the hangout

The hangout is just easy for us -- lots of stuff for the kids to do, great location, so we went back again! Gage got a fun dino on his straw who kept trying to attack the camera

 

 and on the way out we stopped to play the old get the ring on the hook game. Who doesn't love that game, whatever it's really called...

 the kids tried

 and tried

 and tried

 Savannah was looking especially pretty that day :-)

 you can see, it's a lot of fun - they were going crazy!

 And...we stopped for a picture with the mermaid

 love her!

pirates

There's a restaurant that's very touristy in Gulf Shores (The Hangout) but we love it! This year they had pirate & princess breakfast for the kids. The kids got geared up in their most piratey outfits, and then got eye patches and bandanas when we got there. Savannah even brought her stuffed parrot!

 

 As we waited for breakfast (an all you can eat platter of eggs, sausage, bacon, grits, biscuits, beignets, and homefries - yum -- it feeds us for days!)  the pirates and princesses came by. They loved this guy - he was very silly and was armed with lots of pirate jokes.

 During breakfast, they announced that there was a pirate treasure hunt happening. So, we did what any good pirates would do - we abandoned breakfast and went with them.

 The pirates led them around looking for clues

 And they eventually found pirate treasure and got some goodies (gold coins, jewelry, etc.). When we got back to our table, we had a whole new breakfast -- apparently some crazy seagulls flew in and attacked our breakfast, so they whipped up a new one for us.  After breakfast we went outside and played in the giant sandpile -- yes, that little spot is Gage at the top left.

 And, we scrounged for gems too. They have a gem mining thing you can pay for later in the day, but we figure why pay when we can just scrounge around for leftovers in the trough and in the sand just next to it.  The kids found two big handfuls of colorful gems - yes, we are cheap ;-)

 Gage found shade and parked it.  He just gets too hot in this southern sun.

baby roos

Day 3 started out -- as usual -- at the beach in the morning. Savannah tried to write her name in the sand and her crankypants brother kept messing it up on her. Stinker.

Day 3 started out where else...at the beach and it was another beautiful day.

 But, Gage wasn't feeling it. He wanted to go back within a few minutes, and when I said no, he went up and parked himself by the dunes. He sat there pouting.

 We decided that maybe he needed a break from the beach, so we decided to go to the zoo instead. He was much happier there -- for a while, at least.  This sweet donkey loved having his ears scratched.

 We wandered around feeding zoo puffs to any critter we could

 And loved this little baby goat that we found - he liked zoo puffs too :-)

We had hoped to see the baby lemurs, but they only had adults out and wouldn't allow kids under 4 to be with them. So, we decided to see the baby kangaroos again!  I think Savannah loves this little guy (named Biggy) - I have so many sweet pictures of Biggy sniffing her cheek and snuggling her neck. They are so sweet (they are 10 months old).

 The zookeepers put the roo in a little pouch and then let you hold them.  Gage was cranky at this point, but liked this little guy enough to smile, at least.

 We were finished at the zoo early - 10:30, but noticed that Scoops was open for ice cream. Since we were on vacation we said why not --- and started a tradition of getting ice cream early in the day for the remainder of our trip :-)

 After a nap (much needed for the cranky boy), we went to the beach for a while and made Adam into a mer-man :-)

 and...Gage sat on his head - call it a day :-)

long beach day

After everyone slept late (7:30!) we headed to the beach.  We started out by finding a hermit crab! We love those little guys. Savannah always gives them all crazy names like KK (for crazy) or sideways (because they walk sideways). 

 Adam started digging for shells because, well, that's what he does (and he does it for me because he knows I love collecting shells). The kids played with buckets, the water was sooo nice and warm (I'll tell you...beaching at the Gulf of Mexico has some advantages over beaching up north).

 After heading back to our condo to have breakfast, we packed up for a long day at the beach. This year we were prepared -- primarily for Gage, who does not like being in the sun for long. We got a big canopy, so we had lots of shade for the boy always says "I'm not made for hot weather, mama, I'm made for COLD weather".  It meant more crap to lug to the beach, but it was NICE to have some shade.  We all took advantage of the shade. 

