Gulf Shores 2011

In June we went to the beach at Gulf Shores. We left on a Friday after Mitch got off work. We planned to break the trip up on the way down there. Mitch's parents drove the entire way Saturday and met us there that afternoon. After stopping in Hattiesburg, MS to spend the night, we got up the next morning to drive to Mobile, AL. We stopped at the USS Alabama. Here is the huge propeller.

Then we drove on to Gulf Shores. We were able to get into our house when we got there.  This was our house, the Drift Inn II.

It had a nice deck and a nice view.

Every morning we would sit on the deck and drink coffee or eat breakfast, then change into our suits and head down to the beach. Mitch set up our umbrella and chairs each day.

The tent was great for eating snacks or for reading a book.

The kids loved playing in the sand. They dug holes and filled them up with water to pretend they were swimming pools. They built sandcastles and forts. Every day Mitch built a Ft. Colvin.

Ft. Colvin

We bought boogie boards for the kids but they were scared to use them in the water, so Mitch and Gill drug them across the wet sand. They loved that and it was good exercise for Daddy and Papaw!



The kids loved running down to the water, jumping over the waves and counting the waves. Ainsley was not scared of the water at all!

Will and Ainsley loved waving at boats and airplanes as they came by. Ainsley can spot an airplane faster than anyone. Her quote for the week was "Some airplanes have signs and some don't. Some signs say 'Eat at Lulu's' and some don't." She learned that some planes carried advertisement signs and must have said that sentence a hundred times.

Mitch and Gill went fishing often, many times early in the morning while the rest of us were sleeping. The kids enjoyed watching and even "helping". Ainsley got so excited when Gill caught a fish!

Mitch and I walked on the beach every day while the kids were eating or napping. One day we saw a man catch a huge sting ray. During the afternoon we would let the kids nap, Mitch would fish or play in the water, and I would read. Then we would get ready to go out for supper. We ate at Sea 'n Suds, Bahama Bob's, Lulu's, Tacky Jack's and Calypso Joe's. Several of the places had things for the kids to play on while waiting. One night we got shrimp and ate at home. Another night Mitch's parents let us go out by ourselves. We tried a new place called Cosmo's in Orange Beach and then split a Reece's blizzard from Dairy Queen. So long, diet.

One day Mitch and I went to Foley to do some shopping at the outlet mall there. Another day we took the kids to a race track/arcade/bungee jumping place. There was a little amusement park for kids with rides just their size. They rode the tea cups, a train, swings, Ferris wheel, carousel and we did bumper boats together. They loved squirting each other with water. Another day we all went to the Gulf Shores State Park pier. You could see tons of fish swarming under the pier and there were tons of people fishing.



There were thunderstorms a few times during the middle of the night. The windows would whistle (I thought someone was blowing a whistle or a horn) and the house would shake from the strong winds. It was weird. Mitch had to go outside during the storms and gather up our swim suits, flip flops, towels, ice chest and boogie boards that were on the deck and had blown away!

One afternoon I saw a little orange sand crab scurry down the sand dune and bury itself in the sand.  At night we went onto the beach with flashlights to look for sand crabs and to collect seashells and sand dollars.

One afternoon we watched a couple get married on the beach in front of a house a few doors down. It was a small wedding but lots of beach-goers like us looked on and clapped when the bride and groom kissed.

One night before supper we tried to get some family pictures on the sand dunes. Here are some of the better ones.

Several mornings while sitting on the deck, Mitch and Gill spotted dolphins swimming close to the shore. As we were leaving the last day and taking one last look at the water, we saw another group, and two of them jumped out of the water and did a flip! It was like they were saying goodbye!

We drove home Saturday morning. We made several stops, one of which was the Mississippi Welcome Center in Vicksburg. There is a nice visitor's center with a great view of the river and several historical landmarks. We made one more stop after that and were finally in the home stretch. It was a great vacation but we were glad to be home!