Summer Fun-Beach Vacation Day 3

We woke up bright and early and did our usual routine-coffee on the balcony for me and Josh while we caught up on the morning news (well, news for him and blogs for me...haha) and Eli ate breakfast and watched cartoons. After our coffee and breakfast we got ready for the beach. On this day Josh wanted to stay in the condo for a few and read some of his book, so Eli and I headed down to the beach first. Eli gave the water a thumbs up :) It was going to be another great day!

The water was still very rough as you can probably tell from the pictures so I made Eli stay really close to the shore. He still had lots of fun splashing and jumping in the waves. 

Since it was just the two of us down at the beach Eli had to smile his way through an insufferable amount of pictures. Sorry, not sorry, I just can't help it :) I LOVE taking pictures and it makes me giddy when I get a really good one. 

While we waited on Josh, we decided to construct our annual sand castle. We decided building up was better this year that way the waves wouldn't knock it down as quickly (good decision on our part...our sand castle lasted until the very last day!). Josh came down just as we were finishing so I had him take a picture of us with our work. 

It's not perfect, but it's ours :)

Eli and Josh had some "Daddy/Son Time" and had lots of fun throwing a football into the waves as they were breaking and watching it roll back into shore. Eli loved this game and got really good at it too!

He came back to the beach chairs to rest and had me take a picture of him faking sleep. In all our years of going to the beach this kid has napped one time on the beach. He's not much for sleeping. 

Since Eli and I got an early start on our beach fun that morning, we decided to eat lunch at a restaurant in Gulf Shores and then go play some miniature golf the rest of the day. After lunch we stopped by an ice cream place that was close by and while Eli was eating his mint chocolate chip ice cream cone his loose tooth (they seem to all be loose these days!) just fell out on the floor. I couldn't believe it! Now the tooth fairy was going to have to make a trip to the beach :) Time for her to pack her bikini.

My sweet man at lunch :)

Eli wanted to go back to the pirate themed place so we did :) Golf was lots of fun...very hot, but fun!

Eli made a hole in one on #16. 

Since we were close to the outlet mall we went there after miniature golf to look around and shop a little. I found a couple of things at J.Crew and Loft and we found a lot for the boys at Under Armour. We earned a $20 gift card at Under Armour so after looking around some more, we went back there to spend it. I found Eli some slip on sandals and that kid was so excited. It was so sweet. He put the sandals on right away and wore them the rest of the night. We went back to the condo where Josh grilled some yummy tuna steaks for us. 

Funny story...while Josh was grilling on the balcony I was out there with him just watching people on the beach. I saw a man fishing and watched him hook something. I could tell from the way he reacted when it hooked that it was something big. I called Josh over and for the next twenty minutes we watched this guy struggle to bring this mystery fish into shore. We felt like we couldn't leave until we at least saw what it was. Finally, he reeled it in and it was a five foot long...

HAMMERHEAD SHARK! 

OH.MY.WORD. 

Lots of people gathered around him as he removed the hook and I saw several flashes going off-I guess it was "selfie with the shark" time. Then we watched as he put the shark back in the water. Ummm, thanks?? I asked Josh at the time just how far out this guy's cast must have been in the water to catch a shark and Josh responded with "Not as far as you'd think." 

GREAT. Thanks for making me feel all warm and fuzzy.

I mean, I know it's the ocean and that's where the sharks live, but it's nice to not actually see them when I'm at the ocean because then I can pretend they're not there. YIKES! No more pretending for this chick! I never really ventured out far in the water anyway, but this was definitely a good reason to not ever go beyond waist deep again. 

Eli was so exhausted after his busy day so after supper this was how I found him in the chair :) Sweet man wearing his new Batman shirt and his new shoes :) He couldn't wait to wake up in the morning to see what the tooth fairy brought him. 

The Tooth Fairy Comes to Visit...Twice!

Well, it finally happened. The Tooth Fairy was finally able to make a visit to our house! What excitement!! All last year in PreK-4, Eli's bottom two teeth were very loose. I really thought it would have happened last year, but those teeth held on pretty well. Every time he would say something about them being loose, I'd wiggle them to see that they weren't quite ready to come out. I kept telling him that it would be very soon. After months and months of wiggling, it was time. One night when we were sitting on the couch, I asked him if he wanted me to try to pull the loosest of the two teeth. He agreed and with one quick tug it was out! He was shocked that he didn't feel a thing and so happy to have one of his loose teeth out! We cleaned up his tooth, rinsed his mouth out, and then sent this picture to all the grandparents. It was such an exciting time!

When Zue-Zue first found out that his bottom teeth were loose, she bought Eli a book about loosing his teeth. It came with a little tin box that he could put his teeth in for when the Tooth Fairy came to visit. She also gave Eli the Tooth Fairy pillow that his daddy used when he was little. Eli was so excited to get to use both.

He put his tooth in the tin box and tucked it inside the pillow. Then before going to bed he had me Google how much the Tooth Fairy paid for the first tooth. We found several articles that mentioned kids who had received $5 for their first tooth because it was such a special event. We read his book about loosing his teeth and then he went to bed. When he woke up in the morning, his tooth was gone and the Tooth Fairy had left him a receipt for his tooth and a sparkly $5 bill. Eli was so excited!

Then exactly a week later, this happened...

He lost his second loose tooth so the Tooth Fairy got to make a quick return trip to our house :) She didn't pay $5 again, but he was pretty excited about the two sparkly $1 bills he got for his second tooth. For now, I think we're done with visits from the Tooth Fairy. Up next are those two top teeth and I'm just not ready for that yet. He's already growing up way too fast for me. I hope those teeth hold on for a long time :) Plus, the Tooth Fairy could use a bigger space in between teeth to save some more money ;)