Once Upon A Beach

The kids and I spent the first week of our recent vacation with my side of the family in Fort Morgan near Gulf Shores, Alabama. Isaac didn't need to miss two whole weeks in a row of work, so he planned to join us on Thursday evening.

We rode down with my mom and sisters. It should have taken us 9 or less hours. It took us about 14.
We should not have relied on the ferry being very timely. We should have avoided the ferry completely on such a busy Saturday. That was the short version of a very long road trip story.

We finally get there. Get in bed. And then wake up to more family and this gorgeous beach. 

Then, Charlie got sick. Then, Annette got sick. They stayed sick for over 24 hours. Fever, rashes, and lots of stomach stuff. They were showing signs of dehydration that scared me... fast heart rates, dizziness, I got so tired and nervous. So we headed to the urgent care clinic. Thank you, Lauren and Andrew for taking us.

Meanwhile, Isaac was planning to surprise us by coming a day early. Wish when he'd shown up we'd been happily playing on the beach, but instead he drove straight to the urgent care place where he helped me hold the kids down for some very helpful phenergan shots. About 48 hours later, we were back at the beach playing.

 

Late afternoon at the beach.... a spiritual experience for me.

My sister Mattie took the kids on a very short and easy kayak ride. I stood by them the whole time :)

My mom's brother, Uncle Frank, was always holding a baby. He has twin baby grandchildren that were on the trip too.

Here is one of the twins, playing with Set.

Set ate so much sand. I tried to stop him, but he kept finding it. He pooped sand for many days :)

My sweet mom. Loves the waves. 

Crab hunting

And on the last night, my mom and Mattie watched the kiddos so we could go eat out to eat.

Then, we were lucky enough to head to Rosemary Beach for the following week.

To be continued.........