Gulf Shores Wrap Up and Re-Entry

      Well, Monday morning we drove away from the beach.  Insert sad faces here.  I ran out Monday morning to get a few last shots of the beach.

Here's our take on Gulf Shores - it really is great.  We had a fantastic trip, and I feel like there would have been more to do and see if we had wanted to stay longer.  For the length of time that we were there, hanging out at the beach and the pool worked perfectly for our little family with little friends.  We have heard Gulf Shores called the "Redneck Riviera" since so many people from the SouthEast vacation there, but it was really nice.  I felt like it was really similar to Destin, though Destin has prettier water, but for the hour and a half or more that we save in the car, we will be heading to Gulf Shores for years to come, since all other things seem pretty equal.  We really enjoyed staying at the Beach Club, on the bottom floor.




There were four towers there, but since we went after school started, it was already pretty empty, which was awesome.  We love going places just after or before the peak season, when the weather is still nice, but when you won't be fighting with loads of people everywhere you go.

Things I want to always remember from this trip include: John telling stories to Lily at night about Princesses Tilly and Stella.  The way Lily talked about going to "our condo" and her enthusiasm about the beach and how she sang "Itsy Bitsy Spider" at the top of her lungs during her "nap."  Seeing Bella really become a baby on the move by crawling everywhere and the way she started saying "Ma ma ma" though I know she doesn't know what she is saying yet.  How simple and joyful it is to just be together, without any expectations or things we need to check off of lists.  My heart is full of thankfulness for this time.  Thank you, Lord.

Our drive home was much better than we ever imagined it could be with Lily.  Here she is helping us get packed.

Bella blew out her diaper and clothes in the first hour (which she hasn't done in months) and was dressed like this most of the day, since we didn't feel like digging out more clothing.  Such a cute diaper dandy.

They watched Tangled twice and Finding Nemo twice.  I still have the songs from Tangled playing in my head, but I am glad that she likes that one, because it is super cute.  This car trip made us think we may actually attempt road trips in the future, if we can have well-behaved children.  I mean, there were some bad moments, but they were few and far between and did not take over the whole of the trip as they have in the past.  What a blessed improvement!
      Monday night Bella slept all the way through the night without crying for the first time since the teeth started, which is fabulous.  However, in a dramatic turn of events, we got a phone call from the store alarm company around 12:30 telling us that the power at our store had been surging.  So, John had to run up to the store in the middle of the night to check on things (owning a restaurant is really glamorous), and though everything turned out fine, it took a while to get all sorted out and back to sleep.
      John is getting back into the swing of things at work, and I am trying to get our house more organized before starting any more projects.  Here's hoping I can make some progress on that since I sort of detest doing it.  I like it when it is over, though, which is worth the work.  I think.  I hope.