Gulf Shores 2008

For Keith's mom's birthday, the whole Cremer clan headed to Gulf Shores, Alabama, for a week. Or as our kids call it : "Alabama Beach". We headed out on a Friday so we could take eat a great meal out in Louisianna on the way. Saturday morning we finished up what was left of the drive and met up for a slow family lunch of fried seafood at the Seafood Shack in Foley. Decent food, and my fried clam strips were really good. Once we got to the beach house, everyone settled in and releaxed with a drink. The kids grabbed some beach toys and headed down to the water.

Matt and Evan "fishing" in the surf

As part of Meme's birthday, we had a professional photographer come out Sunday evening for pictures of the whole family. She copyright released the photos, so we cna post them here and do whatever we like with them.

The kids

Everyone

In color, even

Evan staying sharply focused on the picture taking

Us

If you take enough pictures, one or two turn out

The kids are barely in control at this point

Sara holding a stick with oysters on it. Makes a striking photo

This shot took about 30 tries

You can hardly see us yelling at the kids to behave

The rest of the week was mostly beach time, with some trips into town to do a few things. One night, I bet everyone they couldn't eat 6 saltine crakcers in a minute. I don't think anyone made it past 4.

Cracker eating contest

One of our trips into town was for a dolpin cruise. A very hot, sunny cruise, with one hard to entertain boy. We enjoyed it anyways. It was impressive to see very young (week old) dolhpins in the bay with their moms.

One of the rare times Evan actually looked for dolphins

One pod of dolphins

Another day, we went into Gulf Shores to a go-cart, mini golf and more entertainment complex. The kids had a great time.

Jill and Ella starting off

Keith and Evan

They also had bumper boats. Jill and Evan barely even got wet this time around

Our sprayer barely worked. Lucky for Jill and Evan

Next a game of mini golf in the hot sun.

Matt takes a short break

Evan plays ambidextrous

We rode the next gocart track a bunch of times

Jill and Evan

Kim and Ella

This time on the boats, we all got soaked

Afterwards, we headed to Lulu's. The food was ok, but several meals were cold.

Evan crashes before the food comes

Totally out

We did spend one day at Waterville, USA, but we have no pictures of it. The girls were pretty nuts and wanted to go on every single ride / slide (and they did). They even went on the surf wave machine on boggie boards. Pretty impressive!

One night, we gathered loose wood on the beach and built a fire (classic boy scout log cabin design) for a hot dog and smores roast. We barely got hot dogs done when the storms rolled in. There was a mad scramble to get marshmallows raosted before we ran for cover.

Beach roast

On Friday, we all hit the beach in the morning. Evan finally understood the attraction of the surf and playing in the waves. On his last day, of course.

Ella loved riding the waves

Taking a break from playing hard

Getting feet wet

Playing with the creatures we caught

Playing in the surf with Meme

After playing on the beach, the four of us packed up and started home. We took the ferry from Gulf Shores across Mobile Bay. It was a fun and easy start to the drive home.

Looking across Mobile Bay

Riding the ferry

Posing at the helm

We had a great trip to the beach and it was an easy drive from Houston. The kids had a blast at the beach and the parents even got to relax every once in a while.