Labor Day 2012

We traveled to Alabama at the end of August.  The kids’ preschool was closed for the week, and we decided it would be a good time to visit Mimi and Paw Paw at the beach in Gulf Shores (that was the theory, at least).  Unfortunately, our trip coincided with Hurricane Isaac, which rolled into the Gulf just as we arrived.  We got to spend one fantastic day at the beach (with some nice waves) before local officials issued mandatory evacuation notices.  So, less than 24 hours after we arrived at the condo, we were packing our bags and heading back to Mimi and Paw Paw’s house in Mobile.  The storm produced some wind and lots of rain but no real damage.  The hardest part was being stuck indoors for a week.  The kids did great overall—just being somewhere new and different (and some Disney DVDs) kept them distracted.  After the worst of the storm had passed, we ventured to the local children’s museum (the Exploreum), a couple of indoor moon bounce arenas, and in a first for our family, Chuck E. Cheese’s.  Along the way, we introduced Elise to the world famous Dew Drop Inn chili dog, which she seemed to enjoy (see below). Henry and Vivian didn’t seem to mind that we weren’t at the beach and had a great time exploring Paw Paw’s studio (lots of stuffed animals and western paraphernalia) and “swimming” in Mimi’s whirlpool tub (see picture below).  On our last day, the weather cleared and we took the kids for a day trip to Dauphin Island, where they got a few more hours at the beach.

It wasn’t quite the summer vacation we envisioned, but it proved to be relaxing (the kids developed a nice habit of sleeping until 8am) and, most importantly, we got to spend some quality time with Mimi and Paw Paw.  Below are some pictures from our week.