Kinley, Ava & Miles: Fourth of July Luau and Gulf Shores...

We debated about taking the kids on a weeklong trip at this age, since they still need naps, one needs diapers, the 10 hour car ride would not be fun, etc. But we went anyway and are so glad that we did! The kids were great! I caved in a bought a dual screen DVD player for the trip. It was well worth it! It kept the little ones occupied on the way there and back. (side note: it is already back out of the car until the next roadtrip) The kids were great the whole trip....with the exception of Miles at dinner one night when we made the mistake of trying to go eat at his bedtime. Our fault...and we paid for it dearly!

The kids loved the beach! We are still finding sand in places that it should not be. We stayed in a condo on the beach so we were down there a couple of times each day. We got the kids helmets with lights on them to search for crabs at night. We didn't find any crabs, but were quite entertained just watching Miles follow the spotlight that was on the beach in front of him everywhere he went!! He couldn't figure out why it kept moving when he did! Too cute!

I thought I would throw in some of the "out-takes" while we were trying to get some good pictures. There are A LOT of out-takes!! We were able to get several that turned out good. Brad, Jim and a woman walking down the beach did a great job!

Ava clowning around while trying to get pictures of her. She was tired of taking pictures and wanted to go swimming in the ocean.

Kinley is always so easy. She takes great pictures and looks so pretty in this one!

Nana and Tito! Brad was worried that they might not ever babysit again after this trip. I am happy to report that they have said that they will still happily babysit for us!! YAY! We love this picture of them!!

A very nice lady on the beach offered to take a picture of the 7 of us. We are so glad that she did so that we had one of everyone. What a great trip!

Nana and Tito with their grandkids.

This picture didn't turn out exactly as I had planned. First of all, I expected the little ones to comply and secondly I underestimated the amount of 'grass' that would be in the way of the picture.

Our family.

This would have been just right if I could have gotten Kinley and Ava to sit up straight!!

Our sweet kids!

Again with one leaning forward and one leaning back. :/

We took the kids to The Little Zoo That Could in Gulf Shores. It was the zoo that evacuated when Hurricane Ivan came. It is a small zoo, but a very interactive one. The kids got to pet and feed many of the animals. They also had some baby white tigers that you could get in the pen with and play with if you had blue jeans on, signed a waiver and paid extra for it. They had a lemur cage that you could pay extra to get in and hold/play with the lemurs too. It was extremely hot the day we went and everyone was very pink/sweaty! So we did what anyone that hot would do and went for ice cream afterward!

Ava is always in a full sprint everywhere we go!

The kids feeding the animals. There was not enough hair product in the whole of Gulf Shores to tame Miles' wild curls!

Kinley feeding the donkey. There is a joke in here between Brad and Kinley, but I am going to leave it out since this is a family blog!

Our hot/sweaty kiddos!! Kinley spared us the silly side-bun and instead went for the side ponytail....we are making progress....slowly.

Miles was not so sure about these birds, as they were using their beaks to climb around the cage.

Miles has a thing for horses. Every time he sees one, he yells "Nay! Nay! Nay!". He tries to gallop while he is on them and smiles ear to ear!

The baby white tigers. They were so cute!!

Ava went around petting all of the animals and was very upset when she couldn't take one of the baby rabbits home with us.

Miles was nervous about petting the baby goat and would only come pet it if I would. That is the ONLY reason that I am in this photo (couldn't find a way to crop myself out of this one!).

Brad and Kinley went parasailing while the rest of us road in the boat. They went up between 400-500 feet and at one point the driver dipped their feet in the water. Miles was either sea sick or tired. His head was bobbing and his eyes looked "swimmy". Ava had her mouth open the whole time watching them. She wanted to know when it was her turn to go up. I asked the driver of the boat what their age limit was and he said he would take as young as 18 months! I would have taken Ava up with me if I could have had her strapped to me, but we would have had to go up like Brad and Kinley. I didn't think she would handle me being that far from her up there (I wouldn't have handled it well either!).

Brad and Kinley waving at us in the boat. The kids thought it was pretty cool that Daddy and Sissy went way up high in the sky with a parachute!

Brad said it was actually quite fun once Kinley stopped screaming!

Ava is such a water baby. She was in the ocean every chance she had and at night when I wouldn't let her get in the ocean, she was allowed get in the swimming pool. It was miserable trying to get her out each night. Nana would always give in and take her! She isn't completely self-sufficient at swimming yet, but is close. She can go under and hold her breath and propel her self forward for a few feet. She loves jumping in and going under. This was her first time to use floaties and she LOVED them because they allowed her to be independent!

So proud of herself!! (Note the swimsuit purchased the the Fourth of July Party turned Luau!)

Nana said that Ava kept saying, "Let me go! I can do it myself!" It's disconcerting to let go of a 3 year old at night in the water!

Our little beach baby girl!

The little kids' first time to see the ocean. Miles kept saying, "Wawa!!" Yes, Miles, there is a lot of water! Although he wasn't too sure about getting in it. He wanted to play in the sand. Ava was itching to get in along with Kinley. We didn't get any pictures of the kids in the water because we were all in with them (and we didn't want to leave the camera on the beach). :( I wish we had gotten pictures of it. Miles mostly clung to whomever was holding him (usually Me). Kinley got a boogie board and was riding the waves. Ava decided she wanted to ride the boogie board and was HOOKED! Brad was holding the board while she was laying on it and would not only let her ride the large waves, but would assist in her "flying over them" and crashing down on the next one. She had a "permasmile" a mile wide!! I wish I had it on film!

He didn't build anything, but dug a lot of holes and filled a lot of buckets!

This is a picture of Ava's first time to get in the ocean on our first day there. She said she loved the water, but that it tasted, "Yucky".

Meemaw and Papa have a Fourth of July party every year. This year, after I bought everyone red, white and blue clothes and swimsuits, they changed it to a Luau! (just my luck! Ha!) All 12 of their grandchildren were there and several other friends and family members and their children. A good time was had by all! In this pictures Ava was tossing the "football" and landed it! Miles did an excellent job of carrying his and placing them in the hole!

Ava and Mia are the 2 youngest girls and are a year apart. They are finally at an age where they can start playing together. They even had matching swimsuits this year.

Ava and Miles decided that they wanted to drink from the fancy Luau margarita glasses with the flowers on the stem. So, they drank their orange juice from them and were pretty cute. The pictures that I can't post, but wish I could, are of Ava and Miles turning up (empty) beer bottles when we weren't looking. When we turned around and caught them, Brad snapped a few quick pictures and they are Hysterical!!

Each year Ava and Miles climb this tree at the party in Meemaw and Papa's backyard. This is the first year that they were able for me to let go of them for a minute or so for pictures.