BEACH!!!! Day One

A few months ago during the middle of our short lived but dreary winter, I had a hankering for the beach. Helen Grace hadn’t seen the ocean yet, and for two reasons, we asked her grandparents to come along with us.  1. We learned the hard way on our Nashville trip that it’s foolish to take a road trip without help. And more importantly, 2. We wanted them to be able to be a part of her experiencing the beach for the first time.  They eagerly agreed to come along, and we booked a condo at Turquoise Beach in Orange Beach, Alabama, for Mother’s Day weekend (a strategic date that was chosen to be centered around the holiday celebration and cheaper spring rates).

We couldn’t have asked for a better first beach experience for Helen Grace, and other than a few serious toddler tantrums (that I’m desperately trying to make a foggy, distant memory), we had a magical time. {To her credit, her grandmothers tell me that her behavior was completely in line with any other three year old who had been in a car for eight hours and is out of their element and routine. John attributes some of my (over)reaction to my OCD getting out of control. I blame some crazy toddler strong will and an impatient mama.}  It was all worth it though because Helen Grace LOVED the beach, with the first words out of her mouth each morning being, “I wanna dig!” The condo/pools/kids’ activities were AH-mazing, the weather was perfect (even cool at times), the beach was beautiful with lots of shells and sea life, the town was virtually empty, the restaurants were laidback and casual, and the seafood was delicious. Couldn’t have asked for more.

We hope this trip will become an annual family tradition, and we are READY to go BACK! I have a bajillion pics, so I’ll work on posting several blogs over the next few days to share our trip with you.

Road trip! We made it two hours before we heard our first, “Are we there yet?” “I tell you where to go, Mommy.” A brief nap on the way…maybe a contributor to the bad behavior too. First time in the ocean Granddaddy captured this priceless video of John and me taking her into the water for the first time

The girl loves to run. We spent a LOT of time on this playground out by the lazy river. Blowing bubbles “All by myself!!!” GD and Spiffer at the Steamer in Gulf Shores, courtesy of HG {After searching fruitlessly for another restaurant for what felt like forever, we turned into an alley to get to another place, and we fell right into the Steamer parking lot with a free parking space right at the front door where we could see an open table right there on the patio. It was much needed divine intervention for weary travelers.} She could eat corn for every meal. ARRRGGG!!