Gulf Shores 2016 (Part 3)

Today is the final installment of summer vacation 2016. And honestly it is just more of the same. Mainly a bunch of beach pictures. Jeremy and I played hard with the boys and we did our fair share of relaxing. Because with 3 little boys and a beach full of sand, they definitely don't need us to entertain them. They also made friends, which meant we made friends too (that we'll probably never see again). Holden always makes us some friends when we go on vacation. :) It's one of my favorite pieces of his personality. And so very different than my own.

 

 

 

I attempted to make Pax into a sand merman. :)

 

 They love the sand.

 This boy's favorite view. 

 Our favorite dinner spot in the area, Cosmos.

My boys before a dinner out.

 A quick stop at the souvenir shop.

 We spent a few nights crab hunting on the beach. Such a fun and sweet memory. Holden was a pro. Pax was a little timid. And Abe really wanted to do it. His reflexes are not quite as fast as the crabs. But it was hilarious to listen to him squeal each time he saw one.

 

And a few pictures from our last day in the sand. 

Why is it so captivating?!

 

After I snapped this one of Holden, I walked over to him and just stood with him quietly as he looked out into the ocean. He knew it was our last day and it didn't take him long to break the silence with "can we come back next year?" Boy after my own heart. Vacation is ending and he starts thinking about the next.

This sweet, peaceful boy doing what he loves.

And then there's the baby...no words for this one except...goodness, the sand highlighting those crazy long eyelashes. I plan to find a place in our house for those last 4 pictures.

For weeks leading up to our trip, the forecast for the area was not looking great. It was saying we would have a couple of days without rain, but it would be a cloudy week and lots of rain. Each day we were there, the rain held off and the sun shone brightly. I would check my weather app on my my phone each day and it would be postponing the rain for another day. There was only one really windy day that was overcast and that was when we decided to go to the Alligator Farm. So the morning we were leaving to get on the road, the clouds released and all the rain came down. I said an extra thank you to God that he had given us a beautiful, sunny week. Just seeing all of these pictures again makes me happy and gives me a desire to hop in the car and go back. These beach vacations are a huge highlight for our family each year.