Keeping Up With The Bandermann's: GULF SHORES

**It's evidently been quite awhile since my last blog post...so much so that my grandparents called me to make sure everything was going okay! HA! So Grandpa and Grandma I'll dedicate this post to

you. =) And hopefully I won't be quite as long between this post and the next. =)

Last week we headed to beautiful Gulf Shores for a little bit of fun and relaxation at the beach!

We debated about whether or not to take Emory, and ultimately decided to leave her in Cape with Ryan's parents. I think it was a GREAT decision, because she did so well while we were gone, and we were able to stay up later and be way more flexible and enjoy spending time just with Brynn. And the 9 hour drive was actually ENJOYABLE and I got to READ some while we were driving! HA!

Ryan got this crazy idea to leave around midnight so we wouldn't really lose a day at the beach (my parents and Lindsey and Curt were already at the condo, and we were only going for 4 days since we were leaving Emory and didn't want to be gone TOO long). So he went to bed early and set his alarm for 12:30. We got up and finished loading last minute stuff and were on the road by 1. I don't know how he did it, but he said driving at night was SO nice. No traffic, etc. Brynn took awhile to fall back to sleep...it was hilarious! She kept looking up saying "is it tomorrow yet? Are we at the beach guys?" And "hey, can we start my movie?" UH, NO...it's 1:30 in the morning...GO TO SLEEP!" HA! But overall it went GREAT and I would definitely do it like that again. (Of course, I'm not the one who had to drive all night so it's easy for me to say...but Ryan said it was kind of like getting up really early to go hunting so it wasn't that bad).

We got to Gulf Shores at 10 AM and everyone helped us unload quickly and we were down at the beach in NO TIME!

This was us packing the night before...notice the mismatched swimsuit and spaghetti stains on her mouth...HA!

She wasn't a huge fan of the ocean until the second day. The waves and tides were pretty crazy and I don't know if that's what had her kind of spooked or what, but the first day she just wanted to play in the sand and play at the splash pool.

She liked to watch from a safe distance...

We attempted to make my dad into a mermaid. I don't think I did too well...

The condo had a kiddie pool that never got more than 2 feet deep and had all these splashy sprayers and things...that's pretty much where she wanted to be.

She was pretty proud of the teal and pink bracelet you were supposed to wear when using the condo pool...

That night we went to Lulu's to eat. That's one of my favorite places to eat at Gulf Shores...so much to see and do while you wait and I just love the atmosphere. We tried popsicles and popcorn while we waited, and watched bigger kids do a ropes course.

Ryan's mom gave Brynn some special "trip money" to use to buy a souvenir. Of course she had to use it the first day. She bought this necklace and was really proud of herself. Thank you Pamaw!

My sister and I had a hula hoop competition. I can't remember who won...=)

Our table was at an awesome spot right in front of the live music...we had so much fun watching them play and Brynn was having a big ole time playing the air guitar and being really silly.

This is how she would hum and sing along...it was hilarious!

I love that she is an adventurous eater. She will pretty much try anything. I know shrimp isn't a "weird" food, but my mom is the kind of person who orders chicken tenders at a seafood restaurant. (Not that there's anything wrong with that mom). So when Brynn wanted fish and ate my dad's shrimp, everyone gives my mom a hard time. "See Mom, even Brynn likes seafood!"

When we got back to the condo Brynn got a lesson in "bras". Evidently my sister was wearing this thing called a "sticky bra." (She swears by it and you can use it when you don't want any bra straps to show). Anyway - it came with a couple of...drumroll please because I don't know any other way to put this...sorry Grandma..."nipple covers". Brynn kept pulling up her shirt and sticking them on herself and walking around saying to everyone "guys, look at my bra!" Curt, see my bra? Grandpa, see my new bra!" OH MY!