The trip had two legs. The first leg was to Notasulga to drop off Nathan to PawPaw and Mimi's house and spend the night to start our second leg the next day to the beaches. On the way down, the kiddies got a little restless! We sang songs and at the last few miles, all we could think of to do was to make silly faces and "bobbing heads" to the music on the radio. Here are the pics of all of us sticking our tongues out, then of the head banging. (because head bobbing is a motion, none of us really look like we are doing anything! LOL)
That night for bath time the kids wanted bubbles....well I gave them bubbles! There was more bubbles than water! LOL They had a blast. But Nathan REEEEEALLY liked it! Here's the funniest shot!
We went with Brian's brother Eric and his wife Haley - two super, wonderful, sweet people! We all came in on Friday, but Saturday was our first day to play. Most of the morning, Haley and I played with Helen at the beach and in the ocean. I'm not sure if Helen ever really understood why the water wouldn't stay still. She knew that the waves would come in but didn't undestand why they didn't stop. She stood at the water's edge for a while just kinda looking at it while she sunk further into the sand. She didn't like that at all, but she didn't care until she realized she couldn't get her feet out! LOL! Of course I was standing with her, but it was funny to see her trying to pull herself out. She played a while in the sand with the sand castle stuff, but she mostly spent her time trying to put as much of the beach sand back into the ocean as she could. She'd run and throw as much goopy sand that she could hold with as much force as her arms could thrust into the ocean. She probably did that for twenty minutes without stopping!
The pools at the condo were fun too! Helen enjoyed the "walk-in" pool. Helen played in this most of the time. There was also a kiddie pool for the little ones, only a foot and a half deep all over, with a giant mushroom waterfall at one end. Helen liked the pool, but didn't care much for the shroom. Something about the water falling on her head she didn't like. We tried it with her several times to show her that it wouldn't hurt her, but she fussed, so we just let her swim.
She couldn't quite understand the innertube, but she left it on long enough to get a picture.
This was a fun fountain pond thingy for the kids to play in. The fountains would come up and go down. Helen bent down to look where the water went and when it came back on it hit her in the face! HAHAHA! (I mean, poor girl!)
We ate lots of seafood, but mostly at The Original Oyster House. Man, that place is good! This is a picture where Helen was looking at a big boat coming in or a bird...or something. Doesn't she look just like her daddy!!! That face is all Brian!
I think the best seafood we had was actually homemade at Haley's mom's house. Helen calls her Ms. Angel. They had a big shrimp broil with corn cobs and potatoes and sausage! OH...it was "slap yo' mama good!" Everything was wonderful! They had a little pond out back where some ducks had taken up residence. Helen loved to watch the ducks. She says "cack cack cack!" She's not quite gotten the "Quah" sound! 
Sadly, we only spend a couple of days in Orange Beach because Gustav chased us away. But maybe later in the year we can go back before it gets too cool. Although, once a year is about all that I can get Brian to go to the beach. He's not much for it. He'd rather be at the lake. For me it's the atmosphere. I love everything about it, from the sand and the smell of the ocean, to the people and the fun little shops, from the fresh seafood to the endless starry skies. Ah.. It makes me relax just thinking about it! :)
I hope you all have had a fabulous summer. I hope you enjoy the pictures...more below.
While Brian was on his first ski run, Helen's hat flew off. Brian, the heroic daddy he is, squatted down (keeping his balance no less) and reached down for the floating hat. Had he been about a 1/4 second faster, he would have grabbed it! What a sweet daddy! He let go of the rope to go fetch it for her. When he got back into the boat after his second ski run, I explained to him that he didn't have to go get it, it was just a hat. He said, "But it was a cute hat!" Wow.
Once they both finally made it, they played like they were five and on a see-saw, rocking it up and down. And then......they flipped. So much for the hard work. I laughed and laughed!
Believe it or not, that Helen of mine, fought it tooth and nail to go to sleep. I'm not sure why, but she was wired. After naps, the kids took their traditional ride with Pawpaw on his tractor. It wouldn't be a visit without getting on the big tractor.
Pawpaw had ice cream and Helen helped him enjoy it.
