pool time

We keep going back to the same condo complex in Gulf Shores - it's in West Beach (near the dead end of the road), so it has very little traffic.  Out the front door is the gulf, out the back door is the lagoon with a fishing dock, and just outside our door is the pool.  Honestly, I love the beach but with kids it's a lot of work and Gage gets sick of it because he can't escape the heat as much as he'd like.  But the pool is easy.  Everyone stays cool, easy cleanup, less crap to lug down with us, etc. Gage got brave enough to jump and go under by himself this time!

And, he was a happy boy swimming around independently with his swimmies on!

He may have endured a little tickle torture from Daddy. And Mommy. It's just so easy, he's the most ticklish little person I know, and that laugh is just adorable.

Savannah practiced her "real" swimming the first day or two, but then she requested swimmies of her own because she was not allowed to go past the 3 foot mark by herself.  So, we picked some up for 50 cents on our next trip to the grocery store, and then she too could cruise the pool independently.  She kept taking them off to swim, though :-)

 

Daddy did a lot of kid crazy stuff -- flying them over his head like superman,

letting them stand on their head, letting both of them stand on his shoulders (at the same time), etc.

Swimming, however, tires the kids out. Really tires them out. When Gage gets tired, he gets.....cranky. Oh yes, he gets VERY cranky.  At one point he tried to leave the pool area and when we called him back, this is what we got. Nice.  Five minutes later he was back in the pool swimming happily.

Speaking of Gage, he also did his first attempt at swimming.  He would start at the steps and swim to me -- he would sink in the process but he kept his mouth closed and kept moving toward me, even under water.  A great first step toward swimming!

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 :-)