Alabama 2013

For one final summer hurrah, we took our annual trip to the gulf coast in Alabama during the last week of summer vacation!  This is the third year we've gone to that area and I LOVE it.  It's so beautiful.  The kids love it.  And we get a chance to have fun and relax!

The first day it rained, so we took the kids to the Naval Air Museum.  They climbed on planes.  They sat on bombs, what more could you ask for?!

Colton, of course, was in heaven.  That kid and his planes/trucks/cars/spaceships, it's an obsession I tell you.  Oh and if you look closely you may notice that Colton is wearing a splint, not a cast!  He got his cast off two days before we left and traded it for a removable splint!  Hooray!  I was dreading dealing with a cast on the beach!

One of the days we also went back to visit the alligator farm.  It's just so amazing to see the over 200 alligators at that place!

And the kids love holding the baby alligators.  

Well, Madison and Jaxon loved holding the alligators.  Colton, not so much.  

Look at that big guy!  These alligators are just crazy huge!

And this picture is just priceless.  He's pretending to be scared of the alligator in the swamp behind him.  

Aside from those two outings, we spent the rest of the trip on the beach doing beach things.  The kids loved getting buried.  

Jaxon wanted me to cover his head so his whole body was covered.  Have I mentioned that Jaxon is really funny and kind of weird?

Madison was really into boogie boarding and jumping the waves.  She spent hours in the ocean just jumping over the waves.  

One night we got the kids glow sticks and let them swim in the pool with their glow sticks.  They loved it.  Jaxon, of course, made a ninja belt.  

Chris and I on the beach.  It's so nice to be able to spend time together as a family!

Colton and I at Pensacola beach, which I think is my favorite!  The water is clearer and the sand is whiter on Pensacola island than anywhere else that I've been to on the gulf shore!

And here's our annual family photo shoot!  We didn't get any amazing shots of the whole family cause the kids were making weird faces.  

We did get some great shots of the kids, though!  I love my little beach bums!

And here's a shot of the whole crew!  For the last 2 years we've gone with two other families and it's so fun!  The kids play great together and we all get to hang out together at night when the kids go to bed!