Saying Good-by

Taunya got up really early this morning so that she could get a run in before left for the airport. Her plane left at 9:15 this morning so we needed to plan on leaving by 6:45 am for the Pensacola airport. Traffic was light and we were able to stop at a Waffle House for a quick breakfast and still got her there an hour early. The girls and babies were on a walk when I got back so I took the time to download a few pictures from yesterday of the grandchildren. We were stacking them 3 high.

Israel found lots of shells on his long walk on the beach yesterday. Elisabet had to come out to admire them. Israel was drying them on the balcony.

 Zion and Abe found their way out onto the balcony too, to see what was going on.

 After they all came back from the walk we ended up at the pool. It was just so hot on the beach today. We had bright sunshine and not a drop of rain. Just for the record the weather report was awful for this week, it was suppose to rain everyday all day. We had showers but each day had plenty of hours of sunshine.Israel spends most of his time swimming under the water.

 He showed off his dive.

 Zion enjoys using the fence to cruise around the pool area.

She found a pair of shorts and promptly started draping them around trying to dress herself.

 The problem with wearing clothes that don't fit is it doesn't help at all with crawling. Zion figured out really quickly if she wanted to get anywhere fast wearing the shorts she was going to have to get off her knees.

For supper tonight Stephanie, Israel,Elisabet, Sarah and Zion went to the Hang Out while Rhoda, Iris and I drove there just in case rain moved in when we were ready to head for home. That restaurant is a kid friendly, family restaurant with lots of activities for children.WE visited the foam pit first. Elisabet wasn't sure she wanted to stay in that.

 Israel had fun running around in the thick foam.

 Zion wasn't too sure she wanted to stay and crawled out pretty quickly.

Stephanie took Israel and Elisabet over to the sand pit with the big tunnel just for kids. He had fun playing in and out on top of the tunnel.

When our food was ready Zion was more than ready to eat. She really enjoyed her meal.

 They had live entertainment and at one point all the servers got on top of the tables to dance. Iris couldn't take her eyes off of them.

Stephanie and Sarah decided to let the kids play longer at the Hangout. Rhoda and I left for the condo and just as we arrived we heard a car honk. Diane, Mike and Beth had just arrived from Illinois. They had a good trip down but were ready for dinner. They invited everyone staying at mom's condo to go with them to Bahama Bob's. The place was packed and they didn't get out of there for 2 hours. After supper we went over to mom's and played a game of Mexican Train. Tomorrow we need to clean and pack up the van for our long trip home.

The GREAT Secretariat

Rachel's condo has NetFlix and wouldn't you know NetFlix had the movie Secretariat. Last night for the very first time I was able to watch this movie.  I was born in 1955 and we grew up without a television but I read everything I could about this big red horse born March 30th, 1970.

I was so thrilled with each race he won and would scour the newspaper for any news. When he won the Belmont, the last jewel of the triple crown by 31 lengths, I knew for sure THIS was the super horse of the century. Never before and still never after has ANY horse won that long of a race by that many lengths.

 

I was completely obsessed with horses and our first horse (not including the pony Champ) was a Thoroughbred mare and the 2 of us would spend hours riding through the fields and woods, galloping bareback with the wind blowing my hair and I would dream of the races. Of course the book The Black Stallion by Walter Farley hooked me and I read all of his books we could find in the library. IF I wasn't riding I was reading about the Black's races or any other horse book I could find. My mom had the Horseman's encyclopedia which I would study for hours. 

Last night after watching the movie all of my childhood memories came rushing back, the thrill of the win, the amazing way HOW this big red stallion won and the excitement of that triple crown win.

Grieving the Perfect Puppy

Taunya, Rhoda, and their two little ones, Abe and Iris went with me on a long walk down the beach toward the pier. We saw lots of fish jumping and made the comment, something big is under there chasing them to the surface. Just a little farther and we saw dolphins fishing.

 It was 9:00 am when we started back and already the sun was burning down brightly turning this pleasant morning hot. We were worried about Iris getting too much sun so didn't stay to watch the dolphins or get better pictures. By the time we got back to mom's condo, everyone else was just getting out onto the beach. We could not stay but told them, fish are jumping out of the water coming this way and we saw dolphins fishing. Well it was more than dolphins chasing the fish. There were SHARKS, coming right into the shallow water. Michelle, Shaeya's mom, took the pictures below.

