Gulf Shores: Take 1

Last week Ben and I headed to Gulf Shores, AL for our first beach trip on the year. This time was with my dad, stepmom and siblings. We had my stepbrother Joe and his wife Leslie, who are expecting a little one 7 weeks after us, my stepbrother David and my baby sister Lindsey.

We arrived on Sunday and the beach was packed. Everyone was enjoying their Memorial Day weekend vacation. After a 6 hour drive we got there and hung out with everyone for a bit and then decided to take a walk on the beach, well everyone but Ben who fell asleep on the couch.

Joe, Bobbie, David and me. No idea why but Bobbie and the boys kept making faces in the pictures.

Memorial Day Monday- The beach started to clear out a bit. We all got out in the water and it was so much fun. Last year when we went, it was right after the oil spill and we could not get in. Of course, this also meant we got sunburned.

Before the sunburns

Tuesday- After a long day spent in the sun the day before, we decided to take a break. We went to Fort Morgan and walked around. Of course we were in the sun still but it helped that we were going in and out of things.

Everyone but Lindsey. Bobbie, Dad, David, Joe, Leslie, Ben and I.

My daddy and I


He can almost fit through that doorway.


It was so hot that the tar was melting.

When we got back, we dropped off the boys at the condo and us girls went and did a little shopping and lunch. With two pregnant ladies and a soon to be grandma, poor Lindsey had to hear about babies the whole time.

Wednesday- For some unknown reason, I could not sleep on this trip, so this morning I woke up at 5:40 and watched the sunrise with my parents, Joe and Leslie. We sat on our balcony and watched the sunrise, dolphins swim past us and then we went to the pier and watched some guy catch a shark. It was worth the lack of sleep.

Sunrise in the surf

Still sunburned we decided to head to Pensacola to the Naval Aviation Museum. Ben and I had gone last year and walked around for an hour but this time we really got into it and spent a good 3 hours there.



We also went to the lighthouse on base. Only dad and Lindsey were brave enough to walk up the 177 steps to the top. I totally would have gone had I not been pregnant and prone to exhaustion, especially when combined with heat.



When we got back that afternoon we ventured back out to the water to play in the waves. The water was a lot calmer than the first day but it still felt good. This time because the water was so calm we saw a lot more sealife, including these tiny seahorse looking worms, a tiny fish that kept following my dad and a tiny crab.

This is not the best picture but me in my new maternity bathing suit. I figured I would go crazy and get this since I am not concerned with my lack of abs right now.

Yep, we kind of match.


Dad and his manly oven mitts.

We had the traditional shrimp boil that night for dinner.

Lindsey took this on one of her walks and I love it.

Thursday- Our last day and Bobbie wanted to go shopping again, and again the babies dominated. We went for a few hours and then headed back to the condo to get in a little beach time. The waves were great this day! This was also the day we had said we were going to go out to eat. Everyone got all dressed up so we could take pictures and then we headed out to eat, where we were joined by Leslie's parents and my cousin Bo who is currently in Pensacola taking classes.

See the faces. We could not get a serious one with these three.


The grand babies.


I look ginormous next to my tiny sister.


I swear I am not that short and just got stuck standing in a hole.


Is it just me or did this bump grow massively over a week.


The pregnant girl was for some odd reason, also the bartender.

This was such a great trip and so good to spend quality time with family that I miss so much. As I mentioned before, this was our first trip to the beach this summer. We will be going back in late July/early August with my moms family. It will be 36 of us crazy Millers in one house for a week. That will interesting!