Our Time in Paradise is Almost Over

Tomorrow is our last day on the island and we are very sad to leave! We have been here for 2 weeks already and it went by way too fast. Today was another great day! Colton, Grandma Yvonne, Grandma Lori and I started our morning by going to a family friends place to swim in their pool. They are staying in the condo's on the island and they were nice enough to come let us enjoy their pool and hot tub for a while! Colton swam for an hour and half and would have swam much longer but I was getting a little bored so we headed back home for lunch. Frankie and my dad went out fishing this morning with another family friend who is staying on the island. Jerry took them out to fish the rigs and they caught an entire cooler full of fish! They were pretty happy when they came home and Colton couldn't wait to help clean the fish again. They caught some sheephead which are the ugliest fish ever but let me tell you they are so delicious! As the guys cleaned the fish they threw the extra parts over for the birds and before long a cute little pelican arrived to join in on the feast. It was so much fun to watch him eat. Overall a great afternoon! Tonight we decided to take a walk down on the west end of the Island! Colton of course ran most of the time we were down there and we all collected some shells and enjoyed another beautiful sunset! This place is just amazing and I am not ready to leave the island but I guess it is time for us to get back to reality and back to work.

Time to clean the fish!

We had another beautiful day on the island today! Angela, Colton and I went to Fort Gaines while Frankie, my dad and Yvonne tried to catch us some fish and my mom hung out on the deck and read her book! We had a great time exploring the fort (this was my 4th time touring the Fort in the last 2 years and I am stilling finding new things that I haven't seen before)! Then this afternoon it was time to clean the fish. Colton was so excited, I think this is his favorite thing to do (I know what a weird child)! We enjoyed another fabulous fish dinner tonight and then we hung out on the deck for a while just listening to the waves crash unto the shore!! Colton came in the house to watch his movie and went from talking to out cold in about 2 minutes! It was another great day but we are sad that our vacation is going by so fast!

What a Day!

Today was the perfect day on the beach. We woke up, ate some breakfast and then spent several hours playing on the beach. We played in the sand, did some fishing and even flew a kite for a while.

After lunch, Colton went down for a nap and Frankie, Angela and myself went for a long walk out to sand dollar island. We found several sand dollars on this walk, as well as some jelly fish, a giant bouyee and a flock of pelicans at the very end of the island. Although we didn't really realize what we were getting ourselves into until we were about an hour into the walk. It took us an hour and a half to get to the end of the island and then realized that we still had to walk all the way back. I don't think I have ever been so happy to get back to my van. We made it back to the house just in time to watch the sunset. It seriously was the perfect day on the beach.

Gotta love this place

The weather was much nicer today. We started our morning with a walk at Indian Shell Mound Park. The vegetation on the island is beautiful. After our nice little walk amoung the trees we came back to the house for a walk along the beach. We saw lots of dolphins swimming and playing again today, the babies were jumping all the way out of the water but I just wasn't fast enough to get any pictures of them. We are having a great time on our vacation and we never want to go back home!

Let's Explore Fort Gaines

We started day by running and swinging on the deck - the kids are taking in as much fresh air as possible (and let me tell you come nap time it is great because they pass out before their heads hit the pillows)! This morning we also took the kids to Fort Gaines to do some exploring. We took Colton to the fort twice last year and he couldn't wait to get back and show his cousins. There is also a fort across the bay from Dauphin Island which we hope to ferry over to sometime next week (not sure if we are more excited about the ferry ride or the adventure that awaits us on the other side)!

Going for a walk at the Bird Sanctuary

Today was a little chilly to be playing on the beach so we decided to head down to the Bird Sanctuary to do a little exploring. The boys lead the way as our little explorers looking for birds and alligators (neither of which we found, thankfully)! Here are a few more pictures from our adventures.

Fishing and Feeding the Birds

Our first days of vacation involved lots of fishing, feeding the birds and just hanging out on the beach! Frankie and his mom caught 14 fish the first day and we feasted on fresh Whiting for dinner that night, Yummy! Colton is enjoying playing on the beach, digging holes and building sand castles and of course feeding all the crazy birds on this island. The weather has been a little chilly but that doesn't matter to these Minnesotans!