Gulf Shores/ Mobile (or Mobibile, if you are Molly)

Hey y'all,

WARNING: This post could make you very jealous... ;)

As Michael's birthday present, we spent a weekend "at the beach." We stayed in Mobile, (actually Daphne, but really....) but spent quite a bit of time at Gulf Shores. We did a lot of fun things: played at the beach, explored the coast line, saw boats and trains, hunted alligators, briefly visited Dauphin Island, saw a cruise ship depart, and had the scare of our lives (sort of) at a wildlife refuge. We really had a great time! We can't wait to go back to the beach in July. Michael has a conference in Gulf Shores. We get to stay in a condo right on the beach, that time. We are all looking forward to it!

And they're off...

Molly was SO excited. She didn't remember her last trip to the beach - a vacation to Myrtle Beach when she was almost a year and a half.

I made them stop for a picture when they reached the sand. It was barely a pause!

This was Colin's first time to the beach, had to get a good pic of him down at the water. I wish we had been prepared to get in the water at this point, but alas, everything was still packed in the suitcase. (We drove straight to the beach - what can I say, we were anxious to see it!)

Colin thought it was all pretty cool.

Already playing in the sand!

Colin experienced his "ninnow" (window) down for the first time. In the van he doesn't have a window, and we have never had the windows all the way down before! He was hilarious and LOVED it! I love his hair blowing in the wind!

And this was BEFORE we played in the water! I can't believe she was comfortable enough to sleep like that!

Colin was enthralled with the "fafall" (waterfall) in the hotel.

This was one of the boats we saw in Mobile Bay. The next day we went back to see a cruise ship depart. It was neat. We also saw a couple of barges; one was full of coal.

The big boat wasn't even passed when a train came by behind us. Colin immediately took off to see the train. He was in transportation heaven! :)

Can you read his lips? He is telling the train "bye." I love him!

So we went on another hunt. This time for alligators.

These were part way down the path. Michael was first... he tried to make us believe they were real! Stinker! On the way back to the car, we passed them again. Don't miss the video of Colin below... so cute!

Colin checking out the water.

He likes it. Funny story about his Maters (his shoes); we couldn't find water shoes to fit him - his feet are too thick! - so we thought he could just wear his Maters. That worked for a while, until we lost one! We thought it was a goner - the current was pretty strong, red flag even, that day. Anyway, I spotted something down the way and thought it may be his shoe. I checked it out and sure enough, we recovered the lost Mater! Yea! (Colin LOVES his Maters!)

My boys

Molly and Colin really enjoyed playing in the sand. We almost didn't get any sand toys because we thought they would mostly play in the water. Boy am I glad we got some!!! (Gotta love Target's dollar bins! $3 later...)

Molly wasn't too sure about the water, but really had a good time once she got in with Daddy.

Ignore the kid in the front, we don't know him... Molly and Michael are the two in the waves.

Molly made a sand angel.

Colin thought he would too, but didn't quite get it...

My Snickerdoodle! He was completely covered in sand. In kind of makes you wish there was no such thing as sunscreen! Darn sticky stuff!

Okay, so we decided to check out this wildlife preserve... It was exciting, to say the least... There was a mile loop we decided to walk. I was a bit unsure. It was hot and Molly and I were in flip flops, but Michael wanted to do it, so we did. It started out nice... a few lizards here and there. Then, it seemed like every time we took a step we were about to step on a lizard. We saw probably a 100 or more lizards! Every time they would dart away they would rustle into the brush. That made us a little jumpy because we were never sure what all was making the rustling! Part way in, I told Michael I wanted him to lead (not Colin) in case there were snakes sunning themselves in the path. (It's amazing how your thinking changes... I would never have looked for snakes at Darby Creek!) Anyway, shortly after that, what does Michael see slithering away in the brush... oh yes, a snake. Not far after that, I see another one! At that point, I am a bit nervous! I don't know snakes. I don't know which ones could kill my kids! I kept finding myself about to squeeze Molly's hand off! Poor girl. After these two episodes, the bazillion lizards scurrying everywhere tended to freak us out! Finally we reach the boardwalk part of the walk and calmed a bit. However, at that point we were so hot, both kids wanted held and we were speed walking to get to the car. Not to mention... Colin had a messy diaper the whole way... and boy was it messy, stinky, that is!

The beginning... everything is nice, I was enjoying the different "flora" of these woods.

Colin so excited about all the lizards. (Still the beginning...)

Notice the lack of pictures in the middle... I was too nervous to bother with pictures! However, this stretch of the trail was beautiful!

We visited Souvenir City. Colin loved this shark!

Pretty girl by a palm tree.

This is the video of Colin. He sees the "galgators."

Hope you enjoyed our trip to the beach. It's so nice being closer! Of course we are still a bit jealous of Michael and Christina - they are much closer to a beach, but this will do. :)

Until next time...