Gulf Shores

***Warning: This is a long post containing some of my favorite pictures. I just couldn't narrow it down any more.***

Sunday:
Well, we left the house Sunday morning on our way to Gulf Shores via Pass Christian, MS in search for a kitchen table. Several friends of mine have gotten a table at this place, so we thought we'd give it a try. Gracen really HATED her infant carrier, so we decided to buy her a convertible car seat in Jackson. Gracen and I went to Monroe on Thursday with family, and Gracen screamed for about 45 minutes going and 1 hour coming home. She was beyond tired, but just wouldn't go to sleep. Ahh, good times! That side note was just a little insight as to why I was determined to find her another carseat before riding in the car with that sweet little screamer for 6-1/2 hours. We found her one at Babies "R" Us, and she likes it soo much better. Granted, she would rather crawl around in the backseat while going down the road, but she doesn't fight us when we strap her in or fight sleep nearly as hard.

We finally did make it to Pass Christian with the help of the new car seat and DVD player. (Thanks "Math Circus"!) We got to drive down the Gulf in MS when we were looking for Charbonnet Antiques. All the houses along the Gulf were so pretty, but it was also really sad because we saw several sets of steps that used to lead up to the front door of someone's house that I'm assuming was blown away by Katrina. I can tell that they've rebuilt several houses and business, but several lots are still empty. We passed by several shrimping boats. Bubba Gump look out!
We found a Mexican restaurant that was pretty good and a Hampton Inn. I really thought we were never going to get Gracen to sleep. She's used to being layed in her bed in her room and going to sleep. So it was a bit difficult to lay her down with us in the room. I rocked (wrestled) her in my arms for the longest time. But as soon as I started singing to her "you are my sunshine", her personal favorite, she put her head on my shoulder and was asleep in about a minute. Who knew I was that good of a singer? Well, it worked, and that's all I cared about at the moment.

Monday:

Jeffrey ran to Wal-mart while Gracen and I ate the continental breakfast. She is REALLY into big people food. She wants everything we eat. She cracks me up. She runs her tongue over her teeth whenever we're eating something she wants, too. I have been so proud of her. She ate eggs, blueberry muffin, strawberry yogurt, biscuits and gravy, and apple juice. She hasn't turned anything down, yet. She even ate squash at my parents house. Anyways, we found the table store but didn't find a table. They had a lot of pretty furnature, but not as many tables as we'd hoped. So the table search continues. We drove on to Gulf Shores and got out on the beach. I didn't think we were ever going to get all our stuff down to the beach, but we finally did, got the tent set up and got to the water. This is the view from our condo. We stayed across the street from the beach this year at the Gulf Shores Surf and Raquet Club to save money and also because we booked so late there weren't many options. This place was $800 less expensive than another place I found, and it was very nice. I was a little worried that I might regret staying across the street, but the road really wasn't very busy. We might have to wait for 1 car to pass before we crossed, so Jeffrey and I were very pleased.Gracen got to wait in the tub while Jeffrey and I got the tent and her pool set up.Gracen's first time in the Gulf.Gracen liked it pretty well. She must've worn herself out because she slept for about an hour in the car while we waited to eat supper at the "Original Oyster House". The food was great! It is our favorite place to eat in Gulf Shores. Last year we waited about 2 hours. This year we only had to wait 1-1/2 hours, but it didn't seem that long because we went to the grocery store while we waited. I ate Mahi Down on the Bayou: blackened Mahi Mahi with fried crawfish tails in tasso sauce, yum. Jeffrey got blackened red snapper with the same sause. Gracen ate the inside of my french fries as quickly as I gave them to her.

Tuesday:

We enjoyed the beach first thing in the morning until Gracen got ready for her nap. Jeffrey stayed with her inside while I got to lay around the pool. It was so nice to have that time to myself. We hit the pool when she woke up. Then hit the outlet mall for a little while after she woke up. Ate shrimp at the Shrimp Basket, our 2nd favorite place to eat, and called it a day.

Gracen dumped her diapers out of this plastic bag and had a great time with it. She crawled around for about 20 minutes with this bag in her hand, waving it every once in a while. Her Daddy was about to get her in this picture.A little friendly game of tug-of war.

Wednesday:

I snuck a picture of this guy out by the pool. Ouch!Gracen loved the kiddie pool because she could walk along the edge and play with the concrete. The concrete had a pattern in it, and I think Gracen could've played with it all day.

Wonder where she gets her blue eyes?We decided not to go out for supper, so Jeffrey grilled hot dogs and sausages. It was really nice being able to stay in my bathing suit all day without rushing to eat.
I just had to take one of her naked booty on the beach, but I just had to put her panties under her.

Thursday:

For some reason Gracen woke up at 6am, so I put her in bed with us, hoping she would go back to sleep. Yah right. After tring to gouge my eyes out and pull her daddy's lips off (and no, he didn't wake up), I decided she wasn't going back to sleep anytime soon and fixed her bottle. Her eyes were rolling back in her head while she drank it, but she was determined to stay awake. She finally fell asleep with her head against my legs and her back against my somach at about 7. We all three slept until 9. I loved getting to cuddle with her for that long even if she was upside down.

Here comes Daddy, again!

I tried to take a picture of her sweet little wrist tan-line, but it didn't show up very well.

We had a blast at the beach. It was very relaxing and lot of fun. Gracen and I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with Jeffrey. He's been working so hard lately, and we haven't been able to see him much. I could tell Gracen really loved having him around. There were several times that she cried and crawled after him when he walked away. I think she just likes it best when we're all together. So do I!