Marco Island: July 2026

Last week we spent the week on Marco Island staying at the beautiful JW Marriott Marco Island Beach Resort! We tagged along with John while he attended a work conference, and we were so excited to finally join him this year. The past few years we’ve always had scheduling conflicts that kept us from coming, so it was fun to finally experience the trip together as a family.

Marco Island has a special place in our hearts as we lived in Naples for 3 years while John was in Law School. Marco has such a laid-back, relaxing feel, gorgeous beaches, and beautiful sunsets. We spent our days swimming, building sandcastles, enjoying good food, and soaking up another week of summer before school starts back.

I thought it would be fun to share a little recap of our week, some of our favorite moments, and a few photos from our stay.

Day 1:

As soon as we arrived, John had firm events to attend, so the girls and I were on our own for the evening! We unpacked a few things in our room before heading downstairs with John to meet some of the other lawyers from his firm before they all went to dinner.

After a few quick hellos and goodbyes, it was officially girls’ night! The three of us headed to Quinn’s for dinner, where we enjoyed a delicious meal right on the beach. Once we finished eating, we couldn’t wait any longer to check out the resort, so we headed back to the room, changed into our swimsuits, and made our way down to explore the beach and pool for the first time.

That night we enjoyed our first show of the fire guy! This quickly became one of our favorite evening events of the trip!

Day 2:

The next morning, we grabbed breakfast with John at the coffee shop before he headed off to his meetings and the girls and I made our way to the beach.

We spent the morning playing in the sand and swimming before heading over to the pool. One of the perks of this conference was that John was able to sneak away between meetings and spend a little time with us at the pool, which made the day even more fun.

For lunch, we stayed poolside before browsing a few of the shops around the resort. After a little shopping, we headed back to the room to get cleaned up for dinner at Korals.

One thing the girls had been looking forward to all day was seeing the fire performer again that evening! They thought it was so neat the night before and couldn’t wait to watch him again.

It was such a relaxing day filled with sunshine, swimming, and simply enjoying everything the resort had to offer.

Day 3:

We woke up ready for a full day at the pool! As much as we love the beach, we barely stepped foot on it until that evening because we were having so much fun by the pool.

We spent the morning swimming and relaxing before grabbing another poolside lunch. After lunch, we headed back to the room to get cleaned up and meet John at the conference for the vendor expo and swag tables. The girls had the best time walking around collecting all kinds of fun trinkets and goodies. They thought it was the coolest thing ever and were so excited to see what each table had to offer!

After all the conference fun, we kept dinner simple and grabbed pizza from the marketplace before ending the evening with one more visit to watch the fire performer. By this point, it had become one of our favorite nightly traditions, and the girls looked forward to it every evening.

Day 4:

By day four, we had our favorite routines down. We knew we’d be spending most of the day at the pool again, and we couldn’t wait!

We were especially excited because some new friends we had met on the beach the night before were planning to be there too. It made the day even more fun! The girls loved having other kids to swim and play with, and I enjoyed getting to chat with some of the other moms. It’s always amazing how quickly kids can make friends on vacation, and before long it felt like we’d known each other all week.

It ended up being one of those simple vacation days that didn’t have a packed schedule but turned into one of our favorites.

That afternoon, John had planned to spend some time with us, which was such a nice treat after a few busy conference days. We stopped by the conference one more time to grab a little more swag before heading to the arcade. The girls had so much fun playing games with their daddy!

That evening we enjoyed dinner at Ario, and it was absolutely delicious. After dinner, we met up with our new friends on the beach to watch the fire performer one last time. It was the perfect way to end our last full day on Marco Island.

Our time in Marco was exactly what we needed. It was relaxing, filled with sunshine, and gave us so much quality time together as a family. One of my favorite parts of the trip was watching the girls make new friends. They’re already talking about coming back one day, and I have a feeling Marco Island will become a place we’ll continue visiting for years to come.

Day 5:

Before we knew it, it was time to head home. We were definitely ready to get back to our own beds (and maybe take a little break from the Florida sun! 😂), but we still enjoyed one last slow morning.

We spent a little time shell hunting on the beach, grabbed breakfast, packed up our room, and began the drive home. It was the perfect ending to such a fun and relaxing week away.

I’m so thankful we were finally able to join John on his conference trip this year. Between the beautiful beach, relaxing resort days, meeting new friends, and making so many sweet family memories, it was a week well spent! Until next time, Marco Island!

-Holley