We were lucky enough to go to the beach twice in May, and 2 weekends in a row! :-) The first trip was with my family down in Orange Beach at the Phoenix West. It's such a beautiful place and even has a lazy river and waterslide! This is where we stayed with Kurt's family last year, so we were thrilled to go back!
We left after Leah and Eric's wedding reception on Saturday, May 21 and stayed until Tuesday, May 24th. We got there late that Saturday night, and since Jack slept a little on the way down, he was wired when we got there and stayed up until 1:30 am! Our room had a king bed in it, so he ended up just sleeping with us, and this is how he was when we woke up...
We started the morning off at the pool, then hungout a while in the lazy river. Mama Becky and Daddy Mer brought some pool toys/floats too, and even let Jack borrow the intertube baby suit to try out! He did ok at first, even in the lazy river, but then he started to tilt in it, so we then tried his floaties.
Pool first
Then the lazy river
He didn't do that much better in the floaties, so I guess we will have to spend more time teaching him how to swim and keep himself afloat with those! It was funny watching him try to throw them off his arm, though! :-)
Saying Jack loved the water slide is an understatement! :-) He would have gone down it all day! He had to go down with Daddy or Mommy of course, but he did so well and had a blast!
Sunday night we all headed out to eat at the Gulf Shores Steamer to celebrate Daddy's birthday. It was by a marina so we had fun looking at the boats to entertain the kids while we waited on our food! We even got a good family picture after dinner!
Speaking of family pictures, this was also the night to do our official family pictures on the beach! We always do them after dinner so the sun has gone down and the lighting is better. This year Mama Becky decided on white and khaki, and it turned out great!
Oops... was I not supposed to get in the water? :-)
Cold!!
Anybody watching me?
After pictures we went back up to get the kids ready for bed, and Jack and Jake played a little guitar
Monday we started back at the pool, and we put Jack in this baby float since we thought he might like that better than the intertube and floaties. We were right! He loved having his Uncle Jim push him around the pool and talk to him!
Jack loved to fill up his buckets with water, then he learned to pour the water on Mama Becky and Mommy! He started towards this lady in the black, but thank goodness we stopped him! :-)
Later that day we finally made it out to the beach! We didn't get to go the day before, except for pictures that night, so we were excited to see if Jack would like the waves plus making sand castles in the sand! He loved both!
Inching his way out there...
Playing with his shovel...
Sand castle time!
Now destroying the sand castles! The best part!
Since facing the waves and making sand castles was hard work, we went back to the lazy river, but of course had to stop off at the slide! After a couple of slides, though, he just wanted to play, "1, 2, 3, jump!" from the side of the pool!
Now watching Daddy slide!
Playing with Jeff and Jake! Yes, he can call him "Jeff" now! :-)
Snack time with Jake! Swimming, jumping, and sliding was hard work, too!
That night we went out to eat at Mikee's, which was recommended by Uncle Jim and Aunt Deena, and it was delicious! I definitely want to go back there! No great pictures to show, but had to mention we went there because it was a first and was great!
We then came back to the condo and head back out to the pool! It was definitely chilly at night, but we still had fun!
Who needs floaties? :-)
Baby pool with Blakely
Silly girls!
Jack kept splashing and playing with Jake and we couldn't help but laugh at him laughing!
Slide again! He laughed the whole way down, and when he got to the bottom he'd stop laughing and go, "One more! One more!"
Jack was too tired to smile! :)
The next morning we had to get ready to head home! We all had breakfast together, though, before we started packing.
Pancakes with Uncle Jim
Daddy Mer caught the kids all together watching TV the next morning
Before heading home, we went to eat lunch at Sea-N-Suds to soak up just a little more beach
Jack was exhausted and fell asleep shortly after we left lunch! Sweet boy!
Here is a video Daddy put together from this trip:
The next Saturday we headed down to Waverly to check on Jack's Pops since he'd just had knee surgery. We had a good time playing with Pops (who was doing ok), plus Granny and Granddaddy, plus Uncle Bruce and his family who came over from Georgia. It was supposed to be a quick day trip, but while we were there, Jack's Granna and Poppy kept messaging us from Panama City Beach to "keep driving South" to come be with them at the beach. We hadn't packed for the beach of course, or for any overnight trip, but we decided it might be fun to spend Memorial Day at the beach, so there we went! We did have Jack and Daddy's swimsuits with us since we took Jack's baby pool to Granddaddy's, but everything else we had to get at Target down at the beach!
Taking a walk with Poppy
Taking a nap with mommy
We went out to eat at Schooner's Monday night before heading back home. Jack enjoyed coloring with Poppy, listening to the live music, then getting a picture with Granna and Poppy!
Thanks so much to Mama Becky and Daddy Mer for taking us to the beach. We had a blast and enjoyed everyone being together. Thanks for all you did for us and provided for us to ensure we had a great time!
Thanks also to Granna and Poppy for inviting us to the beach! We appreciate all the supplies you bought us, too, since we came down with practically nothing! We had a great time and it goes down as one of our favorite spontaneous trips to date! :-)
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