Vacation

Sunday

11:30 pm So we finally arrive at the guest apartment in Alabama with three sleeping girls. Hubby rereads the letter from the trustees at the church, takes the keys to the door and unlocks it. The letter had indicated the alarm would be off.

Well....no.

Alarm sounds but Hubby is quick on the keypad and silences it. We think nothing more of this. I take the girls inside to get them ready for bed while Hubby unloads the van. Ten minutes later, there's a knock on the door. I open the door and am greeted by a Gulf Shores police officer and his giant K-9 dog.

Yikes!

Just responding to the alarm, m'am. Is everything OK?

Yes, sir. We show him the letter from the church indicating Hubby is the visiting clergy for the week. No sweat.

12:30 am After application of serious smack down, the three girls finally fall asleep in the same room.

Monday

6:30am Girls are up. I'm tired but so glad I packed me some Starbucks coffee in our emergency kit. Brewed a pot.

The guest apartment has Dish TV so the girls chill a bit while Hubby and I wake up.

We decide to load in the car and drive around a bit. We drive by miles of the most beautiful white sandy beaches. We check out what the yellow flags mean (medium danger level) and have a good laugh about the key to the flags. I'm going nowhere near the beach if I see purple (dangerous wildlife).

We hit Bruno's grocery and stock up for the next couple days.

Back to the guest apartment and load up for the beach.

On with the sunscreen, suits, beach hats and rashguard shirts. Interesting story there. If you wait until the first week of August to buy rashguard swimshirts, you might have trouble finding them. Finally at Old Navy, I find clearance toddler boy ones. No sweat, G can wear a 3T, S a 5T. They're solid white, so no problemo. Now for J. They are totally out of the girl's and boy's sizes. OK, J, try this one. 5T. It's sort of like a crop top. At least it will protect her shoulders.

A quick call to a local parish family nets some wonderful information. We can go use their private beach house and beach, complete with shaded under house parking and an outside shower. Score!

The girls race towards the shore. S and J immediately start constructing a sand castle. We have to remind them that they will need to use wet sand, not the dry stuff. They more their construction zone closer to the water. Too close. The next big wave destroys the castle. They settle on a place further from the ocean but still in the wet zone.

On to seashells. The girls fill a bucket each.

On to the water. S isn't impressed. J is frightened of everything that is floating. Is that a jellyfish? Is that a shark? What is THAT? G gets knocked over by the waves and swallows a mouthful of ocean water. Mom, I need medicine. No, G, you need a drink of fresh water. G now will only go into the water in Mommy or Daddy's arms.

Dolphins. We spotted lots out in the distance. J was enthralled.

Daddy braved the deeper water while the girls and I dug for mollusk like shells in the wet sand. If you uncovered them, they would bury themselves quickly. Too cool.

Two hours and some really hot temps forced us back to the guest apartment.

Lunch and naps.

Skipbo and coloring and a bit of TV.

Off to Walmart to pick up a few forgotten items for dinner and to buy binoculars. Gotta see those dolphins.

After a dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread, we load back in the car to hit a local souvenir shop. The one with the GIANT purple octopus on top.

Back home for showers and bed.

8:30pm Girls out.

Let the reading of Harry Potter 7 commence.