Gulf Shores

A few weeks ago we went on vacation to Gulf Shores, AL.  We had never been before and were able to use a condo from a family friend.  We LOVED it!  The beach was so nice and the water was so clear!  We bought a canopy and set it up for our beach days.  It was wonderful and allowed us to spend lots of time at the beach without getting too hot in the sun.  The ocean was thriving with life.  We saw dolphins and tons of stingrays in the water.  It was really cool how they'd swim around you and you could see them.  I bet there were 15 or so at one time.  We even saw a shark!  Don't worry it was a small one, but it did chase us to the shore!  We guessed it was about 3 feet long and even though it may not have been extremely dangerous I'm pretty sure it would have dampened the vacation if it had gotten a hold of any of us.

There was lots to do in Gulf Shores.  We visited the local zoo also known as The Little Zoo that Could.  We were able to feed some of the animals which the kids loved.  Levi's favorite part was feeding this little deer.  He even asked if we could get him one when we got back home.  So far we haven't found any, but we are still looking :)  They had lots of animals and they were all close enough to see and enjoy.  The kids absolutely loved it!  Our favorites were the alligators, lions, and tigers.  We took the ferry one day across the bay and visited the estuary.  There were lots of fish to see and we enjoyed the ferry ride as well.

At night we did a little crab hunting on the beach.  We found lots of crabs and we all had a good laugh watching Aaron try to catch them so the kids could see them.  We also found tons of shells to bring back and even decided to put some in Levi's new sandbox that he got for his birthday.

We also had some wonderful food while we were there.  We ate some great seafood at Tacky Jack's and some good home-styled food at Lambert's.  Levi liked Lambert's because they throw rolls at you.

I think our kids favorite parts of the trip  were the SAND, the BALCONY, and the POOL!  They loved digging and pouring sand on each other, building sand castles and of course burying Poppy in the sand.  Levi even got brave and let us bury him a little.  The pool was Levi & Naomi's favorite spot as well.  Levi was getting really good at using his floaties and swimming without any assistance.  I think he'll be a great swimmer in the years to come.  Naomi absolutely loves the water.  She is definitely our water bug.  She would get in and immediately want to get out and walk to the side and jump in again.  I'm pretty sure they would have spent every second at the pool if we'd have let them.  The balcony was a big hit with both little ones.  I think we had the door open to the balcony the entire time we were there and they spent every moment we were in the condo on the balcony.  They loved watching the boats come in and out of the bay and of course they could see the pool from there as well!  We all had a terrific time and are already looking forward to going back!