We decided this year would be another year for vacation with the Sarlls family. So the group text started up trying to find a beach house. Kim and Philip both had specific things they wanted (on the beach, private pool) and we had limited weeks we were both available. Resulting in a house much too big for 2 families but meeting said requirements:)
We split the trip up going down there and stayed halfway Friday night. Hotel nights are always fun even if sleep isn’t the best.
On the trip down Kim and i made our grocery list, using her InstaCart account, and had groceries delivered to our house when we arrived (saved us time AND money !) we finally made it to the house and the kids wasted no time getting in the pool.
And heading to the beach that was less than a minute from the pool.
We ordered pizza the first night and went for a walk on the beach. Our days consisted of waking up when the kids (Ok Owen) woke up, eating breakfast prepared by Ryan, going to the beach, to the pool, eating, back to the pool, maybe naps, maybe showers, and then making dinner. We didn’t put shoes on until Wednesday night.
Ryan and Philip did go on a fishing excursion Monday. They were very successful and came home with a ton of fish they were ready to fry up for dinner. Kim and I looked at each other and quickly decided we were going on a girls dinner. Neither of us cared for fish and we needed a break too.
Our house was amazing and had lots of room for us to spread out, so we didn’t feel the need to leave much.
Parker really loved collecting sea shells, punching the waves, and digging holes in the sand.
Ainsley really loved collecting shells and boogie boarding.
Weeks before our trip Ainsley told us she wanted to catch a “herpy” crab. Obviously she meant hermit but we thought it was funny and didn’t correct her. Well the third day there i found a hermit crab! She was so happy and named him “herbie”. She took him back to our house and put him a bucket with sand, water, shells and food. We prepped her he might not might it through the night but Herbie stuck with it up until the morning we left.
Before we drove away the last thing we did was set Herbie back into the ocean.
One night we ventured into town to go to an arcade that had “bazooka ball” and laser tag. Bazooka ball was pretty much paint ball with nerf balls. You had to wear a full face mask and protective vest. My mask slid down my face and as i was readjusting it Ryan pelted me in the eye with a ball. I literally thought my eyeball had popped out. Needless to say Ryan will never hear the end of my injury.
Our last night there we went to a restaurant called “Fork and Fin” that had live music and excellent food. Afterwards we went to the pier but it was too windy to do too much.
Like i said we spent most our time at the beach and that is exactly how we wanted it. It was relaxing for all of us (most the time) and the kids were all so tired they were asleep by 8 almost every night. Which left the adults time to hang out, play cards, look for crabs on the beach, or sit in blissful silence.
We somehow managed to escape the hurricane storms that seemed to be hitting everywhere around us. But our last 2 days there were so windy there were double red flags up meaning we couldn’t get in the ocean.
Until next time Gulf Shores!
