Memorial Day Weekend in Amabama

***WARNING: this post contains many pictures and may be hazardous to your health (just kidding on the health part, I think). Just remember you've been warned!

Here it is--finally--the run down of our weekend trip to the beach. It seems we hit the ground running once we got home and have been busy, busy, and throw in a delightful round of teething--blogging just hasn't gotten done. But alas, we did make it back to Dauphin Island, Alabama. Tyler called it Amabama and therefore, we've all been calling it that. We went six months ago, dressed in our jeans and sweatshirts and vowed that we would go back again when we could wear a bit less clothing. So, my parents gave us some money for Christmas with a card that said "go do something fun and take lots of pictures." So, I put that money aside with the sole purpose of having it be our "beach fund" and we have added some to it ever since and finally figured that Memorial Day weekend was going to be as good a chance as we were going to get to go back. And before we left, I talked to Garrett's mom on the phone and she said "take lots of pictures!". And you know me, I'd never dream of disobeying my parents or disappointing the mother-in-law, so that's right...I took LOTS of pictures. I've always been obedient like that, what can I say? It took some courage, but I finally got brave enough to go through them and decide which ones to post. So here they are, some with commentary, some without. :) (oh yeah, and these are just pictures of us actually at the beach...believe it or not, I have more pics of other things we did while we were there. Maybe I'll have to throw another post together or something...)
Tyler was so excited to go to the beach, it was so cute! We didn't even tell him we were going until the night before and his eyes lit up and he said "that will be our berry fun adventure!". He was actually a little leary of the water at first and was pretty happy to just sit close to the water and throw sand. He was just close enough to have the waves splash his feet a bit, but not much more than that.

And Sam...he was a bit scared of the waves at first and did not like walking out into the ocean. But after a little while, he warmed up to it and relaxed and enjoyed every bit of those waves and walking out into the water. We slathered up this little fair skinned chub with tons of sunscreen, and I was just sure he was still burning. But miraculously, he did not. His skin just turns pink as soon as he gets in the sun, so it looked like he was getting burned, but he fared pretty well.


Then we built and wrecked a sand castle all within a matter of a few minutes...
And then Garrett showed Tyler how fun it was to really play in the water and from that point on, we couldn't get him out. He ran in it, sat in it, laid in it, etc, etc. He was a fish and LOVED it. I don't know how he could handle the salt water in his eyes!

He even licked it??? That's real love, right there. Sam ejected his binky and went for fistfuls of sand. I am pretty sure he ingested a gallon of sand or so. It made for some pretty exciting diapers later on.
Look closely, you'll see sand running down the front of his belly from trying to shovel it in his mouth. Yuck!

My two favorite beach bums:


This was the second day we were there and Tyler would run as fast as he could into the water and jump up and land in the water on his bottom. And then he'd stand up and run out as fast as he could. Strange game, but very very entertaining for him apparently. He did it for the longest time. And it was just funny to watch him running so fast.
I loved seeing Tyler's reflection in the sand.

And of course we built up a pretty impressive seashell collection that is still occupying a cup holder in my car.

And then we buried Tyler in the sand. He kept wanting to do it over and over and he'd say "bury me up, please!".

And then, he broke away.

And oh, the amounts of sand that one comes home with from the beach. Even after baths, I was still finding it!
Two different times, Sam was getting tired, so I just picked him up and walked out into the water and he immediately relaxed and laid his head on my chest and fell asleep. It was so sweet. He does not fall asleep in my arms EVER, so I was surprised he did that. I guess those ocean sounds just put a baby right to sleep!
And then...the ugly obligatory family picture. You're on a family vacation, so you must have at least one picture that everyone is in, but nobody looks good, right? That would be the following (and add on the fact that we were taking it "ourselves" on a tripod with a remote, it's even tougher), but at least we now know that we were all in attendance on this trip...squinty eyes and all.It was a short trip, but so much fun. I have decided trips to the beach are so relaxing and they are what real vacations are meant to be like. So, we drove away with sun-kissed cheeks, sand between our toes, and the taste of salty sea water fresh on our lips already talking about when we can afford to go back again. I love this place!
So, there you have it. Until next time...