Beachin' It

We recently returned from our very first weekend together with my family at the beach house we rented for the month.  It's pretty adorable with a great central location in Gulf Shores, plus super close to the beach and lagoon.  Mr. L and I are very happy so far that we all chose to do something like this for Christmas!

Our first night there, Bryant was having an absolute ball playing with all of his toys in the living room.  He was really excited about the place!

Whenever Bryant chose to not be a proper model for me, I would take the opportunity to photograph some other lovelies in my life:

My poodle CiCi

My precious Cocoa!

We had a nice time relaxing for the rest of the evening and playing some games, mainly Phase 10, a card game Mr. L bought while we were getting supplies at Wal-Mart.  It turned out to be a very competitive game, with yours truly ending up in last place...oh well, can't win them all!

The next morning I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the view from the house's balcony in the back:

And then somehow this little cutie ended up in front of my camera's lens again:

I'm so happy I got him to smile for me!

That evening, we originally had plans to go to a Civil War Christmas event in Fort Morgan, but unfortunately we weren't able to make its start time of 4pm because my dad and brother were driving in from Mobile (he had to direct traffic for our hometown's Christmas parade that morning).  Instead we opted to see Gulf Shores's Boat Christmas Parade, which turned out to be a really great idea.

We got to the canal a little bit before sundown and parked on the side of the road.  It was a little chilly out, so everyone but my dad and me stayed inside the van before the show started.

Bryant looking out the window at some planes flying overhead

My dad, AKA Pap, goofing off near the canal

A few minutes after dark the boats finally started coming down the canal, and as I'd predicted, Bryant came out of the van!

He'd found some sticks to play with while we were waiting

One of the boats, which just so happened to be decorated Auburn style...

Another daggum Auburn tiger, sheesh!

Finally a Santa boat and not a tiger!  Haha.

Squish getting a kick out of the boats

Palm tree boat

Bryant's favorite, the blue boat

Mommy and Bryant

After the boat show, we got some dinner from DeSoto's Seafood Kitchen (which was pretty tasty) and entertained ourselves with some more Phase 10 (did I mention that there's no internet at the house?  Yeah, that's why we're playing so many games -- we're not usually like this haha!) before it was time to go to bed.

The next morning we had to get ready to head back to our homes, so we started cleaning up and packing.  In the meantime my brother Brad and my dad decided to go feed the rest of the bread to the birds from the balcony.  I don't think we really expected all the attention the birds gave them!

It seemed like a scene straight out of Hitchcock's The Birds!

Bryant watching from the window, which ultimately did not last

He wanted to feed the birdies too!

I love the face he's making here.  It's so cute!

All up in the birds' faces

After the feeding frenzy, my family packed up and headed out, while Mr. L and I decided to leave around sunset so we could catch some pictures of the beach.  This seemed like a good idea, until we stepped outside and realized how freaking COLD it was, not to mention windy.  So we got a few pictures, but none of the actual sunset.

Oh, look, more birds!

Mr. L is such a sweetie!

Look at that adorable, albeit cold, face!

Pretty skies!

I'll get you next time, sunset!

I wasn't terribly worried though, I figured there would be plenty of time later to catch some perfect sunset shots, especially with a location as pretty as this one.  We'll be heading back soon to spend more time there, and my camera and I will be capturing some great pictures for sure!