We had a great time! We drove to Orange Beach, Alabama. Would do it again in a heartbeat!
This year we went with my parents and sister and her family. It was so much fun!! We all drove separately and had our own place to stay down there, but saw each other all the time. Was so fun!!!
[Each kid had $20 for the drive down. If anyone argued, yelled or didn't listen we could take away a dollar. Whatever was left they could spend at the souvenir shops. Worked great! Only a few dollars were taken away. They learned quickly.]
[Nate and I dropped our animals off the day we headed out. Maggie went to a kennel and Christy watched our guinea pigs... thanks, Christy!!]
[This was the view of Lake Winnebago when we left... snow and whitecaps!]
And, we're off!!! We had one super packed car!!!! We left at about 4pm.
The roads were terrible for our first couple hours... and there was an accident that was still being cleared up between FDL and Milwaukee. Traffic was very slow, and because the roads were also terrible, we decided to stop at MJ Stevens for supper. Actually, worked out well. By the time we were done the accident was cleared up and the roads were a little better.
[Finally... clear roads! We were almost to Chicago.]
[Stopped at an Oasis.]
[This was a potty break at about 2am I think.]
[And, a Starbucks break with a few hours left to go.]
And, just like last time, we at lunch at Subway when we got there! Our place wasn't ready until the afternoon. We ate lunch, changed in the bathroom in our condo building and then headed to the beach!
[kids were so excited!!]
My parents were next to arrive. Our condos weren't quite ready yet, so we just showed them to the beach.
[One of my favorite pictures from vacation.]
[These two have taught me so much... love them!!]
My sister and her family arrived a little later. The kids had a blast!!!!
[I think Nate has a crush on Faith Hill... he always turned on her music!]
[We searched for crabs a couple nights. This is a cool picture Mike capsured!]
[We had some friends who stayed in our same condo building... was fun to see them down at the beach.]
[Our entire family... love, love, love!!! So thankful everyone was able to make it. We made some memories we'll never forget... feeling so blessed.]
[I was usually up before the others... on purpose. I need that quiet time. I did some coloring while enjoying my coffee and the view!]
[The kids had a lot of fun playing ping pong when it was rainy out. Really loved the place we stayed at!]
[This was Nate's favorite thing to do!]
[One of my favorite things was drinking my pina colada on the beach... love!]
[Nap-time for the big girls.]
I went for a run one morning. Wasn't sure how far down the beach I was going to run. It was perfect out and I felt like I could just keep running, so I ran about 4.5 miles before turning around and heading back. Right when I turned back around I saw this!!!! A starfish!!! It was washed way up on shore, upside down and appeared lifeless. I wanted so badly for the kids to see it. But, I was 4.5 miles from our condo. I decided I was bringing it to them no matter what it took! I just wasn't sure how I was going to make that happen.
There weren't any people on the beach in the area where I found this... which is why it was still there. I wasn't going to touch it, but had a long way back. Looked around thinking I could find some garbage laying around that could help me. But, of course, when you're looking for litter you don't find it. I used a big piece of a shell to lift it out of the sand and carried it until I found a plastic grocery bag. Shook that out and then put the starfish in the bag and ran over 4 miles back with it in the bag and draped over my hand. People were probably wondering what in the world I was doing!!! But, I didn't let it bother me... I wanted the kids to see this!
Finally, made it back. They kids thought it was pretty cool. And, I'm happy to say, it made it back with us. I had it soaking in alcohol in a sealed container on the way home... which Mike wasn't too thrilled about. It's now drying out in our garage. Definitely, my favorite souvenir. :)
[Had a great view of the sunset from our condo.]
We all ate together at the Hangout one night for supper. Got there at about 6pm... right when the band started. Perfect! The band was great and made our 2.5 hour wait to eat a little easier. We knew we'd have to wait awhile, but I wasn't thinking it'd be that long. Oh well. The kids did pretty good... definitely could have been worse!
[There was a group of people we knew staying about a half mile down the beach, so was fun to visit them and have them visit us sometimes.]
Got up one morning before sunrise with my mom and sister to look for shells. Didn't find any shells, but saw a beautiful sunrise!
[Eli did a face plant in the sand trying to catch a football!]
[This is the smallest shell I've ever seen in the chubbiest hand ever! Nate found this... was so cute!]
[Eli was very proud of this big he drew in the sand... so cute!]
[Nate threw this stick in the water and would wait for the waves to push it back to shore many, many times!!!]
[Me carrying my baby. Nate hurt his ankle somehow and he hobbled around on it for a couple days. The walking got to be too much when we were shopping on a rainy day, so I carried him. He was a tough kid!]
And, the ride home...
We had to be out of our condo at 10am on Saturday. It was supposed to be a sunny day, so we decided to pack up and then hangout at the pool and beach before leaving. Was just so much easier to drive at night with the kids, so thought we'd enjoy the beach and then leave around 3pm. Pretty much exactly what we did. Glad we did it that way... worked out well.
[my starfish heading home down by my feet.]
[After being in the car for about 17 hours we decided to stop for breakfast about 15 minutes from home. We talked about stopping for breakfast, but thought it would have been earlier. Oh well. It was still fun... happy we did it!]
[This was everything that was packed in our car... I think Mike qualifies as an expert packer... this still blows me away!!!! Six suitcases, four beach chairs, an umbrella tent, life jackets, cooler, four backpacks, pillows/blankets, bean bag toss, two rubbermaid bins of stuff, about five random bags and a starfish!!]
[we sure did miss Maggie!!!!]
[We forgot to leave our Easter baskets out before we left and were so happy that the Easter bunny stopped Sunday night when we got home. Steph Curry even joined us... Ha! ;)]
What a fun week full of tons of great memories... loved it so much!!!!
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