The Beach

Ok, so here is the first of 2 beach posts.  I will do the other one with the pics that I made on the beach, hopefully, tomorrow.

This is the first morning that we were there and the water was still really choppy from the Tropical Storm that had just passed through.  The weather the whole time that we were down there was beautiful, no rain, barely any clouds.  Just perfect.

My Mom and Tim went with us and it was SO nice to have another set of eyes to watch Rory on the beach.  Luckily, this year, she wasn't as interested in the ocean and didn't bolt towards the water at every chance that she got. 

Rory and Gee, walking and looking for seagulls or as Rory calls them "little fellas."  She kept chasing them saying, "here litta fellas...Rory won't hurt ya"

Rory and Daddy playing in the sand.  She LOVED the sand and loved even more wrecking any structure that we made out of it. 

This guy and his family were staying in our condo and he was out on the beach every morning fishing.  He caught about 25 catfish (I had no idea that catfish were in the ocean) that he kept throwing back (or maybe 1 catfish 25 times?) and then all of a sudden, he started calling in our direction saying that he thought that he had a small shark and asking if Kev or Tim could help him pull it in.

We all went running in his direction and needless to say, it was not a shark, but a 30lb Redfish.  It was HUGE.  Clearly, he didn't throw this one back!  Mom and I both made the comment that we felt terrible for the fish when it was laying on the beach dying.  I know, I am a wussie, whatever...

We also went to Tacky Jacks one night.  Due to the time that we were down there, there was NO ONE there so we got great tables and immediate seating in the restaurants.  I snapped this pic of my tanned baby while we were waiting on our food.

No beach trip is complete without a pic of a beach sunset.  If you look close, you will see a crane standing on the beach.  We think that he had a nest somewhere around our condo because he/she was out every morning and every evening while we were there.  Mr. Crane was clearly used to people too because he would get really close to us if we were sitting on the beach.

If I had taken the time to edit this, you could see him better.  Oh well!

One morning, Rory got up and said that she wanted to go to the beach and build sand castles before her breakfast.  So we put some clothes on and headed on down.  It was a bit cool in the mornings since the storms had brought a bit of cool air with them. 

My girl was really happy to be getting in some beach time, even before breakfast!

Look at those tiny feet! 

Rory and her "diggers" which is what she called the shovels.  She sat on the beach this morning for probably 35 minutes, in the same spot, and just played.  It was lovely.

WE also went to the Zoo and on a Dolphin cruise.  The Zoo there is very small but really, lovely.  You can buy a $2.00 cup of food and then feed the animals as you go along (well some of them at least).  It is very kid friendly and Rory LOVED it.  We got there not too long after it opened and the animals were very active and knew what the cup of food looked like, so we got to feed a lot of them.
These are deer and reindeer.  They had found this space in the fence where they could fit their noses. They were so sweet and gentle!

This fella was hungry I think.  He didn't roar, but we did get him on video 'talking' or whatever you would like to call it.  It made your chest rattle.  Glad he was behind a fence.

More feeding deer.

One of the few pics from the Dolphin cruise.  We did a Groupon for a glass bottom dolphin cruise before we left.  Rory was not a fan of the boat at first, but she kinda warmed up to it.  We didn't see many dolphins, again mostly because of the storms, the water was a bit churned up and not as clear and calm as it usually is.  We did see some, but just didn't get really close.  No matter though, we had a great time!

More beach baby photos.  She had 2 swim suits and wore them both most every day since one was generally always wet.  Somehow, I only got pics of her in 1 of them, and it is the same one as last year.  Oh, well.

We spent a lot of time in the indoor and outdoor pools too.  It took Rory a good day to get used to the puddle jumper, but once she did...look out! She had no interest in letting anyone hold her.  Of course, we stuck right by her, she is much more confident in her abilities than we are.

