Vacation Part 2

After leaving Northern Mississippi on Saturday, we embarked on our 7 hour journey to Gulf Shores, Alabama!  I have to admit, Hayden was not the greatest traveling partner.  He was not feeling well and had run fever Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  He did not nap well either travel day.  So, we (I) had to pretty much entertain him the whole time or feed him snacks.  He literally cried the last 30 minutes of our trip because he was so worn out and not feeling well!   So, we were all so thankful when we finally arrived! 

Jeff, Hayden, and I and Matt, Sherry, Cole, and Brooklyn were traveling together from Mississippi.  Matt, Amy, and Barrett left their house Saturday morning early to meet up with us.  What is so cool is we just happened to actually meet up in Mississippi at the same place only about 10 minutes apart!  It worked out great and we all were able to get there at the same time. 

We actually stayed at the Gulf Shores Plantation Resort in Ft. Morgan about 15 minutes from Gulf Shores. We rented a 3 bedroom/2 bath beach house for the week.  It was great because we were able to cook meals there, have lots of room to move around, one of the six pools was right outside our door, and the beach was a short walk.  We loved it! 

The Pool View

Our Room…

The view from the second floor balcony…

The Kiva Dunes Resort and Golf Course was right outside our back door.  Jeff, Matt, and Cole got to play a round of golf there on Wednesday.  Jeff said it was a hard course but they had a lot of fun! 

Guess who learned to climb the stairs the first day we were there?

The first morning we were there, we had to go check out the beach.  We had heard that the oil had hit the Ft. Morgan beaches the day we arrived.   Here are some pictures from our first view of the beach…

In one spot…quite clear…

About 100 feet down…tar balls!

The beaches and water looked better each day we were there.

Every night, we challenged each other to a game of Phase 10…

Hayden is getting some Aunt Sherry lovin’ while we get ready to go to the pool!

Pool time!

Hayden’s cousins, Brooklyn and Cole, were GREAT with him on our trip!  They kept him entertained! 

Barrett LOVED for his Daddy to throw him up in the air!  I love these shots!

 

Hayden and Barrett playing together…

Hayden thought it was fun to get under table and play.  I am not sure if Barrett was trying to figure out why on earth he was under there, or wanted to join him, or was telling him to get out from under there. Ha!

 

On Monday, we got to celebrate Amy’s birthday!  Jeff cooked spaghetti and we enjoyed cake and Matt’s homemade ice cream.  YUM!

Barrett kept saying “Happy Birthday Mommy” over and over.  SO CUTE!!

On Tuesday, Jeff and I decided to find a pediatrician to take Hayden to because he wasn’t getting any better.  Turns out, he just had a cold.  Glad it was not something wore, but we couldn’t really do much to make him better other than wait it out.  After we took him to the doctor, we went to LuLu’s to eat.  This resturaunt is owned by Jimmy Buffett’s sister.   It is a really cool outdoor place to eat right on the water.  They even have a sand area for the kids to play in.

LuLu being interviewed by a news station…

After lunch, we thought we would go to the zoo.  Well, when we got there, Hayden had just fallen asleep and it was really way too hot for him to be out, so Jeff and I decided to go for a drive and explore Gulf Shores while Hayden took a little nap.

We all wanted to take beach pictures, so we decided we would do one family each night.  Tuesday night, Hayden was feeling a little bit better so we decided to go for it.  Just in case we didn’t get good pictures we still had a few more nights to give it a try again.  Sherry took most of our pictures and I think they turned out great!  We did have Amy and Brooklyn as our assistants!  Unfortunately, because of our unexpected early departure, the other two families didn’t get to take their beach pictures.

Here are some of my favorites with no editing.  I do want to spend some time doing some cool things with editing.  But, that is when I have a little more time!  Ha!  Sorry there are so many.  I had a hard time choosing just a “few”. 

 

 

 

 

Part 3 coming soon…beach time, dinner at Sea n’ Suds, and Hayden’s first plane ride!