After a short night's sleep, day two started with a GORGEOUS morning at the beach! With the storm blown over, it was sunny and warm.... and STICKY! I'm glad we went in October! After living in the Midwest, I thought I knew what humidity was, but the tropical air of the Gulf Coast has redefined my understanding. We all ended up a shade or two darker by lunchtime. We had a repeat of the hysterics when it was time to leave the beach for lunch, but Brad and I were prepared this time and made sure we each had our hands free enough to drag a screaming child back indoors. At times like these I wonder how people survive with more than two kids without a nanny =).
The most exciting treasure of the day - a washed up rope!
Race tracks in the sand.
A tar ball from the oil spill - I grabbed it out of the waves when reaching for shells. It was fairly solid, but it sure smelled like oil!
After our morning at the beach, then lunch and resting, we all got cleaned up and went down to Gulf Shores State Park to explore the fishing pier. It was neat to walk out so far over the water, and get a bird's eye view of the waves. Speaking of birds, there were hundreds of them on the beach, in the water, and in the skies! Quite a few were catching fish. We saw flocks of seabirds everywhere - including Pelicans - it was amazing! On the pier, we watched some people fishing. Most didn't catch anything exciting, though there was a group of them down at the end that kept hooking something really strong and having to cut it loose before ever reeling it to the surface - they all claimed it was likely a black tip shark, though we never got to see actually see it. They boys LOVED watching the guys fish, and catching glimpses of what they'd reel in.
Here's my hottie on the pier.
And me of course.
And the boys hoping to see fish in the water! All the little white specks near the water are birds.
Checking out the catch of the day.
This guy kept stalking the bait boxes, hoping for a snack.
The Beach Boys
Sunset is my favorite time of day on the ocean!
Video of the boys saying "goodnight" to the sun.
After the sunset, we had the most FUN dinner experience at Lulu's.... it's an open air seafood restaurant right on the water... with live music, a giant sand pit, and all kids of atmosphere. Apparently the owner is Lucy Buffet, sister of Jimmy Buffet. It was a lot of fun and the food was great - peel 'n' eat Gulf Shrimp anyone? I wish I'd gotten a picture.
The wind was blowing pretty hard again by the time we got back to the condo, and we were all exhausted, but Eli and I managed to squeeze in one more adventure. Owen could not be convinced to come back outside, so Brad stayed with him while Eli and I took a late night stroll on the beach, hunting for crabs! There are little tiny white crabs that come out of their holes at night and skitter across the sand like bugs when they see you coming. They blend in so well they are hard to see. We caught a few and put them in a bucket to show Daddy and Owen.
The wind was blowing pretty hard again by the time we got back to the condo, and we were all exhausted, but Eli and I managed to squeeze in one more adventure. Owen could not be convinced to come back outside, so Brad stayed with him while Eli and I took a late night stroll on the beach, hunting for crabs! There are little tiny white crabs that come out of their holes at night and skitter across the sand like bugs when they see you coming. They blend in so well they are hard to see. We caught a few and put them in a bucket to show Daddy and Owen.
We saw plenty of these creatures on the beach during the day, but I was a little more concerned about them on our evening walk, due to the darkness. The first one is an ordinary jellyfish... we only saw a few of these washed up. The one with blue tentacles is a Portuguese Man o' War, and apparently very poisonous. There were hundreds of them on the beach after the storm. We were sure to instill fear in our children so they would avoid stepping on them =). These pictures were taken at night with the flashlight trained on them.
Overall, the perfect ending to a perfect day! In spite of the wind, we were able to relax to sleep with our door open and the sound of the waves crashing right outside.
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