Beach Vacation '12: The 'Fishy Hot Tub'

I guess the first thing I should do is say that we went to Orange Beach, Alabama. I seem to have overlooked that little detail in the previous posts!

The condo had a rather sizable kid's pool that was shaped like a fish. The next pool over was shaped like a dolphin and the pool between the condos was shaped like a whale fluke (good use of theme). We had been talking about using the hot tub on the balcony and Ben was completely obsessed, so we told him we were going down to the fishy hot tub (aka, kid's pool). And it was pretty warm, so it was fitting. The pool was 1.5ft deep, which was perfect. Nick couldn't sit except on the step, but Ben loved it. He could splash and run and faux swim. We probably spent over an hour in the pool!

Sarah's artistic composition

Beach Vacation '12: Building Sand Castles

After playing in the Gulf for a bit, Ben and Adam worked on building a sand castle while Nick took a nap. 

A shot from the balcony - Adam is in the center of the picture. Ben is behind Adam.

 Shells and muscles in the sand

 Playing hide and seek behind his sand castle

Beach Vacation '12: Frolicking in the Surf

Sunday after church and breakfast, we made our first trip down to the beach. It was Nick's first time to the beach and Ben was pretty young last time we went. After getting used to it, they both loved it. Nick thought it was the best sand box he had ever seen. In front of our condo, there was a very large tidal pool. When the tide was in (in the mornings), the gulf filled it and it got pretty deep right before the sand bar. When the tide was out (in the evenings), there was a sandbar exposed between the gulf and the tide pool. 

Hanging out on the sandbar, playing in the waves

Catching a ride back to shore with Grandpa

Beach Vacation '12: The Glass Palace

We stayed at the Turquoise Place, or as my sister and I called it, the Glass Palace, in Orange Beach, Alabama. It is only a few years old, if that. I'm pretty sure it was under construction when we went in 2009. It is a very nice complex with 5 outdoor pools, 1 lazy river and 2 indoor pools, tennis courts and great beach access. It was a great place to stay with the boys. Our condo was very large, and had lots of room for them to run around. 

It was very posh/glam decor in the lobbies and common areas, which kind of made me laugh.

 We had a huge balcony with a table, outdoor kitchen and hot tub (which came in very handy when I woke up unable to move my neck).

Beach Vacation '12: The Worst Drive EVER

We started out our beach vacation 2012 on Friday, after Adam got home from work. We were packed up and ready to hit the road by 5pm. Unfortunately at 4:30pm that afternoon, really bad storms with rotation hit the Findlay to Dayton area. We didn't think much of it as we hit the road, though. Ugh, what a mistake! We got to Findlay when bam! Dead stop. There was a lot of debris on the road and after getting out of the car and listening to some of the truckers, we discovered that semis were overturned on 75. Awesome. No one was hurt, though, from what I understand. We were stuck in traffic for about an hour. We tried to get off to get some dinner, but everyone was out of power. We tried to stop in Bluffton, where they did have power, but the McDonald's had about an hour wait, because they were the only place around with power. So we drove on, and stopped in Dayton, where the power was still spotty. It took over 6 hours to get through Cincinnati. It was rough. We stopped for the night in Louisville and then finished the rest of the drive Saturday with no issues, thank goodness!

Pictures of some of the damage we saw

Ben had to know where we were on the map

The trucks that caused all the ruckus, though it wasn't their fault they got blown over by 80+ mph winds

A Few Randoms

A few random pictures I forgot about on my little camera. 

Ben loves this statue at the Perrysburg Library. He ran up to it as we were leaving and demanded I take his picture sitting next to the kids on the bench. 

Nick is so funny when he falls asleep in the car.

Trucks, Tractors and Lawn Mowers

The boys have been having a lot of fun with their trucks, tractors and lawn equipment lately.