dauphin island: part one!

Last week we found ourselves on a new adventure! Rich’s Uncle Ron had the great idea to get away together…Rich’s brothers, their wives, and the kids. And that is exactly what we did!

Ron and Kathleen had been to Dauphin Island, Alabama, before and it was their idea to introduce all of us to the area. None of us had been there before and it was a wonderful break in the craze that has been our lives lately! It is a very small island, very calm, and not much to do but relax on the white sand beaches. Again, a welcome break from a busy season of life.

This was the water tower that greeted us as we crossed over the bridge onto the island…

And this is the very large home that greeted us for the week! It was situated DIRECTLY on the beach and could not have been more perfect for us for that reason. With little kids, it was SO nice to be right on the beach so that Alana (and her cousins) could go in and out a few times a day without being too long in either place. Rich and I took turns inside while Sierra napped and outside playing in the sand and water with Alana. She was in HEAVEN all week.

I loved this onesie that I’d bought for Sierra a few weeks back and figured our little vacation was the perfect time to put her in it. How cute, right? “Ready for fun!”

For the first few days, we relaxed, roamed the property, snapped a few photos, and tried to get the girls to sleep later than 6am (to no avail)

One of the kids favorite places to play (besides the shore, of course) was under the house! Because it was on stilts, the kids had a blast collecting sea shells and playing in the sand. I took this photo of Alana the morning after we arrived before she’d even had a chance to put on a swim suit! 

This is Alana’s closest-in-age cousin, Addie. She is hilarious and adorable, as you can tell 

Rich and Alana had SO MANY fun moments at the beach, and while I was mostly occupied with Sierra, I tried to grab the camera here & there to capture some memories.

Five month old Sierra:

Across the street from the beach house was a very cool sandbar where Rich had taken Alana the day before. They wanted to go back and bring me and Sierra with them, and they were excited to show me all of their discoveries. We had such great family time around the sand bar, and here are some photos of our time there! 

I love this little drool factory! 

Hermit crabs!!!

The next day at the beach I was determined to get some photos of Alana playing. She’d been having fun on a contagious level and I wanted to remember her running around so happily. She grabbed her straw hat on our way out the door and it made for some fun photos. Truthfully I can’t believe I got a single useful image – Alana did not stand still for a split second all morning. I got dizzy just trying to photograph her activity and I’m thankful for high shutter speeds! 

Cousins! Alex, Addie, and Alana! Rich and both of his brothers had a girl for their firstborn and all 3 happen to be “A” names. These girls play SO well together and I love their relationships! Both Addie and Alana look up to Alex so much. She’s their hero 

The cousins playing a jumping game on a little sand hill…it was so cute to witness 

Up on the porch, Sierra relaxed and completely seemed to enjoy the sights and sounds of the ocean. I sat on the back porch with her quite a bit and we loved feeling the ocean breeze on our skin. She was a joy…with a few moments of overtired screaming and not napping well.

I thought this was a funny image with her tongue…

Stay tuned for part two! Coming right up!