Karen brought her Pesto sauce and lots of meats and cheeses for our afternoon charcuterie and cheese.

What a great way to kick off this year’s Holiday Season with family and friends.  The holiday activities gave us the opportunity to bring generations together and sing Christmas Carols, celebrate the tree lighting, turkey trot along the beach and have some good old fashioned family fun including lots of hot chocolate.  The kids ages 6 to 20 had a ball and the parents enjoyed watching them be kids, no matter what age.

I will be sharing many of our memories of the holiday events in the next couple of days.  In the meantime, you can check out all the Captiva Holiday Village activities on www.captivaholidayvillage.com — so many fun activities including the decorated golf cart parade.

The sun is up and the kids are rising, it’s time for us to make the tough decision of the day… pool or beach?  You can follow along all our fun activities on Facebook: facebook.com/southseasresortvillage  |Twitter: twitter.com/ssislandresort |Instagram: @ssislandresort

This year South Seas Island Resort offers a special rate for guests of the Captiva Holiday Village.  Stay between December 1 and December 23 and enjoy 20% off the Best Available Rate and for every room night booked, South Seas will donate $10 to the Golisano Children’s Hospital. Promotion booking code for our website is: “holiday”

Disclosure:  We were invited as guests for a family getaway by South Seas Island Resort.  All opinions are my own.