This year for our annual beach trip with my side of the family, we did something a little different. We went to a new beach, and we went at a new time of year–fall break! We settled on going to Gulf Shores since it would be a much shorter drive for everyone, especially for Jenn and Chandler with a new baby. It is also much cheaper to go to the beach in the off-season, so it was a win-win! We were looking forward to a week away from the normal routine. Read on for pictures and more details…
Friday, September 27: It was a busy week with Travis in Yuma on a work trip at the beginning of the week, so we were behind trying to get everything packed for our trip. With soccer and homework and all the other things happening during the week, I wasn’t sure we’d be ready to go by Friday afternoon like we hoped. Normally our beach trips are Saturday to Saturday, but this year Paw and Rae Rae rented an extra day since it was so much cheaper than our summer trips. Our goal was to pick Brooklyn up at school and leave immediately from there heading to Gulf Shores, which is about a 5 hour and 45 minute drive. Travis and I managed to get everything packed and loaded while the girls were at school on Friday, and we even had time to get a little cleaning done.
The girls were super excited to hit the road at 3:30 pm when Brooklyn got to the car. The drive went smoothly overall, and we didn’t hit too much traffic other than a little bit around Birmingham. We grabbed CFA and ate it in the car to help us get there a little faster. The only real hiccup we ran into (literally) was hitting a tire shred on the interstate at full speed. We didn’t realize until we stopped for gas later that it knocked the grill loose on the front of the van. Travis couldn’t figure out how to pop it back in place, so we had to take care of that after our trip. We got to the condo around 10:15 pm and got everything unloaded from the car. We were excited to be there!
Saturday, September 28: It was neat to have an extra day at the beach! The soccer fields ended up being closed back home, so the girls didn’t actually miss their games after all…yay! It was pretty windy, and there was a red flag out on the beach today. We watched a little bit of College Gameday while eating breakfast and getting ready in the morning. The girls also played dominoes and enjoyed the view from our balcony.
We decided to check out the pool first that morning after getting ready, and the outdoor pool was pretty cold. The girls all enjoyed the slide, even though they were a little hesitant to go down it first. Abigail got cold pretty quickly and was feeling tired, so she was pretty grumpy. We moved to the indoor pool, and Brooklyn and Savannah swam a little with Paw before we headed up for lunch.
We ate lunch on the balcony and watched a little football and played one game of Bubble Talk before heading down to the beach around 3 pm. Savannah’s baby hairs were getting all in her face during lunch, so I tied them back with a rubberband :)
The girls really wanted to swim in the ocean, but we told them they could jump waves at the shore but not actually get in to swim since it was a red flag day. They also worked on building some sand castles and digging a hole near the water…
We went in around 5 pm and ate taco salad for dinner before settling in to watch the Alabama-Georgia game. What a crazy game! Emotions swung from high to low and back again, and we were so excited to pull out the win (barely). We were treated to a beautiful sunset to end the evening!
Sunday, September 29: We got up and drove to Foley for church in the morning. It was a small congregation but they had a ton of visitors (including some that we knew!), and it was a really great service. We stood around and talked for a little while and then drove back to the condo for lunch.
We got ready for the beach and headed down there around 2 pm. The girls were excited that it was only a yellow flag today, so they could get in the water to boogie board. They wanted to do that right away and had a lot of fun. The water was pulling pretty hard down the beach, but wasn’t too rough overall.
There were a lot of great shells on the beach today, and the girls added a bunch to their shell bags. Savannah found some especially good ones!
The girls dug another big hole by the water, and this time they figured out a better spot to put it where it didn’t collapse right away. We stayed down there until about 5 pm and then had Frogmore stew for supper. It was delicious! Savannah and Abigail also enjoyed playing chess afterward.
Monday, September 30, 2024: Today we started out at the beach after breakfast. But first, some playtime with Christian :)
It was another yellow flag day at the beach, but this time there was hardly any breeze and the waves were super gentle and not great for boogie boarding. The girls still had fun splashing around and trying to jump them. They also tried body surfing and boogie boarding on the waves as best they could. Brooklyn and Savannah spent some time making a sand castle, and Brooklyn spent a lot of time decorating it with shells.
