Sunday, July 27, 2008

Been there...done that!!

Yes, I feel as if we hit every stop in Gulf Shores, AL during our 5 day stay.
Ok, not really, but we did a lot! Not everything got done in the
"Vacation Folder"(I know those of you who are laughing at me), but the majority did.
Anyway, we had a blast as I'm sure you will see in the pictures below. I promise I'm not posting everything. I have alot more pictures and many other stories, lol.

Day 1
We're on our w
ay!






This is about 7am just leaving the house. Everyone is excited and ready to watch the first movie on the new dual DVD player. Sure, why not. So, I guess about 3 hours or so into the trip, Sydney says "The screen is black." I'm ticked b/c I was hesitant about purchasing this set anyway b/c of reviews, but some reviews were good and some were bad, so what the heck...I bought it. Anywho, I check it out and the screen is black, so I mess with it for a few seconds and then we start to smell something. I immediately look at the screen and smell it and it stinks and then take a closer look and notice it is SMOKING, yes smoking. I panic just waiting for it to catch on fire in my hands. I immediately unplug it and just stare at it in disgust. I wanted to chunk it out of the window but can't b/c I will defiantly be returning this as an unhappy customer. The other screen worked perfect and thank goodness we had both b/c that one saved us on the way home. They could both watch that one. We were off to an interesting start! The kids did great on the ride down...got a little loud towards the end, but everyone was ready to get out. We get to the condo and immediately head to the beach.



I promise I'm not torturing my children by not letting them wear hats. The wind was blowing like crazy and we could not keep them on, but I am proud to say that Sydney was the only one to get a little red during the whole trip. Carson was not much on the waves, but they were real high and rough thanks to hurricane Dolly!

Day 2
Relaxing and Family Pictures

We took it pretty easy this day b/c the waves were still pretty high and rough and the jellyfish were bad. This was mostly a day at the pool.



This was Carson favorite thing to do at the pool...jump off the side! A little scary!
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Carson was enjoying some food and Sydney was enjoying her new pirate hat and alligator ride!
After a morning at the pool, we went and ate lunch and then all came back for a nap to get ready for our family pictures by Mr. Sam Whit. We met with him right around sunset to begin the family pictures. The picture session was great. Sam and one other man took our pictures for about 1 1/2 hours. I'm blank of this other mans name at the moment, but he is a world known vidoeographer that has recently retired, but Sam has talked him in to coming with him on some shoots and learn about photography. It was so neat and those pictures should be on his website sometime this week. I'll post when they are up. Thank you to Amber Pope for giving me Sam's name. He was super nice, fun and very professional.

Day 3
Shopping and Waterville

Me, mom and Carson dropped Sydney and Alan off at Waterville around 10:30am and off to Foley we went to the outlet mall. I hit Gymboree and Gap pretty good, so lets just say I didn't hit many other stores after that. But, my kids are ready for back to school, some fall and already clothes for next spring. Even the lady at Gymboree said I did good for what I spent. She is not aware that I am a professional Gymboree shopper, hehe! I talked to Alan a few times throughout the day and they were having a blast. Hitting all of the big water slides. I couldn't believe that Sydney was doing it, but she LOVED it! I don't have any pictures of that....dang it!
We ended up picking them up around 5:30pm from the water park. They were full speed all day. Let's just say Alan slept good that night!

Day 4
Beach, Sydney gets a hair wrap, Go Carts and The Wharf

We packed alot in one this day. We started the morning out at the pool and beach.
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These are just some random pictures. You can tell in the picture with me, Carson and Sydney that Carson was trying to escape. He did not like the waves.

Next Alan and i take Sydney to get a hair wrap. I remember having one of these when I went to the beach on summer. Anyway, Sydney loves it and it's too cute.

Here we are at the wooden go cart track. This is Sydney's 1st go cart ride ever and of course she loved it!


Poor Carson just had to sit there and watch.


After the exciting Go Cart ride, we headed to the Wharf. This was a really neat place. It is home to one of the largest Ferris Wheels, which of course we rode. Brooks and Dunn was having a concert at the coliseum (see their hot air balloon in the picture below). It flew right above the Ferris Wheel before we got on. It was pretty neat. The Wharf is full of neat shops and restaurants.


Day 5
Time to head home..:-(

The morning that we left ended perfect...we saw about 2 or 3 dolphins feeding in front of our condo. It was so neat to see and a great way to end the vacation. I did not get any pictures of this though. It totally completed a great trip.

I think Sydney favorite spot was sitting out on the balcony at the condo, so of course I took a picture of her in her favorite chair. And let me tell you, she would fight you for this chair, lol.


Well, I think they were worn out. We had a great trip and I'm soooo sad it is over. This will be my one vacation for the year. I promise the other post will not be this long, but I just had so much I wanted to share. Believe me. I hope everyone has a wonderful summer. My baby girl will be starting Kindergarten in about 3 weeks...makes so sad!

4 comments:

Paul and Paula said...

Awww, I'm so glad y'all had such a great trip!! The pictures are awesome!!!! I can't wait to see your family pics! Great post!!! :)

Unknown said...

Hey! I'm so glad that you guys had such a great time! The pics are great and I cannot wait to see the ones that Sam took. We leave for the beach today and I can't wait!!! See you when we get back! :)

Jenny Sipes said...

cute cute! love those pictures!! they are great!

Melissa said...

Melissa, I'm so glad you had a wonderful time at the beach. Sydney and Carson are absolutely precious, I can't believe how big they both are!