Summer vacation is always a ton of fun, but for moms, it can be a ton of stress. It seems like before we go anywhere– the museum, the beach, the park– we have to make sure we’ve got everything for all of the kids. I’ve been prone to forget things again and again, so I’ve now got a tried-and-true list for what must go in my beach bag every time!
I don’t think Alabama necessarily intends to keep their best-kept beach getaway a secret, but somehow, it’s quiet, hidden under the shuffle. In fact, it’s so calm and perfect there that I almost didn’t want to share it. After all, if I spill the beans and let you know about my favorite beach vacation, what’s to keep you all from rushing there? But then I realized that a good beach vacation spot is just too good not to share.
For being a secret, Dauphin Island really isn’t too much of a secret at all. After all, it recently ranked in the top 8 Southern Islands You Should Be Visiting This Summer by Huffington Post and that isn’t it’s first time receiving a similar nod. But somehow, tucked away between Florida beaches and the Orange Beach/Gulf Shores area that everyone’s familiar with, Dauphin Island is the perfect quiet getaway, especially for families.
After nearly a decade of summer vacations spent at Dauphin Island, I’ve made a list of the absolute most important things to do, see, and enjoy on the Island, as well as a few reminders that the best part of the island is the fact that you can just sit and relax.
I know, I know, we’ve been back from Dauphin Island for a little while, but between Zach’s birthday, and family health, I’ve still been working on editing and uploading my photos! Can you believe it? Seriously… worst blogger ever. I swear!
Anyway, here goes, more of my photos from Dauphin Island.
Sunday was our opportunity to really explore the Island. Each year, we take time to drive around the Island and visit different things. We devote a couple of hours to looking around. We usually go for a drive and explore the streets and see what is up. Sometimes, Jeffrey makes fun faces along the way.
For being such a small island, there is really a lot of great things there, like the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Historic Fort Gaines, the Lighthouse Bakery, and more.
Our first stop was Historic Fort Gaines. We’ve been inside a few times, so we decided to skip the actual fort, which costs money (but is very worth it, especially if you have an interest in history, particularly Civil War era). Instead, we took a peek at the outside of the fort.
Fort Gaines was established in 1821, and is named after Edward Pendleton Gaines. It is best known for it’s role during the Battle of Mobile Bay (during the Civil War). It’s actually been on lists for most endangered historic places, because erosion and hurricanes have put it at risk of disappearing entirely. For now, though, it is an amazing fort worth checking out.
It even still features the original cannons used in the battle!
I snapped this shot of my sister peeking into the tunnels outside of the fort. I felt like this shot seemed very “Tomb Raider” of her.
On that same side of the island is a rocky beach, where the waves kind of splash up against the rocks, and you can really enjoy the view, or maybe even go fishing! (But don’t go swimming– seriously, that side of the island has a bad current!)
It’s also a great place to snap some photos. My brother was great at leaping from rock to rock to catch some shots of the waves. Unfortunately, I was a little less stable on my feet, so I either stayed off of the rocks, or tread very carefully!
After driving up and down the island, exploring, we decided to head back to our condo and go to the beach! I’ll tell you more about our condo experience in another post, but I will let you know that the beach was just about the only usable part of it, so a trip down there was a welcome release from sitting in our condo!
Aside from the night before, this was Zach’s first-ever experience with sand and the beach, so it was sure to be either really amazing, or really awful (you never know with kids).
Luckily, it was a HIT! Zach loved playing on the beach and building sand castles with Carolin!
Zach wasn’t the only one to enjoy the beach, though. Jeffrey and Carolin had a lot of fun, as well. The beach is always a great family fun activity. Jeffrey could easily spend his entire day out there, if he was allowed to.
Jeffrey is a huge fan of anything that involves a board… back home, he loves skateboarding, wakeboarding, and kneeboarding, and on vacation, he is all about the boogie board and skimboard!
When it came time for Zach to get to have some waterplay, he raced to the ocean as fast as he could!
I love these photos of Zach and I on the beach. Even though in some ways, I wish I weren’t in these photos because I feel like they’re not the “perfect” photos of me– I’m not at my goal weight, my hair is windblown, I’m so pale, etc– I feel like they are pictures that Zach will still be able to treasure, regardless, because they’re pictures of us together at the beach.
My favorite series of pictures was just adorable. Jeffrey had decided to dig a hole to catch some crabs. Sometimes, if you dig the hole, the crabs will skitter up with the surf, and get caught in the hole. He started digging, and suddenly, Zach was interested.
He looked at him like, “Hey, Jeffrey! What’re you doing?”
It was at that point that the plastic bag I had brought to protect my camera from sea and sand started blowing down the beach. Jeffrey abandoned his digging to chase after the bag!
