Beach Vacation 2014-Day Four

We woke up Thursday morning to a beautiful sunrise, but unfortunately the skies turned gray quickly afterwards. It was not going to be a beach day for us :( 

We made the best of it though and headed to the outlet mall in Foley, Alabama to do a little shopping. Josh needed some new shoes and I needed to buy gifts for my Bunco group because it was my turn to host when we got back from our trip. Eli was all set on clothes and shoes because I'd been buying for him since before the trip, so his reward for being such a great shopper was some "Ice Cream of the Future"! He loved his first sampling of Dippin' Dots! 

After the outlet mall, we headed to the Shrimp Basket for some lunch. It was so very yummy! When we left, Eli spotted a huge shark's mouth at the entrance of one of the souvenir shops and we had to stop to take a quick picture. 

Since it was still a yucky day for going to the beach, we decided to do Putt-Putt Golf instead. This was Eli's first time to play miniature golf and he loved it! 

We all made at least one "hole-in-one" while we were playing but Josh and Eli made theirs on the same hole :)

Putt-Putt golf was loads of fun. Josh ended up winning, but Eli and I were right behind him. We headed back to the condo to see what the Hargons were doing. When we got there they were on their way to the swimming pool so we joined them. Eli, Hannah, Marlie, and Joshua all had fun splashing and playing together. 

The Hargons went back up to the condo for supper, but since we'd had a late lunch we weren't hungry. We decided to take an evening walk on the beach. Anytime we go on a beach vacation my goal is to touch sand every single day. I may not get to read, relax, and get a tan every day we're there, but I want to at least touch the sand and water everyday, even if it's just walking on the beach. It's great therapy and instantly relaxes me. I think Josh and I should move to the beach when we retire :)

While we were walking we found this on the sand near the shore. Yeah, that's a shark. Someone had obviously caught him and just left him there in the sand. YIKES! (Side note: The week after we got back from the beach there were all kinds of reports from the Alabama papers about all the sharks in the waters! So glad we went to the beach when we did. I'd rather leave the swimming with the sharks to the extremists!) 

Our evening walk was so nice and relaxing. Eli played in the water some and that made him really happy. 

On the walk back to the condo, I noticed that Eli was walking in Josh's footsteps and had to capture that moment. What an amazing visual of the love that this sweet little boy has for his Daddy. Eli wants to be just like him and wants to walk where his Daddy walks. They have a very special bond and I love watching them together. It makes my heart very happy.

I showed this picture to Josh on my phone and told him that this was such a great analogy for so many different things, but especially it shows how our walk with Jesus should be. We should strive to walk where Jesus walked and to follow in his steps wherever they lead us. It's my hope and prayer that Eli comes to this knowledge at an early age and it's my job and Josh's job to help lead him there...I love how our walk on the beach turned into a great teachable moment for my own heart :)