Gulf Shores Vacation

We had the best time on our vacation last week. We made the long drive to Gulf Shores, Al. We piled in one car and the Kaiser family piled into their hot red Impala that they rented. We made it there in 12 uneventful hours. They kids handled it like a champ. The drive was a dream come true for Lucas since he was able to watch hours straight of Scooby Doo! Our condo was on the 9th floor and it was very important to predetermine who got to push the buttons to avoid the mad dash and WWF wrestling event at the elevator. Our approach to each day was to stay up late, get up late, eat fried food (usually at the Shrimp Basket) for lunch, nap some of the kids, hit the beach, go to the pool, crab hunt and crash. If you ask any of the kids the pool was way more fun that the beach. Logan and Em were the bravest of the kids and "surfed" their buggie boards and jumped the waves. Em even let Steve bury her in the sand. We watched the Sea Turtle volunteers dig a huge hole in the sand trying to find a nest to relocate the eggs for safety. Kasey and I still remain the Baggo champions as I think Steve and Ryan only won 1 game. Keep trying guys! Several mornings we saw dolphins from the balcony. One day we took a dolphin and nature boat trip and were able to see several dolphins and a couple of babies. We also became very aware of the abundance of jelly fish in the area. Our guardian angels were with us as no one was stung.

Here are the top 10 things we learned on vacation: 1. Camden can wear 8 swim suits at once, 2. Not all Kodak cameras use the same chargers, 3. Some sand makes noise when you walk on it, 4. Kale is an amazing dancer 5. Never count on the dryer to work, 6. Putting sand in your hair is really fun but fixing pony tails is not 7. Teenage kids draw inappropriate things in the sand over night, 8. Making up songs to get the kids to eat dinner is not always a good idea, 9. Ryan is not young enough to use a skim board and finally, 10. Always take Kasey as she is walking pharmacy/drug dealer (Steve and his kidney stone are very thankful!)

Steve made sure to keep the drive home long and interesting. Our first stop in Mississippi was 2 hours and $200 for a new tire. We later made another emergency stop just after lunch when his kidney stone started moving. It wasn't pretty. While 5 kids in a 3 bedroom condo can be really noisy after 7 days we are all definitely glad we did it and are willing to do it again. Here's a short video from the trip and a link to our pictures Kasey posted on Kodak Gallery (warning there are a lot of them!).