Gulf Shores

Every time one of us "kids" graduate from college, my parents take us all on a family vacation. It started after I graduated from ACU, and we made a point of taking a family vacation that summer, seeing as how we hadn't had a family vacation in several years since I was busy with college. My trip was a Caribbean cruise. My middle brother, David, graduated in the winter, so we went to West Virginia on a ski trip. And last week, my youngest brother, Andrew, graduated from Georgia Tech, and we all met in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Here is a picture diary of our family vacation:

My parents rented a four bedroom house directly on the beach. It was so nice to be able to walk out the back deck and step directly onto white sand. It was also nice that our house was close enough to the water that when Brylee went down for a nap, our monitor would reach the distance outside and we could continue having fun! We lathered this girl up in sunscreen every morning. It was her first bathing suit experience.

Uncle David loves his niece, that's for sure. I think the feeling's mutual!

David's girlfriend, Emily, is a personal trainer (who also just graduated college...way to go Emily!). Somehow, she convinced the entire family to participate in a morning 'boot camp' exercise session on the beach. We were all so sore the rest of the week!

My mom loves taking pictures (and I'm glad she does), so we have several great new family pictures! Sunset was beautiful!

My youngest brother, our most recent college graduate, Andrew

The weather was wonderful! During the day, it wasn't too hot, so we could stay on the beach in the sun all day without sweating. And at night it was cool and comfortable, and a light sweater was all we needed.

Clear skies without any rain the entire week. It was great!

I was able to put Brylee to sleep, and then we would all stay up late playing games. I love this time with my whole family!

It was a 12 hour car ride, and Brylee took it like a champ. Of course, we all had our moments where we wanted to be out of the car, but she napped most of the ride and surprisingly was able to stay on her schedule when we arrived. It was nice to drive because we got to bring all of her baby "stuff," like her Bumbo and pack-n-play.

Brylee's first experience at the beach

She would enjoy herself momentarily, playing with sand toys...

...or playing with Meme...

...or Gramps...

...and tolerated me making her wear a hat all the time...

....but it quickly turned to this!

Brylee wasn't the biggest fan of the bright light, wind, and sand, and her and Meme frequently left the beach and spent time together in the hammock under the house.

We played ladder golf, home-run derby, whiffle ball...

...and built many sand castles.

Andrew volunteered to be buried...

...onlyhis face was showing!

One of the activities Andrew chose to do was to go golfing. None of us were very good golfers...

...so we went to a fairly inexpensive course and played a scramble.

It was Team Andrew (Andrew, Bryan, and Me)...

... vs. Team Emily (Emily, David, my dad). Proud to announce that Team Andrew won!

We stayed home a few nights for dinner, but also went out to some very good sea food restaurants. Brylee sat in a high chair for the very first time!

We had a family "photo shoot" session. Here are our portraits...enjoy!

(Bryan was in charge of carrying Brylee's "stuff"...bib, burp cloth, extra bow, paci)

I just LOVE her expression here!

I love my family! And now that all of the "kids" have graduated college, we have to come up with a new tradition as a catalyst for our family vacation.

Gulf Shores, Alabama - May, 2011