Gulf Shores, Day 1

Last Wednesday, we had planned to get up at 3 or 4 in the morning and jet down to the beach, which we have never done that way before.  Josh, not able to sleep, ended up pulling a fast one and getting us all up at MIDNIGHT instead.  We made awesome time and were there before 9 in the morning.  Lasa did not sleep but a single silly hour the whole trip.  Go figure.  But at least she was quiet and wide-eyed and content to ride in the darkness while the rest of us tried to sleep.  

Thinking we could not check into our condo til 4, we enjoyed slow wandering at Gulf State Park and lunch and then a little recreation at The Track.  

Then, on a whim, we checked in with the condo office anyway and they let us check in early after all, even though the sign on the door said absolutely NO early check-ins!  Ha!  Before this trip, we have only ever stayed at hotels and never right on the beach.  So this spot with a wide view directly on the beach was such a wonderful landing place.  Anna was asking to live there indefinitely by bedtime. ;) 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This was my sweet spot every hour of every day.  This corner-wrap-around porch.  So many pics to come from this perch.  Couldn't be helped.

We settled in, napped the baby, went ahead and scheduled Anna's birthday first experience while we watched someone doing it from our porch, went to dinner at Sea n Suds right there on the beach beside the condo (you can see it in the pano pic there on the left), and THEN finally put our toes in the sand once the afternoon heat had subsided.  Man! Was it ever hot!

Lasa could NOT stop smiling and squealing and frolicking.  True fact - she frolicks like someone who's been drinking.  It was hysterical!  Except that she was in water and therefore in danger of going under at any given second between her floppiness and the uneven ground and the waves.  I about had 15 heart attacks keeping up with her between Josh and myself. She gulped and choked on so much water.  Dry drowning may have been uttered in my panic. And yet she giggled through every tumble and every gag and turned and went back for more. Ha!

 

 

 

Fearless, delighted, floppy, giddy.  All Lasa while she met the sea. 

 

Fishy, she squealed, as she did her best fish portrayal.  This first night I was also so uptight about water in her ears.  Oh, the ears. By Day 3 I finally figured my worry wasn't gonna stop an infection, so I gave up fretting.

How wonderful to have packed so much into Day 1 and to know you have 5 more wonderful, beachy-free days ahead.  Bliss.

 

 

And then Noah was suddenly overcome with stinging all over his body and under his suit and had to hightail it to the hoses to rinse off and hope that the chlorine in the pool would help.  It did.  But this was when the word jellyfish was first dropped.  We were there with another few peeps who were also stinging.  :/  We didn't freak out, yet.  But still.  Jellyfish can ruin all the beachy fun the kids had looked forward to!  We tried to chalk it up to Noah's super sensitive skin, maybe? Also tried to hope that maybe it was just from something the hurricane stirred up and it would calm down with each passing day after.  We couldn't understand why there were no marks like typical tentacle stings.  Mysterious.  We'd try again tomorrow after slathering his skin with lotion just to give his skin a little oomph.

The point when Anna said, "Mom, you know what would be great?  If we came here more often.  Because ... I would be ok with living here."  Truth - she was half talking about the beach and half talking about how wonderful it was to be in a beach-front condo.

Prepping for bedtime while Daddy made a quick grocery run for milk.  Can you spot the giddy one?  Vacation suits her.