 Needless to say everyone got out of the water. We spent the rest of the day by the pool. It wasn't until we came inside that we found out Hux, Phil and Anna's perfect puppy was hit by a car and killed. Phil and Anna broke the news to us by sending the picture below of his grave

We are so sorry for Braelyn, Taegan and Kensley, Hux was such a huge part of their family.

Such a hard loss to accept at such a young age. Tomorrow morning Taunya and Abe will need a ride to the airport. We are sorry to see them go but thrilled Taunya was able to come on this, our very first girls trip. She needs to leave a day early as  the guys are all up in Chicago for the Cub/Cards game tomorrow. David took the picture below and sent it to Rhoda and Sarah.

David, Lee and Nolan are sharing a hotel room in down town Chicago up on the 25th floor. Ben is flying in from Dallas tomorrow to join them for the game and Taunya must be home to care for their other 3 children.

Sunny Morning Rainy Afternoon

We had a lot of fun on the beach today. Joan and mom fished and when they caught fish let them go in the tide pool. The grandchildren chased fish around that tide pool for hours. The waves were pretty choppy, not so good for boogie boarding.

The tide pool was perfect, not just for the fish Joan caught but for the babies and bigger kids too.

We brought our leftovers from breakfast to feed the rats of the sky as David use to say, the gulls.

Even if they are scavengers, they sure are pretty scavengers and fun to watch.

Rhoda always has the best bed on the beach and shares it with Iris. She is under the umbrella to keep the sun off Iris.

Mom had fun fishing even though she didn't end up pulling any up, the fish were biting and stripping her bait. When we all got too hot, we needed to bring everything back to head to the pool. Below Israel is pulling the boogie boards back to grandma's condo.

When we got too hot we went to the pool, swimming and playing in there until Mackenson noticed rain coming. The grandchildren were put down for naps while Stephanie shopped the consignment shops for clothes. To see all the pictures from today click HERE.  This evening mom, Joan and I went to DeSoto's for dinner at 5:00 pm and had a really good meal, while Joan's kids helped watch all the grandchildren. Then when I got back, Rhoda, Sarah, Taunya and Stephanie went to dinner. Mom and Joan went to Lowe's in Foley for some more paint and supplies for her condo. After Rhoda, Sarah, Taunya and Stephanie got back Sarah took Faith, Mackenson, and Berlica crabbing catching lots of little crabs on the beach.

 

The Pier

 We made a good breakfast of eggs, sausage, toast and pumpkin coffee cake but Stephanie didn't let Elisabet have that, she gave her Greek Yogurt mixed with a banana and granola. Elisabet loved it.

And we all had to laugh at her expression.
We had a beautiful sunny morning and right after breakfast took a walk toward the lagoon but didn't get all the way there. Below are a few pictures from the walk.

I took a few pictures of Elisabet eating her breakfast and then playing on the beach. If you would like to see them click HERE.  It was just too hot to walk more than an hour and as soon as we got some headed to the beach and some to the pool. Mom was outside her condo painting shelves.

 The waves were just perfect for Israel.

By 11:00 am it was just too sunny and too hot to be on the beach. We walked back to Rachel's condo for some lunch and pool time. I had already had too much sun so stayed in the condo to listen for sleeping babies.  Rachel's condo is SO well set up for babies and families. It is right across from the public beach and that has restrooms. It is a beautifully decorated 3 bedroom 2 bath roomy condo very well stocked. The pool is plenty big and has very comfortable chairs and loungers for those wanting sun. If interested in checking it out click HERE. She also has a Facebook page for this unit, check that out by clicking HERE. 

When the babies woke up, we had an early supper. Zion was playing with some sun glasses and of course the camera had to be brought out for the pictures below. 

Elisabet and Abe were playing together.

Elisabet was trying on her mama's shoes, matched her outfit but just didn't work well for running shoes.

With Rachel's highchair, and the one we borrowed from mom's condo and the one we brought down, 3 of the 5 grandchildren had a highchair.

This evening we picked up Joan, Faith, Mackenson and Berlica and drove to the pier.

Below Faith is holding baby Iris.

We saw some shark from the pier. One man had a shark on his line and brought it almost to the top before it fell off the line. The view of the city of Gulf Shores from the pier was beautiful tonight.

 It was glowing so beautifully I had to zoom in.

We got back from the pier and put all the children to bed before baking cheese sticks with a marinara sauce. We had another beautiful sunny day here in Gulf Shores.