The boys and I packed up the car (RA had work stuff and house projects to do, plus I think he was looking forward to a few days of a quiet house) and started out on our six hour drive south.
Podcast for mama and tablet time for the boys...
Fun with a bendy straw while waiting on our lunch at Chick-Fil-A...
We made it to our condo and Meme had a few Christmas gifts for the boys, so you can imagine their excitement - the beach and new trucks!
A new garbage truck for RF!
And a new dump truck for E...along with him putting his gift bag on his head. Crazy kid.
Heading out to explore the docks near the condo...
Ducks!
Seagulls perched and flying by...
What a view!
"It's the beach, mama!"
And they're off...
Nothing quite like the Gulf Coast...
Sea shell hunting...
One of my happy places...
Loving the beach...
Walking like a crab...
Beautiful view...
So pretty...
Enjoying the view of the gulf...
We grabbed a quick pizza and headed over to Aunt Haydn and Uncle Nick's house to meet Toby.
Cousins!
We brought Toby's Christmas gift and put it together for him to enjoy - he was so funny trying to figure out all of the toys on his exersaucer! So serious!
They couldn't get enough of him! Sweet boys...
A late night meant that we all slept in Thursday morning.
RF snuggled up with morning cartoons. He thought it was pretty cool to have a TV in the bedroom.
Once E woke up, they moved to the living room to watch more cartoons...
And play with their trucks...
Rain outside is no problem - we've got an indoor pool and these two are ready to go!
Happy as can be!
Having the time of their lives...
After swimming for a bit, we drove over to Pensacola to see Aunt Hartley at work.
Wandering downtown with Meme...
We ate a quick lunch at Beef O' Brady's and the boys thought the guys playing basketball were too cool...
After lunch, we wandered through downtown over to the Pensacola Children's Museum.
We're organ donors, are you? One of our nephews is a 16 year liver transplant survivor all thanks to an organ donor. If you're not, please consider becoming one.
Time for some fun!
He's the captain of the ship...
Hoisting the sails...
And making sure the ship has supplies for it's voyage...
Vintage Pensacola postcards on the walls of the museum...
We love vintage postcards...
So pretty...
Exploring the shipping history of Pensacola...
Silly boy.
A wooden toy aircraft carrier. Both boys asked me to take a photo and send it to their daddy asking him to make one for them.
Building with large foam blocks...
Burying himself under the foam blocks...
Somebody found Legos...
Someone had to sit in time out for a few minutes because he was messing up his brother's Lego creation...
So proud of himself!
We headed back to Orange Beach to enjoy the afternoon at the condo before joining folks for dinner.
Chatting with the musical snowman Meme brought him...
Time for dinner at Lambert's Cafe in Foley and while Meme and Aunt Haydn got us a table, the boys played on the train - which they, of course, also asked me to ask their daddy to build for them.
A cute elf and silly Santa..
Chatting with Toby while we had dinner...
He was super unsure about a restaurant that throws food (rolls) at you, but once he got there and realized it was fun, he joined right in and caught himself a roll!
We headed back to the condo do chill out for the night. Mommy and Meme watched Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel while the boys played.
Friday morning we headed to Fairhope to meet some family friends for breakfast.
Chalkboard table = entertainment for two kiddos.
Papa Tad stopped by to say hello and give the boys their Christmas gifts - remote controlled cars! They were so excited!
Papa Tad with his three daughters and three grandsons.
RF and Ellis got some more fun in with Toby!
The Squeelin' Pig biscuit at Warehouse Bakery and Donuts - so delicious!
Look at that cutie!
So handsome!
Super excited about their new remote controlled cars from Papa Tad!
A rainy day led us back towards the condo, with a stop at Target to rummage through their Christmas stuff, to enjoy a nice afternoon and evening at the beach.
Driving his car all over the condo - our dogs will go nuts over these things...
Doing a little movie watching...
And more swimming...or floating...
And fort building...
We slept in again on Saturday morning as we stayed up late Friday night watching more Hallmark Christmas movies.
No trip to Gulf Shores/Orange Beach is complete without a stop at Souvenir City. RF loves sharks, so of course he thought this was really cool.
Oh no - the great white shark got them...and they're smiling about it... :-)
Hermit crabs for sale. Luckily, neither of them asked for one of these things!
You can still wander the beach when it's overcast outside, so wander we did.
Taking a good look at the big gulf...
Sweet brothers...
Running, running, running...
This kid was soaked by the time we were done with our walk. He loves the water.
This one does, too.
He wrote his own name in the sand this year...
The water was cold!
Indoor pool solved that rain problem. Notice no floatie? He finally believed me when I told him that he could stay in the shallow end without his floatie. Swimming lessons are happening this spring to be sure we are ready for our summer beach trip.
After an afternoon of swimming, we got changed and headed to Publix to pick up dinner. These two boys had to ride in the cart because their shoes were still soaking wet and of course, I only brought one pair of shoes for them. Oh well - at least they had on clean socks, right?
Toby hanging out with me while Haydn cooked dinner for us.
And the boys played with baby toys...
Some sort of weird creature wandering the condo as we were trying to get ready for bed Saturday night. Goober.
Sunday morning we packed the car to head back to Georgia. We stopped to say good-bye to Papa Tad and swung into McDonalds to get the boys some breakfast before hitting the road.
Chowing down in the McDonalds parking lot before getting on the road.
The only 30 minute portion of our drive that was quiet.
As soon as we got home, I handed the boys off to RA, took a long hot shower and spent the evening relaxing after a long day of traveling with two youngsters.
We had a great time seeing our Alabama family and can't wait for our next trip down to the beautiful beaches of the Gulf Coast.