 The kiddos took a break for a snack of Chicken in a Biscuit crackers -- which Grandma Rapp got them hooked on. 

 They launched themselves into the big hole about 100 times (they call this doing a cannonball). Notice that Gage is wearing a swim shirt -- he calls this his "bikini" (hey, I guess it's two-piece, so it makes sense).

 They both rolled around in the sand so much they had sand in every crack and crevice ;-)

 Gage put Adam's goggles on -- goggle boy never disappoints.

 After a long hot day at the beach, we went back to the condo to cool off, swim in the pool, and try our hand at fishing. But, it was too hot and the fish were not hungry. Actually, they caught one fish, but I was inside getting sunblock so I missed it. Gage, of course, snacked while they fished.

 And to top off the night after dinner, we went back over for a sunset stroll and flew our kites because let's face it, flying kites at the beach is the best.  Gage got bored of flying his kite after 5 minutes, so I was left to fly the kite.

 Savannah did a better job flying the kite -- maybe 10 or 15 minutes.

 Gage was happy that our hole was still there, but sad that someone had filled it mostly back in!!

 It was just a beautiful night...

ahh..the beach

We got off to a late start because Savannah started getting "carsick" before we even left the driveway (despite taking Dramamine!). I think she got herself worked up and nervous about getting sick and made it happen.  But, we finally get on the road and stopped at the flea market in Mobile, where Adam spent lots of money on comic books. He left there a VERY happy Daddy.  So, after a long day on

the road, we finally made it.

The kids did a little happy dance, and if you look closely, Adam is doing his own little celebration in the background of the picture :-)

Savannah was just a little excited to be at the beach!

I should have known that a "walk over the the beach" would turn into playing in the water. So, they both ended up soaked and sandy, but happy.

Gage was a man on a mission.  He was bringing handfuls of wet sand up to the beach to throw "sandballs" at things. I can't tell you how many times I yelled "STOP THROWING SAND"

He also had to get in the action of playing in the waves. This is the first of many times he was knocked over by waves on our trip - love that I captured his face when it happened.

And that was it - we went to a little restaurant nearby to have shrimp and fish tacos for dinner as we sat on the patio.  The kids were exhausted and slept in late and all was right in the world :-)

artists

The eisel usually lives upstairs in Savannah's room, which is carpeted. That means that the kids have been threatened to use only crayons, washable markers, and stickers on their eisel artwork. But it's summer and Mommy is breaking all the rules. So, I brought it downstairs, and we have spent 2 days PAINTING on the eisel, on giant pieces of paper, and the kids have loved it!  Gage painted a picture of me, my face with lots of colorful crazy hair...

 

 This is the finished project and I just love it :-)  It ranks among my favorite pieces of art he's done!

Savannah painted a picture of the ocean, complete with dolphin, starfish, and sand. Apparently you need to have crazy eyes when you paint these days :-)

bird feeders

I've already heard "I'm bored" more times than I would like to admit.  But, I have a list of fun crafts, activities, etc. for us to do this summer. The first one we tackled was making our old favorites -- bird feeders. Pine cones & toilet paper rolls, peanut butter and bird food.  The birdies love them.  Savannah usually eats bird food, but really, how bad can it be for her -- she also still nibbles dry cat food now and then when she thinks I'm not looking.

 Gage was proud of his tp feeder. This time we stepped up our game and punched holes at the bottom, and fed sticks through the feeder so the birdies have a little perch. We believe in Lowes' logo -- never stop improving :-)

Savannah scoped out some good spots to hang our feeders ---- right next to our pine tree that fell down.  Speaking of the pine tree -- that is where we always got the pine cones for our birdfeeders!!  Luckily I had a bag of them upstairs in our craft bin.  We had a few left in our craft bin, but we need to go find a new pine tree!! I'll miss having one in our front yard -- very convenient for craft making. We make pine cones into everything -- ghosts, bats, pumpkins, Xmas trees, etc.