We went up to the condo for lunch, and Travis played Tetris with the girls.
We went to both pools after that, and the girls had fun playing catch and diving for toys. They really are liking the outdoor slide too, although the water is a bit on the chilly side. We are loving the views from our condo on the 22nd floor, especially the sunrises and sunsets! We also saw a flock of pelicans fly by almost right at eye-level from our balcony this afternoon, which was really neat!
Tuesday, October 1st, 2024: This morning we saw several dolphins from our balcony as well as some huge schools of fish and even a few small sharks (we’re pretty sure). They were probably about 2 feet long. They were in pretty shallow water and even swimming pretty close to people in the water–most of whom were oblivious, but the sharks weren’t interested in the people at all. Having a view from so high up has given us some really neat views! The girls also played more chess with Paw, and Abigail was entertained watching Christian eat his breakfast :)
We headed to the outdoor pool first after breakfast. Abigail didn’t want to get in because the water was chilly, so she sat out, but the rest of us got in for a bit. Travis went down the water slide and played “fish fry” with Brooklyn and Savannah. I even went down the slide once…haha. After a little while, we decided to head to the beach. The girls worked on digging another hole, and we also got in the water. Today the ocean was even calmer than yesterday, and the water was super clear and clean…we could see our toes in the water. Abigail made a friend named Jenna who was 10 years old and in 5th grade (closer to Brooklyn and Savannah’s ages)…ha. Ironically she and her family were from Huntsville. There were hardly any waves at all to speak of. We went up to the condo for lunch, and while we were eating on the balcony, we saw a military plane fly by twice almost at eye level. Super cool! We went back to the beach after lunch. Travis put air in the girls’ pool floats and they used them in the ocean this time because the water was still so calm. Definitely not enough waves for boogie boarding. Brooklyn worked on a sand castle, but was disappointed when it got knocked down by another kid before she was finished. Abigail and I helped bury Savannah’s legs in the sand like a mermaid.
We went in a little earlier today so that we could get ready to go out to eat for dinner. We tried Cobalt in Orange Beach, and our food was really good. Abigail really wanted to buy an overpriced turtle cup from the gift shop, so we told her she could get it if she paid us back with her money when we got home from our trip 😉 We did get some fried apple pie as a treat for dessert, and it was delicious. On our way out of the restaurant, someone offered to take our picture–unfortunately, Jenn and her crew had already gotten to their car, so the picture is just of us and Paw and Rae Rae. We got back to the condo and were getting the girls ready for bed, and they were being silly and a little loud. Travis warned them, “If one of you wakes Christian up, you’ll have to rock him back to sleep.” Savannah replied, “I would LOVE that!” Haha 😉
Wednesday, October 2nd: Today we got a little bit of a slow start. Abigail and Savannah both played Paw in chess after breakfast.
We finally got down to the beach around 10 am. It didn’t take long after getting in the water to discover that there were quite a few jellyfish in the ocean today. The girls were terrified of getting stung, and so we didn’t stay in the water very long. They worked on building sand castles for a while. Brooklyn made her own, and Savannah and Abigail built a separate castle. Brooklyn carefully decorated her castle with shells that all looked similar in color. We then headed to the outdoor pool briefly before letting the girls take a quick dip in the indoor pool before lunch.
The girls worked on creating their own pretend language after lunch on the balcony :)
We then went back to the indoor pool, where Daddy and the girls played “fish fry” for a long time. This involved the girls trying to steal his hat and pinch him when he wasn’t looking haha. When he caught the girls, he would toss them in the air. Abigail wanted to play, but anytime he got close, she declared that she wasn’t playing anymore…haha. We went back to the beach for a little while after that, and I took the girls shell hunting down the beach. We’ve been amazed at how many great shells we’ve found this week. They are plentiful, and so many are unbroken! We ate leftovers for dinner and zoomed our bible class back home to catch a lesson on 2 Corinthians. It was another good day!
