Invading Alabama

The 2nd week in July, my side of the family took a beach vacation in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We rented a large beach house there and all stayed together. It was such a wonderful time to be together, catch up, reconnect, relax, and enjoy each other's company. My brother, Mark, Charlotte, and I all rode together in my brother's car. The trip there was 13 hours and the trip back was 12 1/2. Charlotte was very well-behaved on the way down, not as well on the way back. However, I think she did amazing considering I was asking a 15-month-old to be content sitting in a car seat with little to do for such an extended period of time. My brother, as always, was so wonderful about switching seats with me and taking his turn in "occupying" Charlotte. My parents and my sister's family all came together from Austin. We were able to be there from Saturday to Saturday and count ourselves so blessed to have had the opportunity to take that kind of vacation. This post is filled to the brim with pictures. And believe it or not, this is very narrowed down! I have to give 99% of the picture taking credit to my sister. I think I only pulled out my camera twice the whole trip. Thanks for the great pictures, Jessica! Thank you to my whole family for the great memories!

There was lots of fun to be had in the sand and on the beach!

This is how I like to spend my beach vacation . . .

My mother made several amazing sand sculptures, including this dolphin.

I made a not-as-impressive sand castle.

There was also a plethora of fun to be had in the water!

Charlotte had a blast playing with her cousins. Her and Skylyn are not far apart in age and I know these two girls are going to have so much fun in years to come.

Aaris reading the the kids.

On one day, Mark and I took the two younger girls to the little zoo in town.

At the end of each long, but very fun day, it was nice to relax at the house and enjoy some great home-cooking, courtesy of Mimi.

This is definitely one vacation that we will never forget!