In late July we were able to take a short vacation to Orange Beach with Poopa and YaYa. The children had not been to the beach except for last year on Labor Day when we were in Gulfport for the triple baptisms and it was during a tropical storm! So they were more than excited! As you can see Langley was all tuckered out after the first afternoon on the beach.
All my kids loved the beach and the ocean. They would swim and play for hours at a time without stopping. We also we fortunate not to have any bad sunburns. Langley loved playing in the waves and being "washed up" on shore.
After the first day we knew that we needed to get some boogie boards and Bennett was a natural. He is already talking about getting a wooden board that he saw some big boys surfing on.
We had great weather with rain one afternoon and the threat of rain another. This cloud below looked ominous but just passed on my with only a few droplets of rain.
Parker heard another friend talking about hunting for crabs after the sun went down and she and Bennett were determined to do this. Parker was quite good at capturing some of these tiny little critters. I was amazed at how many people would be on the beach doing this. It was fun to watch from the balcony as well.
As you can see Parker has become a little bit of a poser in pictures these days!
The first full day at the beach we met another family from Starkville who had two children that Parker and Bennett hit it off with immediately. Every day Bennett would head down to the beach and hope that his new friend was already there.
Thanks mom for the great umbrella that keep us cool and covered while taking water and snack breaks.
Langley and daddy taking a break
No sand castles here but they did try and make tunnels
Bennett practicing his surfing....ready for a real board.
Parker and her hermit crab. She couldn't quite grasp the concept of "hermit" and the reason why it wouldn't come out
This was the last night and you could see how tired Bennett had gotten because he was absolutely delirious! I apologize to anyone who was below us in the condo!
The morning before we left we attempted to get a picture of the kids but it just didn't happen. Bennett wouldn't open his eyes and they were all pretty exhausted but the candid shots are fun to look at too!
We had a great first trip to the beach this summer and look forward to many more with family and friends. I hope that everyone had a wonderful summer and is ready for football season!
