The Beach!

The last day and a half of our beach vacation finally warmed up enough for us to head to the beach!

 Thursday afternoon was chilly - we wore long sleeves and pants, but we thought the boys would at least be able to play in the sand.  We actually met friends from out elementary school and the big boys had a blast creating in the sand together.

 If I recall correctly the complex they build had five hot tubs :)

And a 'Golden Gate Bridge' that Max was super proud of!

 Friday we spent pretty much the entire day at the beach!  It was beautiful!  Still a bit chilly for swimming, but the boys were comfy in their suits for some sand/water play.

 The big shovels were a huge hit, until dad used a little too much force and broke one.

 I couldn't take enough pictures and as I look back they are just gorgeous!

 We are so grateful that Nonna joined us for the trip.  Everything is more fun with Nonna along :)

 Max had a blast digging the biggest hole ever!

I think he was pretty successful.  Toward the end of the boys digging, it was tough to get them out of the whole!

It was a great way to end a great vacation - and for the record this beach day was on March 17th.  I got all of the vacation posts up within my self imposed one month time limit - barely :)

Boats and Planes in Alabama

The Maritime Museum in Mobile was another great stop on our trip the entire place was super kid friends and had lots of hands on activities for everyone in the family.

 William got a kick out of this pirate scene - although I think Brian was really the one that liked it :)

One of the exhibits talked about how they retrieve items from the floor of the ocean.  You could even try out the robot arm yourself.  Max was so close to picking up a coin!

 The kids area was a huge hit.  William was ready to board a ship and all three boys thought that the green screen was pretty cool.

 Jack enjoyed moving all the sea creatures around on the magnetic wall, but his very favorite part of the entire place was this shipping container exhibit.  One would light up on the floor and he would have to jump on it.  As he did, a fact would appear on the wall for me to read.  I think we read every single fact they had - about four times :)

 One day we headed over to Pensacola to check out the National Naval Aviation Museum.  Jack was in awe of the giant lights and planes hanging from the ceiling.

Here the boys stand before a flight log that shows this plane was the very first plane former President George H Bush every flew.  I'm not sure the boys got it, but I thought that was pretty cool.

 The highlight of Jacks visit was this super cool little playground.  He explored it top to bottom for an hour, while dad and the big brothers checked out the other exhibit.  The museum is on a working naval base, so there were naval personnel everywhere.  I was glad that Jack was contained and I didn't have to chase him for a bit.

 All three boys got to check out the cockpit of a Blue Angels plane.   There are even sometimes air shows on the base!  No air show on the day we visited, but they all enjoyed pretending to fly.  I was just shocked that a full grown man would fit in that tiny little cockpit!

Uncle Sandy's Bird Park

Oh no. . . we are not going in there.  Let's turn around.  This place is creepy.  I don't think we will make it out alive.  These were just a few of the thoughts going through my mind as we pulled up to Uncle Sandy's in Pensacola - another one of Brian's crazy vacation outing finds. 

 A woman led us down a very worn, rainbow painted sidewalk and I was honestly wondering if we would ever be heard from again.  But it was crazy cool.

 Each of us got a cup of peanuts to feed to the birds.  They took them from our hands and it was pretty awesome. 

 All of the birds were beautiful!  The peacocks running around was the icing on the cake - although this one did make some crazy noise at Max that made me think it was ready to attack.

 We all loved it and Brian was super excited that I had to admit he was right and that the place was definitely a pretty great find. 

 As we left the employee told us that it was pretty unheard of for a family with three young kids to walk away without anyone getting bitten.  I'm glad she told us that on the way out and not on the way in :)

Dolphin Cruise

One of the coolest things we did on our trip was a dolphin cruise.  I'll admit that it was crazy cold - in fact our tour guides thanked us for heading out on their coldest day of the year - but it was incredible!  The boys enjoyed the boat ride itself, but when those dolphins started jumping out of the water and putting on a show, they loved it!

 This picture totally melts my heart.  I love it!

 A few goldfish helped to keep their minds off how cold they were - although it sure was pretty and sunny!

 Look at them jump!  We are so glad that we took a friends recommendation for our dolphin cruise.  This company sends out two boats at the same time and they dolphins love to play in the wake as the two boats fly through the water next to each other.  At one point there were five dolphins jumping out of the water right there!  It was amazing!

Nonna had a death grip to make sure no one fell overboard, but in the end this was her favorite part of the entire trip.

Fort Morgan/Folley Train Museum

I'm hanging my head in shame because I'm so far behind on my blogging!  I'm hoping to document the rest of our spring break vacation before we forget everything!

As I said before there were some rainy days.  Brian did a great job finding fun outings for us.  The kids loving running around Fort Morgan.  I'll admit it was pretty incredible to think that fort was built in the early 1800's. 

 It is amazing the way the fort just kept going.  So many spaces and hidden rooms.  The kids thought it was pretty cool.  Nonna was a nervous wreck that someone would fall off the top of the fort - or tumble down the 'stairs of death'. 

 We spent another chilly afternoon checking out the minature trains in Folley.  The boys loved it.  William took all the pictures on this outing, so there weren't too many keepers - but he is getting better!

The miniature town was so detailed!  I think everyone's favorite was the fire works building on the left.  It actually looked like it was on fire.  Pretty crazy!