Gulf Shores Vacay Part 1

Last week Steve, Steven and I along with my parents went to Gulf Shores, Alabama for VACATION!! It was SO nice. We planned to go with my parents because, well the more the merrier for sure. I always went on vacation growing up and we always had a great time. I really wanted Steven to get that experience before we have another baby in the mix. My parents are amazing with Steven and he loves them so much so we thought that 4 on 1 would also be a better ratio for a rambunctious 2 year old. It worked out great and I think everyone had a great time!

We decided to drive down there and break it into 2 days of driving so Steven wouldn't go crazy (or drive us crazy). I think that worked out really well. Steven was actually really good in the car. This is him all ready to go and start our drive! I really think he had no idea what was happening. I mean he doesn't know the words "beach" or "vacation" ha!

I packed the car with things for him to do and lots.of.snacks. It went pretty well I think. He loved some of the silly toys from the dollar store/Target bins as well as coloring books, stickers, some new truck books, his LeapPad, my Iphone and his portable DVD player. He actually did really well watching movies in the car. (we know all have Hook memorized LOL) So well we had to charge that sucker whenever we stopped for lunch halfway through because he used up all the battery. He spent a lot of time looking like this:

"Need sucker, Mommy"

We spent the night in Mississippi in a hotel. My parents were there too so I think he was glad to have some time with Grandma and Grandpa. We swam in the hotel pool a bit and he didn't seem to into it. He was actually pretty scared/wary of the water at first. But he warmed up a lot to it as the week went on, which was really cool to watch.

We finally got to the condo the next day. The next morning we hit the beach first thing. The weather was a big chilly early in the AM (Steven woke us all up like 5:30am all week. Awesome). It was pretty cool to see Steven's reaction to the beach for the first time. He was a bit confused by all the sand but he dug right into play with Grandpa and Daddy!

What's this sand stuff?

Fun in the sand!

Blue Beach Family

One day during the week we went to the Gulf Shores Zoo. My mom had suggested it and it ended up being a really fun day! At first we were a little unsure, having experienced the amazing St. Louis Zoo, and this one was a lot smaller. But it ended up being really cool. Since it was small, you got to get really close to the animals. They also gave you food to hand feed them which Steven really liked.

Great day for the Zoo!

Here ducky, ducky...

I can't even stress how much Steven enjoyed having his grandparents there with him for a week. Every morning he ran to their bedroom and constantly asked where they were if they weren't within sight. LOL. He asked for them alllll day the day we got home. He loves his Grandma and Grandpa!

Feeding the goats with grandpa. They were hungry!

Steven and daddy did the Kangaroo Encounter they had at the zoo. It was really cool.

That was our first few days on vacation. Stay tuned for Part 2.