Thursday, October 3rd: This morning we headed to the beach after breakfast. We tried getting in the water, but saw several jellyfish, so the girls didn’t want to stay in long. We tried taking them out on floats, but they were still scared. We did see several dolphins not too far from the shore, and Travis even saw one jump out of the water! I hate I missed that. We hunted more for shells, and Savannah and Abigail both found spiral ones that were intact, and all of the girls found several other keepers.
After lunch, the girls worked on their secret language and played with Christian for a little bit inside. Rae Rae asked them if they wanted to help change his diaper, and they were completely grossed out by that…haha. Abigail has been the most interested in playing with him this week, although Savannah has been a close second. I think Brooklyn is interested in him too, but she’s embarrassed or feels awkward about it 😉
The girls wanted to head to the indoor pool after that, and then we headed to the beach for a short time after 4 pm. We were thinking it might rain today, but it was actually partly sunny this morning and then cloudy this afternoon. The weather has really felt great all week! When we got to the beach, the girls worked on setting up a restaurant called Family Food. When they asked Travis what he wanted, he ordered “fried boll weevil” haha. They told him that they didn’t have that at their restaurant. We tried one more time to get out in the ocean since the waves were bigger this afternoon, and this time we didn’t see any jellyfish. Savannah was the most afraid, but she faced her fears and got out there too. They all caught some waves and had a lot of fun. Since it ended up raining all day on Friday, I’m glad that the girls at least ended their beach time on a good note with the boogie boarding fun. Other than this afternoon, the waves have been very gentle and mild besides Saturday and Sunday.
We ordered takeout from Picnic Beach Bar and Grill tonight, and the fish tacos I had were really good. The girls ended the night by playing chess with Uncle Chandler. They tried their hardest to beat him, but were unsuccessful 😉 Better luck next time!
Friday, October 4th: We woke up to steady rain on Friday morning. It turned out to be the only day it rained all week. The timing was pretty good though because we were planning to do our souvenir shopping that morning anyway. The girls and I loaded up in the van with Rae Rae and headed to Souvenir City. By that point, it was monsooning, and we got soaked even with umbrellas…haha. Abigail decided on a dolphin stuffed animal, which was fitting since we’d seen so many dolphins over the course of the week. Savannah got an airbrushed t-shirt with her name on it…the first time any of the girls have ever gotten one. It turned out really cute (and had dolphins on it too). Brooklyn had a hard time deciding, so we went to Alvin’s next door, and she picked out a pink Gulf Shores zip-up jacket that she liked and a jar of shells.
After lunch at the condo, we went to the indoor pool so the girls could swim one more time with Travis. They had a fun time! We watched Inside Out 2 on Disney+ later in the afternoon with popcorn as a snack and ordered pizza from Crico’s for dinner (it was some of the best pizza I’ve had in a long time). The adults played Code Names after the kids went to bed. It was a fun way to end a great week!
Abigail’s artwork over the course of the week reflected some of the things that stood out to her the most: baby Christian and dolphins!
Saturday, October 5th: We didn’t rush too much to leave this morning because the drive is so much shorter to get home when you aren’t coming from Myrtle Beach. We got everything packed up and hit the road by about 9:15 am. The rain had cleared out, which was nice! We had a smooth drive and didn’t hit any traffic issues until we were almost to I-565 when we got stuck in a little bit of construction traffic. We made it home by about 4:30 pm. We enjoyed the getaway and change of scenery for the week and weren’t ready to get back to the busy-ness of real life again! Savannah and Abigail missed their games this morning, but Brooklyn’s team postponed their game to a future date TBD. Savannah was disappointed to miss her game, especially since it was against Coach Bob’s team. The Purple Panthers didn’t have any subs and ended up losing 2-3, their first loss of the season. I told Savannah that hopefully they might play them again in the tournament at the end of the season 😉 Not sure how Abigail’s team’s game went, but I think they did end up playing too.
It was a great week! Thanks for reading :)
