My Not So Pinterest Perfect Life: Family Vacation

Gulf Shores Vacation 2014 {Family Photos}

At Christmas when we were all together, we started dreaming up this beautiful family photo we would take when we went on vacation in July. We knew we wanted to have turquoise and coral, and quickly after we decided that the guys could wear navy...they weren't too keen on wearing turquoise. I think the colors are really pretty together and it all coordinates. It's riding the border of "matchy-matchy," but when you have a group this big, you have to make concessions unless one person is going to buy everyone's clothes.

On Sunday, after our first day at the beach, we headed back out in our awesome duds and took the pictures from this post. Although they may not be perfect, and I still have a lot of work to do before they go up on the wall, they are a beautiful reminder of the time we got to spend together on vacation. This means that to us they are priceless.

Our big, wild, and crazy group!

We are pretty cool too.

Remember when I mentioned crazy? May I present exhibit A? I had the tripod set up for these shots, and I think we were giving some of the evening beach strollers a show.

MoMo B & Papa

Mom and Dad. I finally got him to be serious and smile. I will have to post some of the silly ones later.

Our family unit.

GiGi looked mighty pretty.

Uncle Samuel's little clan

Sweet siblings.

I love this one of the two of them.

Beautiful Bekah

My handsome little cousin is growing up. I give him three years, and he will be my height.

This was actually one of the first photos that I took while everyone else was making their way down to the beach. This was one of the only times the whole week that Kari came down to the water, and I actually caught her in her natual pose--book in hand.

Brittany striking a pose. You can hear more from her here.

I didn't take a lot of time on a photo of our little family since I knew we were taking more photos the next day in the outfits that I brought.

Mother and Daughter.

It was almost dark and everyone was heading back, but our photos wouldn't be complete without a sister pic!

This was so much fun, and I know that these photos will only become more special as the years pass. Maybe in ten years, the rest of the family will forgive me for the pain and suffering that I put them through to get these.

But then again, maybe not. ;)

Gulf Shores Vacation 2014 {The Beach 2}

Wednesday dawned and with it came clear skies and Alabama heat hot enough to rival a Houston summer. Luckily we were never more than twenty feet from the ocean, so we had ample opportunity to cool down.

Some of us were even feeling spry enough to play football.

Emmy convinced some minions to build a sand fortress with her.

I finally gave in to JT's pleas and took him on a night walk along the beach. It was amazing and I wish I had done it every night. We even found some sand castle to take photos with in the dark.

Thursday morning while everyone else was getting ready to go shopping, Emmy and I made a quick trip down to the water. It was so peaceful and refreshing to get down there before anyone else was awake.

Isn't here little swimming suit just adorable? We have a pleathora of swimming suits size 3T at our house right now. When you have a pool party, people buy you swim suits for your birthday. The good part is that she didn't have to rewear a suit the whole beach trip.

After our shopping exploits and a quick trip to Florida, we spent the late evening relaxing by the water until it got dark.

Friday was our last full day at the beach, and our group did me proud and showed up.

After a little coaxing, we even got Papa to trust us enough to help him out into the water. The waves were a little rough, but he said he enjoyed it.

We were taking MoMo B out for dinner since her birthday was the next day, so we left a little early to go by the outlet mall. Someone wasn't too excited by all the sales.

A few of the books that I read while loafing on the shore. Don't judge too harshly. I only took romance novels and fluff because it's vacation trick.

Our trip home Saturday isn't technically "the beach," but it doesn't warrant its own post so here it is. The quick was mercifully shorter than the trip there even though we did get stuck in heavy traffic on 59 all the way to the other side of the Mobile tunnel. Apparantly people have never been a tunnel before and feel the need to crawl through and honk their horns and stuff. We can't handle that novice stuff.

Emmy got a new hat, I read a Pride and Prejudice rewrite, and GiGi did a word search on her tablet. We are an exciting crew!

Gulf Shores Vacation 2014 {The Beach 1}

Sunday was our first day at the beach. Brad, JT, Emmy, and I headed down to the beach bright and early to stake out our spot. We were representing!

We spent the day at the beach soaking up rays and swimming with the 'fishes'--in my biggest mobster voice.

Our beach house was called Plum Perfect, and I think it kind of was!

Papa even made his way down to the beach!

After family photos which you can see here, we went for dinner at LuLu's. It's always fun.

Monday was another day at the beach for our early morning crew. Some of our group decided not to venture down to the water, but we didn't let that keep us from having fun.

One little girl decided she wanted to brave the waves. She was an amazing little surfer girl.

Brad found Emmy a whole family of sand dollars, but Mom and I decided to become bleeding hearts so we took a photo and threw them back.

Brad and I promised Emmy a necklace and a snow cone for her good behavior during family pictures, so we had to make due on our promise.

There was a storm during the night, so when we headed down to the beach Tuesday morning, we were in for a surprise. The surf had washed away a huge chunk of the beach and left us with a three foot drop!