We just returned from our Gulf Shores family vacation a week or so ago. It was so much fun, the weather was perfect, the kids were (fairly) well-behaved, and we even endured the LONG car ride without any casualties!
Colin and Maggie LOVED the beach and ocean. I think they are hooked!
It made it even more fun being there with all of our cousins and some of Brian's extended family. The house was right on the beach and you could literally just walk a few hundred feet and be lounging on our own, almost private, bit of sand and sun!
All 3 of the kids had some minor accidents while there - Eli slipped on the plastic swimming pool and had a huge fat lip, Colin flipped his raft out in the ocean and hit the sand with his face and lip, and Maggie was going in to kiss Eli on his head and ended up almost biting through her top lip (lots of blood, but it healed up nicely!).
We made it to Olive Branch, MS the first night and stayed in a hotel.
The kids just swam for a couple hours and we got some food ordered into the hotel room.
It was nice to be able to stretch our legs after 9 hours in the car. Surprisingly, we only stopped once that whole day. The kids were rockstars!
Swimming in the hotel pool
Olivia and Johnny also made their way to the same hotel that night and joined us in the pool
They are all little fishies!!
We were so excited to get to the beach that we took off early the next morning and arrived in Gulf Shores by around 2 or so.
The kids wanted to head straight out to the beach, but we went to mass first, instead.
Then we ordered some pizza and spent the evening outside. It was perfect!
We brought along one big toy for Eli to play with, and Caroline had one, too.
This was definitely not a baby-proof house, we were so glad to have something there that the 2 of them could just climb all over.
Brian took all the kids out in the ocean every day.
I get motion sickness pretty easily these days, so I just 'lifeguarded' from the beach.
The kids had boogie boards and huge innertubes to play with in the ocean.
The first 2 days were 'red flag' days with HUGE waves and lots of jelly fish around to sting everyone. Seriously though, everyone got stung at some point when they were out in the ocean, but obviously didn't care enough to stop playing :)
Colin was fearless and spent the whole day out in the waves.
Eli loved the water as well.
Grammie and Caroline hanging out on the beach
Katie and her girls
Eli and I enjoying the sun
After Eli's spill when he hurt his lip. Poor kiddo! He took it like a champ though!
Maggie and Daniel were pretty good buddies throughout the vacation.
She was such a good helper for him, keeping an eye on him and tending to his every little need.
Dave and Eli on picture day (our family wore white shirts)
Daniel and Maggie Mae
Eli and Colin
The inner tubes were SOOO much fun for the kids
Maggie loved being on Brian's back out in the ocean - they stayed out there for hours!
We did some souvenir shopping while the boys hit the golf course
Outside of a restaurant named "bubba's". It was fried food heaven.
(Maggie has a napkin in her mouth because of her bloody lip she got at dinner!)
One of my favorite pictures - love this one!
A great family picture from our beach vacation
The boys hanging out in the ocean
All the cousins (minus Daniel - who was having a 'moment' at the time)
Brian is such a good dad, spent all his time out there playing with the kids
Eli and I lounging on the deck on the house
The week flew by so quickly. We played lots of Beersbee, Uno, and board games and had some really great seafood!
Marvin and Kathy got a wonderful house for all of us to live in for the week - we can't thank them enough for their generosity! Very thoughtful and like I said, SO MUCH FUN!
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