Beach Vacation Part 3

I really thought I had more pictures from the pool.  Guess I was busy riding the lazy river and/or reading. :) It's a fabulous pool with a kiddie area, a zero entry pool, a lazy river, a wave pool, a waterfall you can swim under, and several other cool things. The girls had the best time.  A couple of times Marc took all three of them out to play while I read my book and soaked up some harmful rays.

  

 

We enjoyed a night of putt-putt. 

We all rode the ferris wheel at the condo this year.  The older two girls enjoyed their first time on one of these contraptions.  Brooke wasn't too happy that she didn't get a turn.  Thankfully the promise of ice-cream helped heal her broken heart.

 

We finally got around to feeding the seagulls.  We had some bread with us all week, but the beach was always more crowded than I would have liked.  Not everyone likes a flock of sea-gulls descending upon them. This was our last time at the beach before we headed home.  It was after a storm had come through so the beach was almost deserted.

At first there was one...

and then all of his friends showed up.

The kids love their bunk beds in the closet.  Brooke slept in our bed and did quite well going to sleep and staying asleep.  One night she laid up against my back, put her arm over me, and fell asleep.  So sweet! I will say I have missed that little snuggle bug in our bed - but not too much!

We are so thankful for the opportunity to get some time away, especially after the busy spring and summer we have had building a house and moving. School starts in less than 2 weeks so we are going to try and enjoy every moment we can until then.

Beach Vacation Part 2

The next day the girls are up ready to go.  Marc found a fun park for them to go to, so he took the girls to play for a little while.

After the park we headed to the pool (pictures to come) for the rest of the morning. After lunch we all took a nap before heading out to the beach for a picnic dinner and play time.

Not sure the orange glasses do much for the sunlight, but she sure loves them!

Brooke loves her Nini.

LOVE this picture! It it totally Brooke.

 

Beach Vacation Part 1

For the past 7 years I have always needed a vacation after a vacation.  Going out of town with young children is not easy. As they get older I have realized that things are getting easier.  It has been over a year since we have gone on a vacation with our girls, and two years since they have been to the beach. To say they were excited would be an understatement.

We arrived at the condo in Orange Beach mid-afternoon.  After settling in a bit we headed out for dinner (Shrimp Basket, of course!) and then went for a walk on the beach.

This was Brooke's first time on the beach since she was about 8 months old.  She was unsure of the sand and water for about 4 seconds.

The walk started off nice and calm.  Walking in the sand, dipping our toes in the water...

And then the excitement took over.  Macy was drenched by a wave.  They were pretty strong and knocking the girls over.  

Brooke got knocked over and it scared her for a bit, but she got over it once we convinced her that it was okay she was completely wet.

More to come...

Just Some (or a lot) Pictures

 

 

4th of July

We had such a busy 4th of July week.  My mom's siblings come to town this week every year, and this year Marc's brother's family came in town for a visit as well.  We did a lot of house hopping and some entertaining here at our new home.  While it was a crazy week (and this week has been catch up on everything around the house that you didn't get done last week) I'm so glad we had time with our family.

My family came over for a cookout on the 4th and after they left we remembered the sparklers we bought.  The last few years we have bought a few "fireworks", but being the new kids on the block we didn't want to ruffle feathers in the new neighborhood.  So we just stuck to sparklers. Then I made a impromptu suggestion to take the girls to see the local fireworks.  They got in their pajamas and we were off to find a quiet, sneaky spot to watch the fireworks.  Except it wasn't that quiet and sneaky because hundreds of other people thought the same thing. Oh well, we found a good spot and the kids enjoyed the display.