What happened next was purely Zach deciding to do what he was going to do… my only involvement was to keep the camera ready.
It was seriously one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen!
Later that evening, Zach got to try out the pool for the first time! We had to venture over to the pool at the condo next door (like I said, I will tell you all about that crazy story soon), but it was worth the walk over there.
It was such a great day on the Island. I honestly can’t wait until we can venture back down there.
Last week, my family took a trip to our favorite vacation spot. The best thing about Dauphin Island is that it’s relatively unknown. There are very few condos at Dauphin Island, and because it is the less tourist-riddled little sister of the Orange Beach/Gulf Shores/Pensacola area, you skip out on the surf shops that flood each corner.
We have been coming to Alabama since my brother was 3 or 4. He’s 11 now, so you can do the math and see how influential this beach is in our memories and lives. This year was no exception. I plan on posting some in-depth reviews of our favorite Dauphin Island hotspots and locations, but for now, I wanted to give you a peek into our day-to-day life on the island.
We arrived on Saturday, and decided that it would be a lot of fun to take a quick trip to the beach that evening before the others arrive. Our family typically travels in a large group… me, my parents, my brother, my son, my grandmother, her sisters and brothers-in-law, and this year, my sister flew in from Germany to join us. Because we were still waiting for the others to arrive (my sister, grandmother, great aunts and uncles), I was just hanging out in the condo, when my brother approached me. The conversation went something like this.
Jeffrey: “Hey, Jenni.”
Me: “Hey, what?”
Jeffrey: “Go get your camera.”
Me: “Okay. Why?”
Jeffrey: “I found the perfect picture for you.”
Me: “Sure. Where’s it at?”
Jeffrey: “Oh, just right out there. It’s just sunset and it’s really pretty and there’s a little log and I wanted you to take a picture of me standing on it.”
Me: “Okay.”
We ambled out the door, past the place where you wash your feet, and I’m thinking the log is going to be pretty far in, near the sand. Uh, no. I get there and I say “Okay, where’s this log.”
Jeffrey points way out, close to the water, saying “It’s that one, over there!”
But, unfortunately, as much as I hate to admit it, Jeffrey was right. The light was perfect. The timing was perfect. If I didn’t hoof it out to that log, I would miss a really great moment that his eye happened to catch. So, we walked down the beach.
Luckily, it had rained all week before, so the sand wasn’t as hard to walk on as usual. See the picture below? Yeah, that’s not ocean. That’s rain, piled up on the beach.
Zach loved the feeling of the breeze blowing through his hair as we walked towards the beach. I also think he was intrigued by the crashing waves!
See that look of pure joy on his face? I can’t get over how cute he is! After quite a trek, we made it out to the log that Jeffrey had found. Isn’t it just such a fun shape? It was a good prop for a few photos, including this shot below of Jeffrey with his arms stretched wide!
I had put Zach up on the log for Jeffrey to hold him and play with him for a few minutes. Lately, we’ve been having a few problems where you say “smile,” and you get that weird, self-conscious, teenage smile that isn’t really a smile? Yeah, I get that a lot. That’s why it’s so refreshing when I end up capturing a cute candid shot between those smiles, featuring some real, genuine giggles.
I also asked Jeffrey to take control of the camera a few times. He’s only 11, but he has an incredible eye for a good shot, and he can always tell exactly how to frame a picture, the times of the day that have just the right light, and he often uses my camera to get better shots than I do! I swear, he needs his own Nikon, doesn’t he? He snapped this adorable shot of me lifting Zach high above my head so he could look over the beautiful beach sunset.
Since we were this close to the water already, we decided to take the trip to the edge and dip our toes in. As we approached the water, we noticed some funny little prints in the sand!
Then, it was finally time for my little guy to dip his toes into the ocean for the very first time. Jeffrey took about 100 shots of his first trip in, so it was really hard picking a favorite shot to share with you! I ended up narrowing it down to a handful. Bear with me, I think my son is the cutest thing ever and I would feel like a terrible mom if I were able to narrow it down any more than this!
Look at him march towards that water like he owns the place! I love it! He had such confidence, even going into such a vast, sometimes scary, body of water. I mean, look at it! It’s HUGE compared to that little boy, and he just charges towards it!
I love how Jeffrey was able to capture very intimate mother-son moments when he was snapping photos. He framed the images so well… I swear, he would make an incredible photographer. He has skill at silhouetting that many pros I know don’t have.
Zach kept doing this funny little lean backwards, like he wanted to lay down on the water. It was so adorable, but I kept having to really work to keep him upright, since he kept wanting to really duck into the water.
As you can see, he loved the water. Look at the pure joy radiating on his face! He is such a fan of the soft waves of Dauphin Island, such a fan of the peaceful ocean air. I have certainly raised a water baby, after all.
