After a nice night's sleep, Day 2 began with a dozen donuts from City Donut, the #1 rated "restaurant" in Orange Beach according to Trip Advisor. City Donuts was located in a small strip mall just across the street from our condo but the line was already out the door by 7 am. The kids loved them though so it was all worth it!
Could've ate donuts all morning from our balcony looking out at this view...
But to the beach we would go. We didn't waste much time that first morning either.
A pregnancy shot of Kelli on the beach...
Charly and Hayes were funny. They loved their time on the beach, but unlike North Carolina, when we would leave the beach, they were not pining to go back. They loved our "hotel" and they really loved the pool! In fact, we noticed this was common among many families. The pool was far more popular than the beach. But we didn't drive 16 hours to swim in a pool, so Kelli and I made sure we spent plenty of time on the beach, and like I said, once they were on the beach, they loved playing in the sand and waves.
Hayes doing his best Hasselhoff impression...
The colors on the beach were so much more vivid than we remember in Michigan or North Carolina. You could see shades of dark blue, green, and turquoise in the Gulf. While I would have thought I'd prefer a more isolated scene like Kure Beach last summer, condo-city was more picturesque than I had been giving it credit for.
One problem we were faced with though were jellyfish! The Gulf shoreline was loaded with them and no one quite understood why. Many locals said this was never a problem. We heard excuses of mating season and storms off shore driving them in, but whatever the excuse be, the jellyfish made playing around in the water a bit tricky.
So using the cheap net Kelli bought for the kids at CVS the night before, I began scoping out the area where we were hanging out and scooping out any jellyfish I could find. I saw a local doing this and asked him about it. He cautioned to stay clear of their tentacles but said that the tops won't sting. Once you scoop the whole jellyfish, dig a small hole in the sand and bury it. It soaks up the sand and dies quickly. Between he and I, we scooped out nearly 50 jellyfish making the water a little more safer to wade around in. But we still had to use caution for most of the day.
One way Charly and Hayes loved to be entertained was building a sandcastle prison around them. But no sooner would we complete it, they'd leap up and smash them all!
Just like in North Carolina, one of Charly's favorite things to do was stand at the shoreline and wait for the waves to rush in, then at the last moment she would leap into the air so the waves missed her.
One of my favorite moments from the beach was teaching Charly how to throw a frisbee. She caught on fast and it was fun being able to play catch with her.
We played on the beach from 9 in the morning until 1 in the afternoon! Hayes was beat! We left our beach chairs and umbrella set up and walked back to the condo for a quick lunch.
More from Day 2 coming...
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