On our trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama, last February, we had beautiful weather and my kids happily played on the beach for hours and hours. Naturally, when we planned a return trip this year, my kids expected the same kind of weather. Unfortunately, it was quite a bit colder than last year and rained pretty hard the first day of our trip. The second and third days were sunnier, but not warmer. That didn’t matter to my daughters who insisted on wearing their bathing suits anyway.
All of my kids, but especially my son, and my husband really enjoy building sand castles. This year my husband planned ahead and brought a shovel with us.
You should have seen the looks of the people on the elevator with us when we walked in with a shovel.
Once again, my kids demonstrated their ambition as they selected a famous building to recreate in sand. It isn’t nearly finished yet, but do you recognize it?
I don’t know if the sand wasn’t wet enough or what, but they struggled with corners of the building collapsing. And when the going gets rough, the girls go swimming.
That left my son and husband to finish it on their own. Do you recognize it yet?
If you guessed the Taj Mahal, give yourself a pat on the back.
Another day, another sand castle. Here it is in its early stages:
Even though it was sunny at times, the wind was blowing, making it rather chilly. Although her lack of focus on working on the day’s project greatly annoyed her brother, Camille dug herself a hole to shelter herself from the wind.
Eventually their masterpiece was complete. This is definitely the best sand castle they’ve ever built. Do you recognize it?
It is the Mayan pyramid, Chichen Itza. Compare it to the real thing here.
By the end of the day, Connor decided that maybe Camille’s idea to dig a hole wasn’t such a bad idea, because he and Corinne dug holes too.
We had a tough time deciding what to build on our third and final day. Finally we decided on the Sydney Opera House. The passers-by on the beach had a tougher time identifying this one, but some of them figured it out.
Those are some pretty challenging angles to build out of sand! Here it is from the front. You might notice that I included myself in this picture. I helped with this one a little. 
