Contrary to popular belief, the beach in Orange Beach, AL is actually not orange. In fact, the sand was beautiful, white, fine sand. Wheee! We loved it so much when we went there in April that we decided to go back there for a longer almost week-long vacation there in September. At the time of this entry, it has been almost a month since we were there, but given my track record it’s a wonder it’s only been delayed a few weeks. Hehe
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach35.jpg:The kids playing on the beach:center:0]]
We chose to go after the Labor Day weekend, so not only was it fairly quiet, and we had the beach mostly to ourselves, but it was still hot and summery. And with off-season rates, well, it was icing on the cake.
We drove down to Alabama in a 2-day road trip (each way), arriving on Sunday September 8th and leaving on Saturday September 14th. Most of the days went like this: wake up, breakfast, beach, pool, room (shower/lunch/naptime), pool, shower, dinner, bedtime. It was a lovely time. Rather than go day by day, I’ve decided to group the pictures in three entries – one for pictures on the beach, one for pictures in the pool, and one for miscellaneous photos (including fun at breakfast and our hike on the Backcountry Trail). So for this first one, here are all of our fun beach pictures. As always, please mouse over the pictures for captions.
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach03.jpg:Filling buckets with sand is serious business:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach04.jpg:Pour from this bucket to that bucket:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach05.jpg:Papa and Yaya swimming together:center:0]]
The weather was perfect and the water temperature was Malaysia-esque. Happy Sila! 🙂
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach06.jpg:More fun to fill buckets by hand than by shovel:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach07.jpg:Seashells with holes in them – to make necklaces:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach08.jpg:Vin and Adik and the sandcastles (before GodzillAdik comes along to destroy destroy destroy Tokyo):center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach15.jpg:Playing nicely together:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach16.jpg:Adik gets water in the watering can:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach17.jpg:What are they all looking at?:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach18.jpg:Adik intensely enjoys playing with sand:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach20.jpg:Adik went that way Mama:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach36.jpg:Adik carries buckets of water while Papa monitors:center:0]]
I love the matching outfits and hats on father and son. 🙂 A big thanks to Eliza for Adik’s swim outfit. It’s perfect!
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach41.jpg:Diva sunglasses and sand starfishes:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach42.jpg:Red for Yaya (with sand), Blue for Adik (he wants more water in it):center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach43.jpg:Mama, you’re interrupting. I’m busy playing:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach44.jpg:Yaya pretending to be a seagull (her name is Seagulla):center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach45.jpg:Yaya loved the water:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach46.jpg:She continues to play, oblivious of what Adik is up to behind her:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach47.jpg:Adik wants more water in his bucket:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach48.jpg:More of Yaya in the surf:center:0]]
This next set of photos were taken when Yaya and I went for a walk on the beach at about sunset. It was on our last evening there, and Adik explicitly said that he did not want to go to the pool that evening:
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach50.jpg:Walk or swim?:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach51.jpg:Making footprints in the sand:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach52.jpg:Playing with sand:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach53.jpg:Making friends with an actual seagull:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach54.jpg:Fun, fun, fun!:center:0]]
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach55.jpg:I think she enjoyed our walk:center:0]]
We are hopefully now better prepared for winter, and will warm ourselves with the memory of the lovely (and hot) time we had at the beach.
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach34.jpg:The beautiful view from the parking garage:center:0]]
And dream of seagulls:
[[image:2013_sep_orangebeach19.jpg:Seagulla’s inspiration:center:0]]
Check out our pool pictures and our miscellaneous pictures as well. 🙂
