This morning we got up and got to the beach as early as we could, for our last few hours at the water.
As usual, these two were the first ones ready to go!
Sylvia's $1-store flip-flops have served her well this summer.
Pelicans were out getting their breakfast.
The sky was still waking up.
Sylvia quietly contemplated having to leave the beach.
And our resident goofball, kept us entertained by digging "a new ocean," as he called it.
He buried his legs.
Jeremy challenged him to do sit-ups.
We are all super grateful to this handsome guy for planning this wonderful vacation!
Annah is feeling a little too sunburned this morning.
While digging, Caeden found a little-bitty crab!
I had to laugh when I saw a Nerf dart on the beach...feels just like home, where they're lying all over the house!
He's so dramatic!
Splash!
Oh no, a shark!
There have been several days during this trip that we've watched dolphins!\
We were planning to pay for a dolphin cruise where we'd be guaranteed to see them, but after the first day we saw them just swimming by and playing, we decided that was better than paying to make sure we saw them!
Today, there were several we watched as we were on the beach. It was really hard to get any photo evidence of them, but I at least got enough to prove we saw them!
Two!
One partially out of the water!
I know they're not great photos, but they sure are great memories!
Seeing dolphins was definitely one of the highlights of this trip!
It was hard to leave the beach, but we had to get back and finish packing and leave by 11am. The cleaning lady showed up early as we were working on getting out the door, and we asked her to snap a picture of all of us on the porch.
Wow, am I thankful for this bunch and this time together! What blessings!!!
Leaving the Gulf...
11:41am - Crossing the Blakeley River near Spanish Fort, AL
As we were getting hungry, Jeremy pulled off in a little burg. We were about to try lunch at Waffle House, when Annah and Caeden protested and said they wanted McDonald's. There was no McDonald's for more than an hour down the road. We stopped at the worst McDonald's we'd experienced in Cintronelle, AL, and we made sure to give Caeden and Annah a hard time about it.
Our car is packed to the gills. Jeremy somehow managed to get all of our things in it, but he sure can't see out the back window!
Onward!
1:36pm - We took a different route back home this time than we have on any of our other trips to the Gulf. We spent many hours in Mississippi today.
1:42pm - I thought the name of this town was interesting!
3:09pm - Also, Scooba, Mississippi! Zoinks!
3:27pm - A bathroom stop [as quick as possible] in Macon, MS...the vacant half of the gas station/mart was long deserted and could be a wildlife sanctuary...?
Also, lacy lingerie was being sold in the front window of the gas mart.
6:01pm - coming into Memphis
6:19pm - crossing the Mississippi River on the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge
We're staying in West Memphis, AR for the night.
We got all checked in at the brand new Holiday Inn.
Then we went across the way for supper at Crackerbarrel.
Annah was frustrated by the triangle puzzle, so she Googled the right way to do it.
Scoobs!
Jeremy dropped me off at the front entrance of the hotel so I could get bedding for Caeden to sleep on the pullout sofa. I made it up to the room before he drove around back and parked, and saw them coming in to the back of the hotel.
We had a good night's rest here.
