Things That Kept Us Busy In February & March

                                         February And March 2015

Throughout the whole winter season, we would have cold days and then warm days. When ever the north would get a cold front, it always dipped down to us. When we had warm days, it was beach walking time. The guy below took a swim the end of February. Burrrrrrrrrrr! I didn't video him long enough, but he did drive in completely.

Joe and I got Maddie and Noah for a sleep over one night, when Alisha and Hayleah went to a concert in Mobile.

Alisha had signed Noah and Maddie up for Parents Night Out from 6 to 9 at the Wheels Karate Academy. When I picked Noah and Maddie up at 9:00 this was the mess I saw, with toilet paper and marshmallows everywhere.

The kids had a great time shooting their marshmallow guns and I guess they threw the toilet rolls all around. The kids had picked most of the mess up by the time I got there. Maddie was still on the floor playing with a marshmallow gun with some little boy.

Back at the Nest we made up the couch bed for Noah and Maddie to sleep in that night. Noah was showing Papa all his Pokeman cards that he has collected.

In the end of February and  March Joe and I started searching for a condo for next winter. This was the first one we saw. It sits across the street from the beach and had an outdoor pool which is worthless for Snowbirds. It was nicely decorated but had only one bedroom with 2 queen beds and one bath.

The real killer was it didn't have a dishwasher. After 6 1/2 years with no dishwasher, it is a must have for me now.

It did have a sofa sleeper and the price was $1400 for December and $900 a month for January and February.

This condo that we saw was located on Oyster Bay on the third floor. If you had your own boat, this would be great because you get a boat dock with the condo.

This condo had 2 bedrooms and 2 baths, and a sofa sleeper and a loft. The master bedroom had a queen bed with a double sink bathroom. The 2nd bedroom had twin beds, and the loft had a double bed. The sofa sleeper had a queen bed, making it a 8 person sleeping condo. This condo was much higher at $1850 a month. All the condo's we looked at were pet friendly, for dogs under 30 lbs.We are looking for pet friendly condo's because we do not know how long our Mallery will be with us and I am believing she is healed! This condo didn't fit because it is too pricey, plus being on the third floor and Mallery getting us up during the night to go outside to take care of business at least 4 to 5 nights a week, it is too inconvenient.

The next place we saw on another day was a cottage on Little Lagoon.

I liked this place, but Joe thought the living space was too small. This cottage was a 2 bedroom, two bath for $1600 a month, and if you go over the allotted $200 a month on electric, you pay the difference.

This place would be perfect for the summer months because you get a great breeze off the lagoon that would cool you during the hot and humid summers. But in the winter, you get cold winds off the water, making your cottage colder, thus the need for turning up the electric base board heat, thus higher heating bills.

This place is very cute but not right for us in the winter.

The next place we saw was another cottage on Mobile Bay, 8 miles west on Fort Morgan Rd. from Hwy 59 in Gulf Shores.

This again would be perfect for the summer months, with a great breeze coming off the bay to cool you, but too cold for the winter months. The renter who was presently there said she had to run the fireplace all the time to keep the place warm. Joe hates the work it takes to keep a fireplace going so this wouldn't work for us.

You can throw in your crab pots and catch fresh crabs for dinner though.

The inside was not as nicely decorated as some of the others we had seen, but had an old cottage feel and still kind of cute. This cottage had 2 bedrooms, and 1 bath. Unfortunately the washer and dryer was in the garage which was unacceptable for me. The rent is $1500 a month.

It did have a nice man cave!

We only saw one condo on the beach. This was the view from the second floor balcony. Most beach condo's are not pet friendly.

We saw this condo after picking Lennox up after school one day. The pictures of this condo on the website made it look really nice, but once in the condo, it just didn't have a real clean feel.

There was a view of the ocean from the balcony also.

This condo is a 2 bedroom 2 bath , and the rent is $1450 a month.

The benefit of being on the ocean would be nice, though I think I would feel much better about it when the Nana kids get a little older. To Be Continued: