The Beach!

Last week we drove to Gulf Shores, Alabama and spent five perfect days on the beautiful white sandy beaches.

This is the balcony of our condo. What a view!


The boys LOVED the beach! They immediately jumped in the waves and never looked back. Not an ounce of fear.




Aiden




Abbott





We brought our little kickboards with us, but quickly discovered that these beach bums needed bigger boards! (Including dad!)


Anna did great. She insisted on wearing her life jacket the first day

but she got much braver




She had fun playing in the waves with mom



Adeline HATED the beach. She hated everything about the beach...the sand, the water (salty water!), the waves, the unending sun, did I mention the sand?

She kept trying to run up to the condo and we had to run after her and drag her back. She tried everything to stay off the beach.


The little diva wanted to stay on the lounge chair...but at $25 at day to rent...I don't think so.


Dad tried to get her to warm up to the waves...no way!


Someone lent us a little baby pool that we filled up and sat her in. That made her pretty happy...well, I won't go as far as happy, but at least she wasn't crying.


Our sandcastle had a moat that went all the way to the water


We also spent plenty of time at the pool. There was a kiddie pool (think big bathtub) that was perfect for Adeline. She had so much fun...she couldn't figure out why we kept wanting to go down to the stinkin' beach!






We went on a dolphin cruise which was a blast. Adeline was especially thrilled with the dolphins!


We saw three dolphins swimming together. My pictures are horrible because they were back under by the time the picture snapped!


Adeline did not approve of wearing a life jacket, and the little stinker got it off without unbuckling it! Here she is triumphantly giving it back to mom.


And here she is in the new one mom strapped her into...mom wins! In case you can't tell, she is throwing that little fit on the floor of the boat.


I had to include this picture...It is out of focus, but I am trying to take a cute picture of Anna in her Hannah Montana life jacket. It's fuzzy because I shifted the camera when I noticed my boys strangling each other in the background! Sheesh!


I knew we would be spending our downtime together in the condo and I wanted it to be special. I ordered a million legos off ebay and wouldn't let anyone touch them until the trip. This is REALLY special because I have banished legos from our home. Baby Adeline put everything in her mouth and they didn't keep them picked up, so in the trash they went! Now that Adeline is 2 and has outgrown the whole mouth thing (and there aren't anymore little Pattersons coming along!) I decided to give legos another chance. Anyway...this was a huge hit. Everyone (including mom and dad) made spaceships and I think they had as much fun with the legos as they did on the beach.


I tried to do a photo shoot on the beach. I really need to stress the TRIED part. It was a fiasco. I should have taken into account the fact that one of my four children HATES the beach. The other three weren't much better. I was so bummed because they looked so cute! This picture sums it up:


This is the best one I got:


Anna wouldn't stop picking up the shells...but she looked really pretty doing it!



Handsome dudes


Man...I miss these sunsets. I want to go back to the beach!


Here is the really cool souvenir shop where we bought our hermit crabs.


Yes...we really came home with hermit crabs and that is a whole seperate post!