Gulf Shores - Part 1

*WARNING* This might be a long, obnoxious post with a ton of pictures, but there are a lot of fun times to recap from our time in Gulf Shores. I am probably going to have to break it up into two posts. Back in the spring, we decided we'd love to take a long trip to the beach with the boys this year as our first trip as a family of five. We also knew we probably couldn't handle it alone unless we were okay with being couped up constantly inside. GiGi was kind enough to come with us and lend an extra set of hands, and boy, did we need it.

We found a 3 bedroom house on the west end of the peninsula that shared a pool with about 10 other homes, and it was about a 5 minute walk to the beach. Penny was planning to fly, so we decided it might be best for Ryan to fly with her. His attention span these days is pretty short and the amount of fighting I was predicting between he and Bradley made the decision for him to fly a lot easier. All day Friday we spent cooking, packing, and loading up the car for the early departure Saturday morning. We tried to go to bed somewhat early since we knew we had a long day of travel ahead of us. Wes was nice to enough to get up at 3 am and finish the last bit of packing that we couldn't do the night before. He then got all of us up as quick as possible, in hopes we would go back to sleep, and off we went around 4:30 that morning. Unfortunately, Charlie, Bradley, and myself were all pretty awake and did not go back to sleep for a while. Luckily, everyone was quiet and just rested. I think Charlie fell back asleep around 5:30 and then Bradley and I did around 6. Unfortunately, an 18 wheeler had jackknifed across I-10 and we came to a screeching halt right around 6:20, so that little stretch of sleep didn't last too long for anyone. This was the view I woke up to (minus all of the dead bugs on the windshield, it was a beautiful view).

Eventually, the boys fell back asleep. Here is sweet B snoozing.

We made it all the way to Baton Rouge before stopping for breakfast at a cute little place called Coffee Call for beignets. I think the boys were in powdered sugar heaven.

We headed back on the road around 9:30 or 10 that morning with the intent of stopping for lunch in Mississippi around noon. Well, after an hour and a half of detours later, I think we made it to Gulfport around 1-1:30pm and stopped to eat at the Blow Fly Inn (featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives). It was really yummy place, full of every fried food you could imagine. The remaining few hours of our trip were more or less uneventful. A little bit of traffic, C crying a bit here and there, and Bradley finally getting bored, we turned on the iPad for him for the first time. I think you can see how much he loved it.

The boys were such troopers. Maybe because we set our expectations low for the drive, but the kids could not have been any better. I think Charlie really only got upset the last 30 minutes of the trip which was pretty painful because we only had a few miles to travel, but because everyone was getting in town that afternoon, it took about 45 minutes to travel 5 miles. What should've been about a 10 hour trip including stops ended up closer to 12, so we are thinking next year, we can tackle Destin! We got everything unloaded and set-up, then Wes headed to the store. Can you believe 3 adults and 3 children consumed almost all of what you see here (plus an additional trip to the store mid-week to re-stock)?!!?

We spent most of Sunday and Monday at the beach, and they were both awesome beach days. We had a good routine of Wes and I setting up in the morning, then coming back for GiGi and the kiddos. Sometimes, someone would stay back with Charlie while he took a morning nap, and a few times he would nap on the beach. Charlie and Ryan both enjoyed being buried in the sand, but B had no interest in it. Charlie actually really liked the sand and having the waves wash up on his feet.

 Charlie snoozing with GiGi.

love this sweet baby

These boys were hard at work all week long building various things in the sand. It really never got old with them.

B was much more concerned with hauling water back in forth in buckets from the ocean. He spent so much time moving water from one location to another and never once got bored with it.

The current was actually pretty rough most days we were there which was not quite what we were expecting, but did make for some great boogey boarding. One of the times when I came back up from boogey boarding, B was standing by the second board, saying over and over "Me boogey." So, we took him out to boogey and it was hilarious. He then wanted to boogey everyday thereafter.

Many of the afternoons were spent either at the pool, going for extremely hot jogs, or heading back to the beach with 1 or 2 of the kiddos. Ryan was so funny on the first afternoon at the pool. Wes was down there with him and there was an older man (probably 60 or so) with a hat on, hanging on a pool noodle in the pool. He turns to Wes and asks, "is he the lifeguard?!?" The kid is too funny.

Charlie feeling good after his bath

Here are a few pics from the second day at the beach. The water was such a clear blue-green, it was by far the prettiest day there. I think the tides weren't quite as strong.

   

More of the same - it's hard work filling up bucket after bucket

                                     

 

 This was probably the last picture taken before things took a turn for the worse in terms of health!

Rub-a-dub-dub, three boys in a tub!

By Tuesday morning, there was at least one child sick for the remainder of the week, unfortunately. Ryan woke up with a horrible tummy bug that Charlie then got within 24 hours. Luckily, the rest of us remained healthy all week, thank goodness. Ryan had it pretty bad and missed out on a few excursions to the beach, along with Charlie. GiGi was sweet enough to take many of the shifts at home with them, so we could still enjoy our time. Bradley got a lot of one on one time which was also kind of nice. B was just hilarious the entire trip. He was so excited about every little thing, he just couldn't contain himself. From going down for naps or bedtime, to putting on sunscreen, he did everything with excitement. He kept saying "soap" when he first saw the waves crash against the sand. And when we told him not to drink the water because it was dirty, he would call it "halty" (salty).

Poor Charlie bear having a rough go at it. Poor guy had a double ear infection that we found out about 18 hours before leaving on the trip, so he was already battling that and then this on top of it. He was a good sport through it all.

Have you ever seen anything more pathetic!?!?

Stay tuned for the second half recap :)