Lyla's first beach trip

Ever since Jeff and I have been married, we have taken our vacations in May since summer time always proves to be the busiest time of year for us. We love to cruise, but since we had an addition to our family this year, we thought it best to go with our back up, which is Gulf Shores. It's perfect for us because it is only 3 hours from home and it has A LOT to offer. So, off we went for our very first family of 3 vacation.

It started off with a bang when Lyla had an "accident" in her car seat. Luckily, we had just stopped for lunch when we noticed it. We were able to get everything cleaned up and on the road again in no time (sorry, I was not in the picture taking mood when that happened, so there is no photo to commemorate that moment! ha!)-but trust me, I MORE than made up for it, as you will soon see with my plethora of pictures that follow!:)

When we got there, I was a little upset because our room was not ready when it should have been-we actually walked in on the cleaning ladies who told us we couldn't stay while they were still cleaning. Note: This was AFTER we had hauled everything up 5 stories and Lyla was having a melt down moment! Again-no pictures-SOOOO...we stuffed our belongings in a small corner that WAS clean, and headed to Publix to buy groceries for the week. Thank goodness for my husband who has the patience of Job and was able to get his girls calm in no time:) I am happy to report that after this, it was smooth sailing:)

On our first full day there, we were so anxious to get her out! She was just as excited! 

 Once she was dressed and COATED in sunscreen, we were ready to go! Don't we look so cool?!

 She started off in the float and did pretty well! I was so glad that we got her in her baby pool the week before so that this wasn't her first actual time.

 Eventually, though, she wanted OUT-of the float that is. She LOVED floating around in daddy's arms! And of course, he did all kinds of tricks with her...tricks that turn mommy's hair grey! haha!

We only stayed out for an hour that first day, just to see how she would do and to make sure she didn't burn. We took some time away from swimming to have lunch with Uncle Shawn and his intern who were doing some work down by the beach! She absolutely ADORED him!

 The next day, we decided to take on the beach! We literally packed up EVERYTHING we brought and strolled it to the beach! It was quite a work out to get everything down, but we wanted to make sure we were prepared for whatever happened!

 Once we got down there and caught our breath (ha!) we decided to go right to it. 

As you can see from the picture below, she had quite the grip on me! She did not want to be put down! She was brave, though, and didn't cry or have the melt down I expected her to have. She let her daddy take her in a bit further, but was more content in her little tent, especially once Jeff got in there with her. He is such a great dad! Oh and thanks Gene and Linda for letting us borrow the tent. It was perfect!

After staying out there for about an hour and a half, we loaded up again and headed back to the place we knew we would ALL enjoy! The POOL! I took a ton of pictures, but her face in these two really make me smile! 

After a fun day at the pool, we headed to one of our favorite places to eat-Lambert's! We each got a roll-and some other yummy food too!

After some fine dining, we HAD to check out a few stores on the beach! Lyla and Jeff found matching hats! No, we did NOT make this purchase, even though they DO look so cute in them!:)

 

 To end our third night in Gulf Shores, we headed to LuLu's for dessert! They have the absolute BEST bread pudding-(the secret: it's made with krispy kreme doughnuts...ummm...YUMMY!) Jeff got key lime pie and was nice enough to share the whip cream part with Lyla...I didn't share mine. Sorry, Lyla.

 Our last full day was spent entirely poolside. We figured it was just best! Lyla even started kicking her legs to swim! That's my girl! We went to the pool twice that day! She loved it!!!

That night, we let Jeff pick dinner plans! He chose The Hangout. It didn't disapoint! There was so much going on from a live band (which Lyla loved-she loves to dance) and tons of activities for kids. Plus it was right on the beach!! Just my style:) The food was good too!

 We had to check out Friday, so we decided to save the Zoo until the last day! Who's ready to go home??! NOT US!

 We knew Lyla would love the zoo. She loves animals! We were right. As soon as she saw the first exhibit, she went crazy! 

We got to visit the part of the zoo where you can pet the animals. Of course, she went straight for the ones that look like Diggs. Go figure:)

These were some of our favorites from the day! 

Thank you Lord for a week of relaxing and spending time with my family! We are so thankful that we CAN get away and enjoy God's beautiful creation! We will always remember this trip!
*sorry for the picture overload-I took WAY more, though, if you can even imagine!!!