The Retreat @ Peninsula, Gulf Shores, AL.

                 Thursday 11/14/2013

One of the advantages of having a daughter that is a photographer, is I can follow her around when she is taking pictures for realtor's.

She was taking pictures of "The Dogwood" floor plan in "The Retreat section of the gated Peninsula community

I really like the floor plan of the "Dogwood".

The total heated square foot of the house is 2756sq ft. If you include the porches and garage it had a total of 3725 sq feet.

The list price of a Dogwood is $429,000.

But because this house had many upgrades, I am sure it is much higher than the list price.

When you come in the front door there is a 4th bedroom off the hallway, or it can be a study or dining area. Joe wanted to know why I wanted to take pictures also. I always have to remind him that when I win the lottery, I need to have ideas for our new home I want to build!

From the room, a hall leads you toward the  kitchen.

Before you reach the kitchen, there is a full bath,

and a pantry across the hall from the bath.

Then the hall leads you to the kitchen.

An island stands between the living room and the kitchen/ dinning area.

Of course the kitchen has all the bells and whistles,

with granite counter tops, ceramic back splash, and stainless steel appliances.

A dinning area sits beyond the kitchen. I also got a picture of my daughter at work doing her job, while I followed behind, trying to stay out of the way, while I took my pictures

Living area across from the dining area.

Picture of kitchen, living room and part of the dining room.

Dining room from the Living room.

I forgot to mention that there is a hallway from the front door straight into the living room. I should have took a picture from the front door and started in the living room, but I didn't think it through. For that matter I could of rearranged my pictures, but you get what you get when I'm showing you around!

Joe wanted to come along too, because he likes to see property also. He was checking out the pond and golf course in the backyard.

From the living room, a doorway takes you into the master bedroom at the back of the house.

The master bedroom has lots of light from the three windows.

It is large enough to have a sitting area in the room also.

The master bath was huge! One side of the bathroom had a sink and a vanity area for the female of course.

The shower was so big, I thought is was over kill. Not sure why it was so big! It did have a bench area on the far end of the shower.

On another wall there was another sink for the man in the family, and a linen closet.

From the bathroom, you go into a huge walk in closet.

And then into the laundry room.

The laundry room has a door out into a hall that leads to the 2rd bedroom.

The 2rd bedroom is a nice size with,

a full private bath.

The 3rd bedroom is about as big as the 2nd bedroom just down the hall.

It also has a full bath.

We walked through two more model homes, but they were not furnish, and Alisha didn't need to photograph them.

The Bayberry was smaller but more affordable.

It was a 3 bedroom / 3 bath, 2344 sq ft house.

The last one we walked through was the Azalea at a list price of $269,000.

The Peninsula has 7 different neighborhoods to pick from and you can find out more about the  the community and what it has to offer at http://www.thepeninsula.com/

The 6th Annual Oyster Cook-Off, Gulf Shores, AL.

                    Saturday 11/9/2013

The Hangout in Gulf Shores, AL host many events for the town. This weekend it was holding the 6th Annual Oyster Cook-Off.

Joe went to the 4th Annual Oyster Cook-Off by himself 2 years ago. There were only around 30 participants then, but there were 70+ participants this year.

Joe and Blake paid $30 for a book of 20 tickets that was good for food or drinks. Each oyster was one ticket, beers cost 3 tickets, and mixed drink 5 tickets.

Alisha, Tiffany, Hayleah and I parked ourselves next to the sand pile that had grown since the last time we were at the Hangout. The little ones took off up the sand hill.

Madalena in her Alabama colors for the game that was playing that day.

Maddie running down the hill, almost falling because the hill was so steep for such little legs.

I climbed to the top where my Nana boys were playing, both in their red Alabama colors also.

Noah James age 5.

View of the Hangout and the participants around it. Some idiot let one vendor put his grill at the bottom of the sand hill. Two blue chairs were placed for protection from the hot grill. The Hangout gets a big "F" for allowing this vendor to set up there!

View of beach from the top of the sand hill.

Alisha, Tiffany and Hayleah sitting on the toy box below.

I spied Joe and Blake at one of the vendors from the top of the sand hill.

Lennox spied his dad Blake also, and yells "Hi Dad"! Lennox is 5 years old also.

Only the guys got oysters, as us girls aren't real crazy for them.

Alisha, Hayleah, and Madalena. Noah and a neighbor friend sitting above.

There were 3 bands playing at different times throughout the day.

It was a real pain to get anything else to eat or drink, if you didn't get tickets, and wanted something from the Hangout at the bars. The lines were long. Alisha waited for like an hour for her wings.

The following weekend the Hangout had a Volleyball Tournament and a Strong Man contest. Hayleah told Jamie and Alisha about it, and it was a last minute thing they went to. We didn't know about it, so we didn't go. Here is Jamie lifting up a car. (I copied and paste it from FB)

Here is Alisha giving it her best shot. Not a chance in H_ll was it going to happen! But I love this picture of her trying!