Gulf Shores, AL

Yesterday we headed for the beach. We'd been wanting to get out of here for a couple of weeks now and even though we'd had a few things we could have been doing (and will be busy for the next few forseeable weekends) we made the decision to just go.

We tried to keep it a secret from Lana. I bought the kids' swim suits a few weeks back and every day Lana would ask me if she could put it on or she would tell me "the weather is perfect for going to the beach, mom". We told the kids we were going to the "park" to play. But the park was far away. Then as we were loading the car, the word beach slipped out of my mouth and Lana totally caught it. I tried to save the lie but I think she had us figured out.

This is me taking a picture from underneath the canopy, because this is where I was. Sitting in the shade, reading a book. Now it's not Destin or Hawaii but it was semi close to home (about 3 1/2 hours).

When we first got to Gulf Shores, we pulled into the first parking lot we saw. It took us about 10 minutes just to drive through the parking lot only to find out it was completely full. We said forget that and drove 5 minutes down the road to this beach. It's a state park but you just have to pay a fee to fish off of the pier. It was a nice and clean beach, had restrooms and plenty of parking.

The kids and Paul built sandcastles and ...

a sand ice cream cone. Yum! Paul later made it into a garden gnome but I didn't get a picture of that one.

The kids lasted about 5 hours on the beach and then it was time to head home. Seemed like a long ride home but well worth it.