Beach Birthday (cont.)

Cruising Orange Beach!

Day 4

In between lounging on the beach, sitting by the pool and eating too much, we'd planned a fun activity for this day - a dolphin cruise! We drove out to the pier and met up with the nice folks from Cruise Orange Beach. For a couple of hours we sailed along the bay, enjoying the sea air, the spray and the views. We took turns standing at the front of the boat, and the captains showed the kids barnacles and sea creatures in the back of the boat. We saw dolphins, too!

This was a really fun activity, and it was just the right length of time. Long enough to get your sea legs a bit, but not too long that small people got cranky.

Day 5

This was a busy day in an otherwise very lazy vacation. We took Clay on his first parasailing ride! We worked with OB Parasail to set it up, and it was so much fun! I hadn't been parasailing since our last trip to Alabama's Gulf Coast in 2011, so I was definitely due for another sail.

Flying high with OB Parasail!

We hopped on the boat, donned our life jackets and got our safety briefing. Then, we were off! The boat was really fast, and it was super-fun to hop the waves on our way out to the open water. Once we got in a good position, they hooked Clay and I up to the parachute, and up we went! He was a little leery at first, but once we got up, and he saw how smooth and peaceful the ride was, he loved it.

We looked for rays or sharks in the water below, but we didn't see any. What we did get were gorgeous views of the water, the shore and the sky. After 10-15 minutes up in the air, it was time to come down. Then, it was another speedy ride back to the pier.

The cutest mermaid EVER

This was such a fun experience to share with little man! Hubs rode along in the boat and took tons of fun photos for us.

At lunch, we threw a birthday party for Baby Maggie! The little darling was turning one year old, so of course we'd planned a mermaid celebration at the beach. My younger sister Grace had ordered a sweet cake, and I'd gotten Maggie the perfect mermaid outfit. (And, well, since one of the condos was already completely encrusted in shells, we didn't have to do too much decorating. Heh.)

We sang Happy Birthday, and Maggie commenced the most delicate cake smash ever. The cutest little thing!!

For dinner that night, we dug into giant steamer buckets of seafood - shrimp, crab, corn, and potatoes - with relish. When one is at the beach, one must eat giant steamer buckets of seafood at least once. (Frankly, I could eat them every day. Melted butter is my love language.)

That evening, we headed to The Wharf to do some exploring. This place was so cool, and I'd never been there before! It's a big shopping, dining and entertainment district. The night we were there, they'd closed up the central drive/parking lot, fired up the light show and cranked up the music. There were families and kids dancing everywhere!

The Wharf is all lit up at night. 

We got ice cream and walked the length of the development, stopping to do a little souvenir shopping. There's also a Ferris Wheel here, and we all rode it. From the top of it, you can see the whole of The Wharf stretched out below you. So pretty all lit up in the night!

Day 6 

I woke up early this day and walked the beach in complete solitude. I typically don't travel to vacation destinations during their high season. I'm not a fan of crowds and lines. But I've found that, even during high season, you can have attractions completely to yourself if you're willing to wake up early. And there's something about the beach first thing in the morning, when the light is soft and pink and the sand still belongs mostly to the birds. Calming.

After breakfast, we loaded into the car to visit the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo! This place was on my must list, because I'd heard that their animal encounters were really cool. We got both a sloth encounter and a kangaroo encounter, which let us get up close and personal with the animals and the keepers! We petted the sloths (Their fur is more wiry than you might imagine.) and fed them. (They sure love fruit! Sylvia's favorite was strawberries.) We also got to pet the baby kangaroos!

Sylvia the Sloth is very photogenic.

And for such small zoo, they have an impressive collection of animals - lions, tigers, white tigers, alligators, lemurs, camels, African servals. Plus lots of alpacas, llamas, and other hoofed friends. (You can buy food at the front entrance if you want to feed the hoofed animals. It's fun!)

And FYI - They are building a new, expanded zoo just four miles up the road from the current one. They expect to open in late 2019!

By the time we left the zoo, we were starved. Clay and I decided to stop at Sunliner Diner for lunch. This place is hokey and touristy, but it was right up our alley! It's set up like a 50s diner, and there are beautiful classic cars staged out front. All of the wait staff has cool clothing (some of the waitress' dresses ae quite elaborate), and the inside has a throwback white/red/black/aqua vibe. There's a (non-working) juke box, and all of the menus look like newspapers, so everyone looks like they're reading the paper at their local diner. So cute and fun!

Clay got the spaghetti and meatballs, and I couldn't resist the burger and fries. We topped it off by splitting a fantastic turtle sundae. (We were so cute splitting our sundae that other diners approached our table and asked if they could take photos of us! No autographs, please!)

Brick and Spoon knows how to do breakfast.

When we all reconvened at the condo that night, we broke out the kites. I'd bought one for each of the boys, and we spent the next few hours flying them on the beach as the sun went down. The sky turned from bright blue, to an orangey yellow, to pink, to blue and purple. And then it was night. A perfect ending to a perfect day.

Day 7

Most of this day was consumed with packing and getting everything loaded up to travel. We did, however, manage one last amazing meal - breakfast at Brick and Spoon. Hubs picked this place, and he is a GENIUS. I had some criminally good crepes, and hubs got the breakfast tacos. Amazing, amazing. No wonder it gets such good reviews!

Then, we were in the car and on our way. We didn't break too much on the drive back, save for a quick stop at Donna's #6 Produce. (If it's summer, and you're driving by this palace of a roadside fruit and vegetable stand off Highway 49, you have to stop. If you don't, I question your Southern creds.) We picked up fruit and veggies and some delicious cheddar cheese, and we also got ice cream! (Their peach ice cream is my absolute FAVE in summer! Yum!) Then, it was home to unpack and take a load off!

Oh, we had such a fun, lazy time on this trip! We loved on our family, celebrated one another and felt the sun on our faces! What a wonderful world, and what a wonderful gift to live in it!

Until next time . . .