Gulf Shores, Alabama

I give up on fully catching this blog up, but I did want to record a few highlights since it is our family memory album. Recording summer memories and looking at all these beach pictures in January is not doing anything to lift my winter spirits! Is it too early to start the countdown to spring?

This year, we celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary on a family vacation in Gulf Shores, Alabama. My beloved Hilton Head is too far to drive from Arkansas. I was so sad to give up that tradition, but excited to explore something new. The water is gorgeous in Alabama. It is crystal blue water and white sand. However, there is definitely a "Red-Neck Riviera" thing going on there. It made for some interesting people watching. And, we have never seen so many smokers in one place. I think we learned if we go back to shop for a condo on the Orange Beach side of things. It bumps up to Gulf Shores, but seems to have a very different feel. We spent all our days swimming in the ocean and playing in the pool. I loved my daily workout in the exercise room overlooking the ocean, then running the 18 flights of stairs back to our room. There was a daily dog show at a restaurant that was a big hit with our girls. We got hair braids and caricatures. Tommy and Addison tried parasailing for the first time. The Gulf Shores zoo was a family favorite. And, we ate at Lulu's cafe several times and loved it.

I don't know exactly what our schedule is going to hold this year, but the beach is definitely my happy place, so I am hoping we can squeeze it in sometime this summer!