After a few days in Orange Beach, Mom and Tim went home and Kev, Rory and I drove to Fairhope to meet Kevin's family for the weekend at The Grand, just to round out our week long holiday. After a week with 4 adults, Rory was thrilled to see her cousins. 

The kiddos spent a lot of time at the pools and we even drove back to Gulf Shores on Saturday so that the boys could go to the zoo too since they had not ever been.  Our 2nd trip to the zoo was in the late morning, early afternoon (probably around 11ish) and the animals were not interested as much in food since they had already been fed and really wanted to take naps in the sun.  The Zoo doesn't take long, maybe an hour, so we had lunch at LuLu's and then headed back to The Grand, for more swimming.

Dark, horrible pic!  But I wanted to remember Rory and Brock laying on the bed after swimming, watching Blues Clues while we waited for room service pizza to show up.

Crazy monkey boy Brock.

BeBe and all her 'Grands.

Our last night on vacation. We sat on the balcony and watched the sun set over the water again. 

When you are at the beach and witness this fire on the water at sunset, you can't help but be amazed at the wonders of God's creation!  There is nothing like witnessing it with the 2 people that you love the most.  It was a spectacular vacation!



MIA

I haven't forgotten about beach pics, as promised.  I have been SUPER busy both at work and home.  They are coming, I promise!

First Day

I mentioned yesterday that Rory was starting 2 day per week MDO this week.  She was SO excited this morning, I had trouble getting pictures.  I got a few at home, but once we got there, forget it...she was too excited to be bothered.  She met one of her classmates in the lobby, and they immediately hit it off. The school provides the kids with the same bag.  Each class has it's own design...Rory's class was crayons, so when I spotted another crayon, I pointed Rory their way, and she and her new buddy were fast friends.

My big girl, getting excited to be going to big girl school!

 I am hoping to take a picture with this bunny on the last day of school too,  I know my big girl will look like such a baby compared to her end of the year picture.

 I have quite a few of these...very nice Rory!

 Little Miss Independant wanted to hold her lunch bag.  I have yet to get it embroidered...whatever, maybe this weekend.

 At school.  I was hoping for this cute, in front of the school pic...not so much.  She was so excited and just kept running around.  Oh well, this is our story, our first day experience and she was SO excited, and I am thrilled that the pics reflect that!

   She cried a bit when we left, but other than that, she did really well! 

She was glad that Kevin was there to pick her up, but she had a good time.  I asked her if she wanted to go back and she said 'Yes, but not today'

She refused a nap after school and then promptly fell asleep on the couch at 7:15.  I changed her to jammies, and tucked her into bed without waking her.  My sweet big girl!

Some posts on the beach are coming soon!

10 on Monday

This is a just a quickie post.  I am going to do a post (or 2) on our beach vacation this week. For now, here is a 10 on Monday.

1. We just got back from a week at the beach.  We stayed 4.5 days at a condo in Orange Beach and 2.5 days in Fairhope at The Grand Resort and Spa.
2. Rory packed her beach bag today and told her Daddy that she is going to the beach.  He told her no, that we would have to go another time.  She told him very firmly "I am asking you 1 more time, take me to the beach!"  Not much of a questions huh?
3. Because of the tropical storm that passed through the beach the previous weekend, there were TONS of shells on the beach...we brought home probably 60 or so...not kidding!
4. Rory starts preschool tomorrow.  I am so excited I can hardly stand it.  She is pretty excited too!
5. This past Friday was my Dad's birthday.  Loved spending it at the beach.  I don't know why, but I feel so much closer to heaven at the beach..is that weird?
6. I am back at work today...BOO!
7. I am going to the grocery store tonight to get stuff for Rory's lunch...do you know how hard it is to find a lunch box for a toddler?  They are all HUGE, I finally found 2...I got one of them and I am going to order the other one next week. Never hurts to have a spare.
8. We have had major regression on the potty training front.  Hopefully she will pick it back up soon!
9. I am having trouble thinking of 10...apparently my brain is still at the beach.
10. Yeah...read #9.

:)