All Sunshine

 It was just a little chilly this morning but not a cloud in the sky. When the sun came up it became warm and soon hot. Perfect for playing in the pool.

A little later Sarah and Taunya decided to let the kids go to the beach and they were able to play in the sand and water for over a half hour. The patrol had been coming through every 15 minutes but in the later afternoon I think they were taking a long break as no one showed up to kick them off the beach. We had prime rib for dinner then went for a walk on the beach to mom's condo.

Abe found a dead crab and didn't want to share it with Zion.

We watched an osprey dive but she didn't catch anything.

We headed up from the water to mom's condo.

The kids loved playing in the piles of sand.

Mom and Aunt Jinnie came out to join us.

The moon was barely reflecting the sun as it set in the west as we headed back to Tauyna's condo.

We stopped to take pictures of the heron fishing.

He just caught some seaweed.

Then took off for better fishing grounds.

By the time we got back to Taunya's condo the moon was quite bright.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from today click HERE. We headed inside to watch church on Facebook live. David had the lesson on the first two chapters of Acts. Another good day with not a cloud in the sky all day.,

Beautiful Ending

 We had a cool rainy morning so drove over to Beth's hot tub hoping against hope it was clean and warm but that wasn't meant to be. Instead we found the pool and hot tub still dirty with debris from the hurricane and cold. We took the van over to mom's condo hoping the kids could play between the dunes but the wind picked up and the blowing sand was stinging our skin. We headed back to our condo. I kept Abe and Zion while the others went into town for pedicures and shopping. This afternoon the sun came out and I took a nap in the warm sunshine on the other side of the dune with a view of the gulf waters.  Amy came out and right about then a big pod of dolphins came close to shore fishing. I did not have my camera so no pictures but there were babies in this pod. We snuck down to the Gulf just to feel the water but as soon as we got there we saw the patrol heading our way so quickly went back to the condo before we got caught. Abe and Zion were riding their bikes. Sarah found an old door and made a ramp for them. 

Amy made dinner tonight and served us all the fixins to make our own tacos both hard and soft shell. That was delicious. After supper we decided to take our left overs to mom's condo and watch the sunset on the beach. We found out they no longer patrol the beach after 6:00 pm so walked along the water as the sun was heading down.

We hiked up to mom's condo just in time to send Joan a picture of mom's insurance card. Joan was at Walmart picking up her prescription.  Mom and Aunt Jinnie joined us on the porch swing where we got to see more dolphins swimming west. 

The moon started rising above the clouds in the East.

That is Berlica in the refection of the moon. 

Amy and I started hiking back to Taunya's condo.

Amy has been helping with the clean up here and pulled out some wire out of the sand to throw in the dumpster.

On the way back we saw the same heron we saw on the way there in the same spot. So we started the walk admiring him and finished the walk admiring him.

If you would like to see the rest of the pictures from our walk click HERE. When we got back Amy baked chocolate chip cookies which we ate warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream and a touch of caramel. DELICIOUS! While we were eating Zion was in her bedroom using makeup to make herself beautiful.

She wasn't that happy when Sarah showed her the mirror.

We had a beautiful ending for our day with that beautiful sunset.

News from home was that Tori's colt got out this morning and Mark was able to get him back in all by himself. Then he moved a bale in the far paddock, took Joshua with a lead rope and let the other 2 follow then sent a text he was able to accomplish that with only getting stepped on once.  Glad things are going well. 

Robertsdale & Back

 It was a little hard waking up this morning after our working & playing day in the heat yesterday. After breakfast Joan and I drove to Robertsdale for business. That is business that just didn't pan out. We had an appointment to look at a 2012 Freedom Elite 21 ft motor home. This was the size and layout we have been looking for.

Even the price was right on this one so both of us had hopes it was the one. Well the first thing Joan did was to lift the cushions on the bunk over the cab and not only was there standing water under those cushions by lifting them the smell that came out was awful. Or course this shocked the sales lady but then even though an awning was advertised there was no awning. NOPE even if they fixed where the water got in and bought new cushions we will not purchase a motor home without an awning. We stopped at the Walmart in Robertsdale so Joan could get a few more supplies. She is doing the deep cleaning on mom's condo and needed items to repair things. Our kids had fun playing in the sand and in the water while Joan's kids worked. Rhoda and Taunya took the van furniture shopping this afternoon and bought new bedroom furniture for the room we are sleeping in and the room Sarah is sleeping in. Then Rhoda decided she would post the current furniture on Facebook market place. Almost as soon as it was posted she had someone wanting to come pick it up tonight at 8:00 pm.  Unfortunately the new furniture won't arrive until Friday. Anna sent a text that our airbnb renters left and left us a gift.

They also left this nice thank you note.

We picked up mom and Aunt Jinnie just a little after 5:00 pm and left for GT's on the Bay for our dinner. When we arrived we chose to sit inside in the air conditioning.   Below we are ordering our meals.  

Zion and Abe enjoyed watching the fish in the huge tank.

This restaurant has a very good salad bar. Zion thought it was delicious.

A storm came through dumping rain on all the outdoor customers so they all came streaming inside to eat. The water is so high that all the docks we walked out on last year are all under water.  We had to rush home to take all of our clothes out of the furniture Rhoda and Taunya sold and barely got it done before the people showed up to take it.  Taunya felt so bad we didn't have any where to keep our clothes that she and Rhoda drove back to Walmart tonight and bought two night tables and a bunch of hangers. Abe got to stay with me. 

Amy baked cookies and we celebrated the day with cookies and ice cream.  Everyone is now in bed except me. Some are sound asleep but some are so busy loudly laughing that it really is a good thing we don't have neighbors. We really are having a good time together.  

Sunday In Gulf Shores

 My eyes popped open at 5:00 am, exactly as if I as home but I'm on vacation. The coffee was started and then I tried to be quiet. When Abe and Zion awoke they both wanted breakfast at the same time. 

The girls started waking up around 6:30 am and after breakfast they took off for walk and by the time they made it back they had walked a little over 8 miles. They went all the way to Chad's house. Amy and I decided to walk to mom's condo for church. I went to grab my tennis shoes and below are the shoes I brought. 

Sadly the only shoes packed were two left shoes. They don't even match. Well good thing crocks are in fashion here.  We walked the road way to mom's and all was fine except mom has no air conditioning. Her air conditioner buried in the sand. Below is the view from mom's balcony. 

We got to listen and watch on Facebook live Gregg Rumbold giving the message. At the break we headed over to Beth's to borrow tools to start digging out the heavy sand. Below is Joan's van under mom's condo. The sand was thick and heavy.

We checked out  Beth's back yard which was missing a lot of sand. Berlica tried out the hammock.

Thankfully Beth had exactly what was needed in her storage closet. 

We started hiking back but took a detour over to see Lani Kai's pool area.

The divider between the adult pool and the family pool had broken off and blown away.

 We went back to Taunya's condo to watch Craig Stickling give the second service.  Joan and the kids worked hard today shoveling this afternoon.  We relaxed by the pool then went to the sand behind Taunya's condo. Abe and Zion had fun playing with toys from the neighbor.

This lone seagull flew over us but left when we had no food to throw.

The neighbor below brought all those toys out for the kids to play with.

Next he brought chairs and an umbrella for us to sit comfortably as we watched the kids. His little dog came over to visit also.

We had everyone from mom's condo over for dinner tonight. We were pretty packed but had a place for everyone.

After dinner we played games. Dessert was served later.

Another beautiful day here in Gulf Shores. Hot but beautiful.