It's a tradition on our beach vacations to do a photo shoot on the beach. We've done one during every beach vacation we've taken since we've had kids. It's always a stressful night trying to get the lighting right, making sure other people aren't in the background, keeping the kids from getting wet (we failed at that one this year), trying to get the kids to look and smile and constant threatening for them to do a good job.
I always think the pictures were a bust because the kids seem pretty uncooperative, but every time Matt works his magic and we end up with some great photos that capture the beautiful sand and water, and our kids' personalities. This year was no different. I was shocked when we looked back at the photos at the condo after the photo shoot at how many great shots Matt took. I can't wait to print these and add them to our photo wall.
We even managed to get a decent family pic with the self timer this trip!
I had to throw in a few outtakes to show that the photo shoot was far from perfection.
I hope we continue to vacation at the beach and continue to take these photos each time. These Beach Babies are getting bigger everyday, and I'm so grateful to enjoy the sun, sand, and waves with them as they grow up.
Because of the double red flags on Thursday and the forecast of high rip currents through the weekend, we decided to wait to head to the beach on Friday until we had confirmation that the water would be open. Since our kids are early risers, we sat around and played a few games.
About 9:30 that morning we got confirmation that it would be a single red flag day, so we quickly changed, packed up and headed to the beach
We had been concerned that Katherine would struggle at the beach again since she had such a hard time the day before, but she was back to her normal self. Matt did reassure her that if a wave washed away our toys, he would buy new sand toys. Since she was totally back to normal fluttering all around and dancing in the waves, we figured it must have been a combination of exhaustion and maybe a bad dream that caused her meltdown on Thursday.
We spent the morning playing in the sand and trying out some new sand tower techniques.
Each of the kids worked on their own sand castles on Friday
And they also had fun destroying them at the end of the morning
Friday afternoon we stayed around the condo. We played games and the kids swam during and after Katherine's nap. We went to dinner which was nuts! Gulf Shores got way more crowded on Friday than it had been during the week. We weren't quite expecting that since it was still off season, but we had to wait a long time for our food and it ended up taking up the whole evening.
Saturday was our last beach day.
Katherine wanted to turn me into a mermaid again that morning.
Saturday was SUPER crowded at the beach, but the weather was perfection. After a couple of cloudy/windy days, we soaked up the sunshine and didn't let the crowds bother us. We spent the morning much the same way- sand castles, reading, jumping in the waves, boogie boarding- Matt and I got to go out one more time together, and he took each of the big kids out a few times too.
Katherine flitted and fluttered and sang and danced in the waves, like her typical self.
We stayed until close to 1:00 on Saturday and then sadly waved goodbye to one of all of our favorite places.
Since it was our last day, and because Katherine asked regularly to have a picnic, I surprised the kids and brought lunch down to them at the pool.
That afternoon we played games during Katherine's nap.
After her nap, Matt took them back to the pool, while I started packing :(. Why do vacations always have to end?
We grabbed a pizza for dinner and Matt loaded the car while the kids watched the Disney Family Sing Along.
We headed out early Sunday morning with a van full of sleepy kids and precious, precious family memories.
Katherine kept us entertained during the drive home, ha!
We had such a wonderful week soaking up the sun, spending all day playing, enjoying God's majestic creation, and making life long memories. We can't wait to be back at the beach again sometime soon. We can't seem to stay away.
