Thursday, July 21, 2011

Mobile -- A Weekend of Fun (and rain)

We had a super fun weekend in Mobile visiting our friends Lucy and David. The kids had a ball. Even when Daughter turned herself perpendicular and rolled out of the futon the kids were sleeping in, she was still having fun. And the next morning when she had a cut and bruise on her cheek from the fall, she was still having fun. seriously. Lucy and David have two small dogs that the kids were just gaga over. It was pretty cute.

Our two major highlights were Saturday at the Exploreum and then Sunday at the beach.

The Exploreum is a lot like McWane. Many of the exhibits were the same (and the kids loved discovering, "HEY, this is like at McWane!"). We got there two hours before closing so we didn't get to see everything. But what we saw, we loved. The Wharf of Wonder (for preschoolers), Hands on Hall (which had most of the McWane stuff in it), My Body Works, and Spaced Out Summer. Plus, they partner with McWane, so we got in free.

Daughter floating in "the water" on her life raft.
They really enjoyed the wharf area and all 4 adults enjoyed watching the hi-jinx.

Son swimming

Daughter catching fish.

Son ringing the bell on the ship. They both took turns steering the ship, but I didn't manage to get a picture of either!

Son measuring hang time at Body Works. This was probably a bad idea to let the kids use this because now they want to hang on our bench press bar to "keep practicing!"

Sunday after breakfast we packed up and headed to the beach even though there was rain forecasted. It was supposed to be spotty and we were willing to take the risk. When you only get to see the Gulf of Mexico for a couple of hours once a year ... you're willing to put up with some rain.

And it was drizzly and the wind was blowing and it was 74 degrees (IN JULY - CRAZY!) The water was so clear and warm ... fabulous. Daughter loved the ocean and splashed around for a long time. Son found a hole in the sand and busied himself in the hole. He wasn't really into the yellow flag waves. We stayed on the beach for a little more than an hour and I didn't take any pictures because it actually rained the entire time and I didn't want to get my camera or cell phone out for pictures. The only things we carried with from the car to the beach were the sand toys! Son helped me find some seashells and that was about it for our beach adventure.

We showered off and cleaned up and got dressed, THEN I got out the camera for a minute.

the palm trees blowing in the wind

Heaven. Seriously, if I had a float I could have probably stayed out there for 3 hours. rain and wind would have been blocked out.

Husband and the kids

Daughter and I in various stages of saying "CHEESE." Son is too cool.

Next, we headed across the street to Souvenir City to pick out seashells to put in the sandbox when we get home. The kids very carefully picked out a dozen various sized and colored shells. Daughter was very concerned that we got at least one that we could hear the ocean in. And $8 later, we were standing under the shark for a "family photo" Unfortunately, it was raining so no one offered to take the picture so we could all be in it. It's a 3/4 family picture.
fun, fun, fun. The downside was my seafood loving Husband didn't get one bite of seafood (I felt a little bad for him about that) but on the upside -- we never worried about any sunburns!

1 comment:

Bethy said...

This post has me all homesick! It seems as though you had a great time though!