Recent Posts

Thursday, May 14, 2015

Beach Vacation 2015 (Part 1)

I could make this a yearly tradition. My boys sure wouldn't mind. I get torn between starting a vacation tradition, like heading to the Emerald Coast each summer. Something expected each year, where memories of a specific place with our family are burned forever into our hearts and minds. And then the other option, of seeing new places in the United States (since traveling internationally or really flying in general is very expensive for a family of 5) and doing a different vacation, seeing a new state or area each year. But at this stage, this beach vacation has just felt ideal. It's easy and relaxing and fun. And this area of Alabama is one that we have fallen in love with. I was thankful Jeremy was up for repeating the trip after last year's wonderful experience.
Last year we went to Gulf Shores and this year we were minutes down the road at Orange Beach. It's such a cute area. Typical laid-back, coastal town. Beautiful soft, white sand and emerald waters. Amazing restaurants with fresh seafood. Friendly people, both the locals and all the tourists, typically the southerners with the sweet accents that make it their vacation stop year after year. It's not crowded at all, especially when we've gone in early to mid-May. Obviously in two years it has become one of our favorite places.
We left the evening before Holden's birthday. The minivan was loaded down. Jeremy drove until after midnight and then we stopped somewhere in Louisiana at a hotel to sleep. That was a rough night of sleep due to Mister Abe. He's not one to just roll with the punches. :) We got back up on Friday morning (Holden's birthday!!) to finish our drive. We unloaded into our condo around 4pm. As soon as we were a tiny bit settled, we let Holden open the last of his birthday presents. Then we quickly headed out onto the beach to enjoy a couple of hours of the sunshine and stretch those legs that had been sitting for several hours.
 
 
 
After a little fun, Jeremy ran to grab a pizza. That had been Holden's request for his birthday dinner. Pizza on the beach. So it was a little messy and sandy. And we attracted every seagull in town, but we ate pizza right there in the sand. It was great!
And for the following 5 days, we enjoyed beautiful clear blue skies out on the beach. With some time at the pool mixed in.
Apparently it was raining like crazy back home. And at our location there was rarely a cloud in the sky.
 
 
 
 
Both of the big boy just loved playing in the sand. We had brought a lot of sand toys and they would sit and play and dig in the sand for hours. The ocean was a little chilly. You definitely had to ease your way in. 
 But this baby boy wanted to be in the chilly waters most of the time. It was pretty windy on a few days, which made for some big waves. He loved the crashing waves. And typically he was dragging Jeremy or I out there to hold him in the waves. I very gracefully (haha) got knocked down once by the waves while holding Abe. Which he found hilarious.
 We brought boogie boards for Holden and Pax. But surprisingly they were a little timid to try them out. So daddy had to show them how it was done. Pax never had a whole lot of interest. Holden found it fun once Jeremy got him started.
 
 
 Our only family picture from the trip. I'm really bad about asking others to take a picture for us.
 
 playing games with daddy
And then one day we met this nice family. There son was a legit soccer coach that played with our boys for a couple of hours.
 
 Out to dinner one night at a favorite restaurant, Cosmo's. Two of our boys were the entertainment, dancing to the live music. :)
 
This was the entrance to a fun souvenir shop that we visited.
 
This is Lulu's. Another fun restaurant that we went to last year. It is so family friendly with the sand to play in and water features. Abe left here drenched and road back to the condo in a diaper only.
We ate breakfast each morning at the condo. And all but one lunch at the condo also. Then about half of our dinners we ate out. When we ate dinner in, it was something like this. I sent this picture to a friend that hates hot dogs. Fancy stuff! :)
 
I still have more pictures to share...it was a great getaway!

2 comments:

~The Neaves Nest~ said...

Again, these pics make me long to be on a beach. You forgot that sauerkraut made the icky hotdogs worse;)

Katie said...

They are all so cute!! I love where you were at. I have not gone to Orange Beach yet but it's closer the Pensacola which is not far from Orange. We are leaving next month I know what you mean about not crowded and laid back. I love it! Thanks for your link to your friends blog, I just was talking to someone about the stork bus what are the odds.