Gulf Shores 2015

Our trip to the Beach can be broken up into 4 distinct categories -- The Sand, The Surf, The Outings, and The Screen Time.  And even though we were only there for two full days and two half days, we made the most of all four of them...

The Sand

Jane is officially the biggest beach bum of the bunch!  We could hardly tear her away.  Building castles and hunting for shells were a couple of her favorite past times while in Gulf Shores. 

 Grace was the sea shell collector extraordinaire.  She happily took Alex under her tutelage.

 Cute little Jane tried to build a wall to protect her row of castles.

 It didn't work.  :(

 Bucket of shells!

 Captain America tried his hand at a castle or two.

 And finally, Jane's last castle of the trip.

The Surf

Everyone {except maybe Alex} enjoyed frolicking in the waves.  Unfortunately, the weather was not awesome during our stay, and the waves were a bit choppier than we would have liked.  Nevertheless, we persevered and made our way to the water every chance we got.  Ethan and Sophie in particular loved being in the waves with Scott.

 The view up...

 ...and down the beach.

 Our little mermaid.  :)

The Outings

Aside from the Beach, we ventured on a few other vacation-y outings.  Because nothing says family fun like Pirate Miniature Golf.  Hahahaha.  J/K.  Our putt-putt experience was a bust as far as I'm concerned.  An expensive bust, but a bust nonetheless.  To say Alex has frustration issues and is a tad on the dramatic side would be an understatement.  In short, miniature golf with little children is not that fun.  And should be avoided if possible. 

 Sophie's face.  Hahahaha.

 Alex first attempt at a swing resulted in a miss.  And lots of tears and dramatics.

 He kind of got the hang of it eventually, but really we just kept him happy by letting him go out of turn and taking as many swings as it took to hit the ball.

The best part of the whole putt-putt experience was this ice cream sandwich at the end.  Not even joking.  :)

Following our golfing adventure we escaped for a bit into the movies.  "Tomorrowland" was the show of choice, and although the kids really liked it, I thought it was not that great.  Too long, too many leaps and plot holes, too much trying to be crammed into one movie, and too confusing to follow while chasing a 3 and 5 year old around the theater.  It just didn't make much sense to me. 

 

 

Prior to these super fun family features, I was lucky enough to spend the morning with Jane in the ER.  Yay!!!  Hahaha.  Her asthma had been flaring up ALL allergy season long, and I really should have brought her to the doctor before leaving to go out of town.  Long story short -- I do not think much of the urgent care doctors in Gulf Shores, AL.  Yes, we got her a prescription for Prednisolone, but the dosing amounts and instructions were so whack-a-doodle, that I called her regular pediatrician as soon as I could to get her input on what SHOULD be given to Jane.  Thank goodness I did, because her real doctor said that the amount he prescribed was TWICE what she should be given.  So, crisis averted, and her breathing got better almost instantly.  Once she started the steroid, she never needed another breathing treatment -- and she had been having them almost around the clock for the past several days.  It was so bad the night before I took her to the Urgent Care, that I was borderline worried we'd end up in the hospital that night. 

 Pretty much every night of our vacation looked like this.  :(

 Happily coloring in the waiting room. 

The last family outing we embarked on was to The Hangout on Thursday afternoon right before the pouring rain set in.  We ate lunch there {and spent some money on souvenirs}, but thanks to the rain, we were unable explore the activities and other fun things that were outside the restaurant.  It was still a fun excursion, and the kids were more than excited about their goodies.

 Felfie time!

The Screen Time

Thanks to all the rain and bad weather, we indulged in quite a bit of screen time during our week of vacation.  The condo we rented had a TV in every room, which came in quite handy with 5 kids and 2 adults who wanted to watch different things.  Ethan {and occasionally Sophie} has become my sidekick in all shows HGTV related.  Hahaha.  You know it's reached a new level when your 11 year old comments over breakfast one morning that we really should rip out our backsplash and put in a tile mosaic.  Hahaha.  And that we really need to re-sod the backyard.  :)


As is often the case, we weren't ready to leave when it was time to go.  Our last day {or I guess I should say MORNING} there was the best!  The weather had finally cleared up and was gorgeous, and the kids were all happy and quarrel-free.  After one more trip to the pool and beach, though, it was time to head out and start our journey home.  Just to make things EXTRA fun, we had one more stop planned before our vacation was over.  Stay tuned for our day in Nashville!  :)

 That tiny little circle over there that Jane is peeking out of was the "kiddie pool" -- not a hot tub.  Haha.  It was only 2 1/2 feet deep which both Alex and Jane LOVED.

Family photo on the beach for our last morning in Gulf Shores!