Wrapping Up, Alabama!

After our broken shells fiasco, we drove to find a new stretch of beach that was better, but we now realize the importance of a beachfront location - after packing everything up, parking, dragging everything through the parking lot and to a place on the sand, setting up, and playing for about an hour and a half, the kids were ready to go back home to eat and play in the pool.  Clearly, they're pool kids more than beach kids for now!

But we at least go to get in the ocean more and the kids really enjoyed that.

Jarrod and I also squeezed in a much needed date night while we were there! The kids were excited for spaghetti night and playing games with the family, while we went to the outlet mall, had dinner at a 'fancier' restaurant (including drinks AND dessert!) and then stopped by some local shops on the way home to browse.  We really need to get out and do date nights more often.

When we got back to the condo, the kids were out on the dock fishing with the fam and BOTH kiddos caught fish!  So many great memories made right there on that dock.  They both still talk about fishing with Beepa, Tyler, Briana and Uncle Kyle.

Since we loved The Hangout so much, we headed back again on our last morning there for the Pirates and Princesses Breakfast.  Still a fun time, but we decided we preferred dinner there.  We did get some more fun pics, though!

Some other random pics from the last day...

A panoramic from our rooftop deck

The sunset from our bedroom's balcony

My first true love!

And my 2nd and 3rd true loves. :)

We had such a great trip.  I so enjoyed exploring a new city (and marking a new state off our travels map!) and of course, it was even better to have my whole family along with us.  Making memories oceanside is so special, and almost makes me want to move to the beach!  (But I sure would miss fall temperatures and winter snowfalls!)  The kids still talk about going back to the condo, and they're already planning our next beach vacation.  We love to travel...I just wish we could do it more often.  Thanks for the memories, everyone!  Thanks for taking care of the lodging expenses and making it more possible for us to join you on this incredible family vacation.  Love you all!

Getting Our Learn On and HANGING OUT!

Who cares if we were on vacation?  Part of the fun of traveling is seeing many different places and experiencing all the cool things other cities and states have to offer, right?  Well, where else could we tour a battleship?  We loaded up the kids (and my dad!) and headed to the USS Alabama in Mobile.  It was about an hour drive from our condo, and Beepa happily climbed in the back, popped on our extra pair of headphones and watched The Incredibles with the kids while we drove.

This panoramic photo shows just how massive this thing was!

Now, let's be honest.  We all know I'm no history expert.  I didn't exactly love the classes in high school, but as I get older I find myself wanting to learn more and more about things with my kiddos.  So, while I may not have understood everything I saw while touring the battleship, I definitely felt smarter when I left. :)

Beepa visited the ship's Post Office while we were there.

Aunt Meggie and Uncle Kyle also visited that day and our trips overlapped a bit.  Can you spot them in the picture below?

We also toured a submarine while there, which was SO tiny.  I can't imagine being on one of those things, under the sea, for long periods of time.  Crazy.

The trip obviously wore everyone out, because there was no Incredibles watching on the way home...  Haha!

After more swimming, we all decided to head out for another dinner together.  We headed to The Hangout, and little did we know we'd be spending the next 3.5 hours doing just that....hanging out!  It was, of course, a hot night, but we had SO much fun at this place.  The have the best setup and there was so much to do while we waited for our table to be ready.  Gavin discovered a love for foosball, and Riley got rid of her grumpy attitude when Mimi surprised her with a bubble gun.

I apparently entertained myself with taking selfies... 

Riley had a special little chat with a princess, who offered her a special wand.

 Finally, our table was ready and we headed in.  As you could probably guess, there was plenty of drinking that took place while we waited, which meant Daddy ordered a ton of food!

One of the really cool things about this place is that they encourage you to dance on your chairs from time to time, have birthday dances, and the whole place just turns into one big dance party!  Gavin was a bit unsure, but we convinced him to stand up and I think he would admit he had a little bit of fun...just a little. :) 

Riley and Briana enjoyed dancing together (after we dragged Bri out from under the table) for the birthday dance.  I mean, seriously...dancing around in public is like Riley's ultimate dinner location!

And since it's a rarity that you see this guy out on a dance floor, I had to snap some picture of the whole family out there jamming to the music.  Love them.

The DJ played some awesome music, and Kyle and I nailed a duet from Grease...Summer Lovin', baby!

I somehow only got a picture of Riley, but the kids both got a chance to jump on the bungee trampolines thanks to Mimi.  This little girl giggled the whole time!

Sorry for the horrible lighting...it was so late by this time!

Despite it being WAY past our bedtime, we got home, changed into our suits, and had a late night swim with the family.  Not the greatest photos, but I had to snap a few!

What a FUN night!  Ended up being one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.  <3 font="">