Orange Beach 2016

We spent last week on the beach in Orange Beach, Alabama, with Brent's parents and sister Dana.  We had a great time, but I have to say I'm glad to be back home now and get back in the normal routine again.  It's been wild, though, as yesterday was my 28th birthday and today I got a call within a couple of hours of being at work from the kids' babysitter because Landry Kate was throwing up.  Ah, welcome back to reality!

We (Brent) drove through the night on the way down.  It's a nine or ten hour drive, depending on traffic/weather.   The kids were easily moved to their carseats still asleep when we left at midnight and stayed asleep until around 6:30/7AM, besides a brief wakeup by Landry when we stopped for gas.  We stopped for some breakfast and a stretch and the kids watched Jurassic World the rest of the way, which kept them very entertained.

When we arrived, we did a little bit of shopping at Foley and then hit up a little railroad museum we had heard about from a friend of mine.  It was really neat and completely free!  The kids especially loved riding the train around the property. 

We grabbed some lunch and did some more shopping to waste some time until we could check in to our condo.  We were able to get in a little early and we got settled and headed to the grocery while the kids played with their grandparents at the beach and pool.  We ordered pizza in so we wouldn't have to get back out and hit the bed early after all that travel.

Sadly, Landry's sleep wasn't all that great.  Carter slept with his grandparents, so I didn't have to worry about him.  We took Landry the pack n play, but she would wake up several times crying, so I ended up just putting her in bed with us most nights.  She prefers her crib at home apparently, because she has been back to normal since we got home!

Day two was all about the beach.  We woke up and ate breakfast on the balcony, enjoying the view.  Then we quickly got in bathing suits and sunscreen and headed on down.  

Landry had a few minutes where she was unsure about the sand and water, but quickly became a little beach babe!  Carter loved the sand, but was not interested in the water beyond it just barely touching his toes.

I took Landry up and fed her some lunch and changed her into dry clothes to lay down for a nap.  Brent's dad came up and switched out with me so I could return to the sunshine!  We went out for some seafood at Doc's that night.  It was a great meal!

On day three, we headed back to the beach for another beautiful day.  I gave Landry Kate her first set of pigtails and I could die from the cuteness!!!  

We ate at a wings place that night.  The kids looked so cute each night all dressed up for dinner!  I rarely see them out of their play clothes, so I had to get a few pictures!

By day four, we all had a bit too much sun, so we decided it was a great day to visit the Gulf Coast Zoo.  Even though we got there right at opening, it was still SO hot out....and poor Landry doesn't deal with it very well.  Her cheeks show it in these pictures!  The zoo is thankfully pretty small and shaded, so that helped.  

We went and grabbed some lunch and headed back to the condo for naps for the kids. I snuck down to the pool for a little bit of extra sun time.  For dinner, we went to Lulu's, which is Jimmy Buffet's sister's place.  The menu and setting were very Margaritaville-like, but there was so much more to do than I have ever seen at one.  There was an arcade the kids had so much fun in and it had a bar in it!!  Walking around the arcade with a margarita makes it so much more fun for the parents, too! ;)  Brent's dad let Carter do this little climbing thing (below) too, but he wasn't much of a fan!   Then during the rest of our wait for a table, we listened to the band and let Carter and Landry play in the sand and water with all of the other kids.  My meal was SO good and worth the long wait time.  Plus, we were seated right by the water, so the kids got to enjoy lots of boat/barge traffic during our meal.

On day five, we weren't feeling like dragging everything down to the beach, so we just spent a few hours at the pool instead.  When Landry was down for her nap, I headed to the outlet mall for a few hours of solo shopping.  (!!!)  Then we went out for an early dinner at Sassy Bass so we could get to the go cart/arcade place early enough the kids could enjoy it.  Landry was not happy she couldn't ride the go carts and big kid rides, but she LOVED the carousel! She waved at everyone the entire ride and bounced along to the music.  Her aunt Dana also treated her to a few rides on the quarter ride ponies and trucks.  Carter loved riding the go carts and was convinced he was actually steering the thing!  He also got really into the arcade games, especially anything involving shooting aliens/dinosaurs.  

On day six, it was back to the beach for our clan.  

Carter played so, so hard that day and didn't even come up to the condo for lunch, just ate it on the beach.  So he was really tired and wouldn't even get in our family picture before dinner.  This night, me, Brent and Dana (his sister) went to get steaks while his mom and dad took the grandkids to Hooters and the souvenir shop.    When we got back and it got dark out, we went down to the beach for some crab hunting!  Carter loved it!  I thought it would freak him out like it does me, but he was very into it and wasn't scared of them much at all. 

Day seven, our last full day, was spent at the pool because Brent and I were getting tired of hauling everything back and forth to the beach.  We walked down to the beach to visit a bit and Brent's mom snapped a quick family pic in for us.

It was a good thing we just did the pool, because it ended up showering a bit.  We spent the rest of the day at the Wharf checking everything out there.  Landry enjoyed a ride on Pepaw Red's shoulders, and even more than that, her ice cream after dinner!  Carter got in some more arcade action, where Brent and I found our inner kids and got in a very competitive game of air hockey.  

Day eight was check out day.  We got everything packed and ate some breakfast before doing a little bit of shopping and eating lunch.  Then we headed home. Since we drove through the day, traffic was definitely worse than on the way down, plus we got in some bad storms that slowed us down.  But thankfully, the kids were awesome and were very happy just watching their movies.We made one stop for dinner and made it home with two sleeping kids just before midnight.