Summer Vacation - Gulf Shores 2015 Part 2

The boys know how to swim, but loved floating. Sometimes, they would share a buggy boggy board. Again, our house is in the background.

After two days in the sun, everyone was given a hat. Gwyn wore one of Pappy's. The water was bluer at the start of the week. Throughout the week, it got greener, and each day the sea weed was different. One day would have none, then the next would have a row of it, then it would be everywhere. And I had to act all cool about it so the kids would be cool. One day we went down, and there were small clear jelly fish EVERYWHERE. They were on the beach, and all in the water. You could feel them bump off your legs as you walked around. That was a hard day for me to be out, but I did it.

Gwyn, yet again, loved her innertube. She got a pink one this year.

Pappy and Grandma's last night.

By Wednesday, I wanted the kids out of the sun a bit more. (We would go down after breakfast, and stay there until dinner. Sometime Gwyn was down all day as well.) So we made the ocean pool. We filled it with ocean water each morning. I must say it was well-received by the kids. They liked having a new place to play, and it allowed Gwyn to play in water without an adult!

Wednesday was also my birthday. Gwyn and husband went grocery shopping in late afternoon, and Gwyn saw this and made husband buy it. I wasn't really expecting anything, as we celebrated before the trip. But Gwyn said that cookie cake is my favorite (she is right) and that I would like the beach picture. I just asked her about it now and she said "I love you mama. I got you this cake. It's a beach cake and you love the beach."

Since the boys can now swim, and are taller, they could go in the ocean by themselves. (But only to mid-thigh.) Colin mostly enjoyed looking for creatures. They both would jump over waves. They are getting so tall!

Just two ladies enjoying the ocean pool.

You can see the family that shared the house with us. Anyway, Kevin stayed out an extra 40 minutes to finish his sand castle. It was pretty adorable.

We returned to Lulu's, mostly for the climbing structure. Here is Kevin (orange shirt) climbing. He had no trouble this year being brave, and went up to the top level all by himself!

Rachel easily walked the plank. I also did it again, but I was a total baby about it. I was scared and slow. She clearly thinks it is no big deal. I saved going to Lulu's until Rachel was with us, since I really wanted her to have a chance to do this climbing. She stayed up for about an hour with me and the boys. (Gwyn, husband, and DTG were on the ground watching, taking pictures, and waiting for the table.) Rachel even helped the boys out a few times when they asked.

Here is how high up the plank is. I am walking out to it from the right with Kevin behind me.

Colin being amazing and walking. He loved it, and, naturally, talked the entire time. Seriously.

Since he was taller this year, he had an easier time moving his tether on his own.

Colin walked the plank!!! Twice!

Dinner time. We asked why they had bags of water hanging around the rafters. Apparently, the bags keep flies away. Cool fact.

We returned to The Track for one more hour of go-carts.

The last evening, everyone but DTG rode the big go-cart. I wanted to get a picture since we all were having so much fun. Colin did not want to be in the picture. (You can see the ramp of the go-carts behind us.)

We also returned to the kid area. The boys drove their own go-carts, and Gwyn went on the little rides. She is so happy on the swings. The picture of her on this ride was on our Christmas card last year!

I wish I had a better picture of the end result of 4 days of sand castling. (Is that a verb?) On the left, Rachel built a castle for Gwyn. She had an umbrella to keep her in the shade, tunnels from Colin, and entrance, and a spot for her chair. She LOVED it. On the right is the final castle from husband. We left them for the next family to destroy or add on to.

We made it back home! We did the entire drive on Saturday and got home that evening. Again, the drive was nice since we had two cars and the kids could choose to ride with daddy or DTG. 

It was a wonderful family vacation, one that I hope the kids will remember. It is funny, once you have kids you realize that trips are not for you, they are for your children to make memories. I hope they like this one.