Spring Break Re-Cap Part 3

I've been recapping our Spring Break vacation, and today, I'm sharing our final day in Gulf Shores. You can read and part 2 if you missed those! 

On day 3, we slept in and DJ cooked a big breakfast for us. We had blueberry muffins (that we made before we left), eggs, hash browns, bacon, fruit, and we even attempted biscuits on the blackstone (which did not work out so well.) The weather was suppose to be 66 and sunny, so we turned Wednesday in to our beach day. 

It wasn't the most beautiful beach day, but we took what we had and enjoyed the sunshine, and lots of wind. The water was cold. Too cold to get in, in my opinion, but the girls got in and didn't seem to care. They ran with the waves up to shore and then right back in. 

We bought little boards for them to play on and I'm so glad we kept them throughout the years because they still use them when we go to the beach (and thankfully we have some beaches right here in Texas so the girls use them more than I thought they would!)

After they played in the water, they warmed up with sweatshirts, towels, and read a little.

Gee and Megan played catch. 

They played in the sand. 

and started digging a ginormous hole with a "slide" I'm so thankful they started digging this hole because about 30 minutes before they were all begging to leave saying they were bored, but I was there to soak up some sun and definitely wasn't ready to leave. 

We finally did leave around 4 and headed back to the camper for burgers and s'mores! 

Since Gretchen is gluten free, we started buying these graham crackers, and all of the girls love them! 

S'mores made with chocolate chip cookies are the best though :) 

It was a fun last evening; and though our trip was short, we had another little adventure up our sleeve. Stay tuned for part 4! 

 

Spring Break Gulf Shores Part 2

I'm wrapping up our Spring Break vacation now that we are back (and wishing we were still there). If you missed part 1, you can click here; today I'm sharing the afternoon of our day 2. 

We woke up Tuesday morning to lots of rain. We drove over to Pensacola to go to the air force museum, but the base was closed to visitors. So, we turned around, headed back to Gulf Shores, and ate lunch at LuLu's. 

By the time we arrived for lunch, the rain had stopped and we were so excited! The forecast called for rain all day, so we were thankful to have the afternoon warm and sunny. 

DJ and Ray tried their hand at the ring toss game and both failed. 

Megan failed too :) 

We walked around while we waited for our table. Unfortunately because of the rain, all of the fun outdoor activities were closed. 

We had a great spot on the water and we were all starving! 

The bathrooms in the main building were closed so we had to run over to the arcade, and took advantage of the photo op on our way back. 

Our food was great! Gretchen and I both ordered their shrimp tacos. And I have to take a moment and brag on the way Lulu's handles allergies, because they were fantastic! They had a huge allergy friendly menu, but they also gave Gretchen her own server and brought her g-free tortilla chips that wouldn't be cross contaminated. Literally, they were fantastic! Sometimes when we go out to eat, being g-free isn't easy, but they made it a breeze. 

After lunch, we headed out for go-carts and then we hit up the arcade where the girls scored big time! 

One of the girls had over 900 tickets, and I think Megan had over 600. They totally scored with the claw machines! 

And then trade it all in for pop its, a squeezy ball, and lots of candy! 

Three happy girls and all of their prizes. 

We wrapped our trip to The Track with another go-cart ride, this time just the big kids. And by big kids, I mean, DJ and Gretchen. 

Then we were off for some souvenir shopping! 

The girls picked out sweatshirts, DJ and I both grabbed shirts, and Mega really wanted a hermit crab, but DJ wouldn't let her! Ha! 

Our rainy day turned out to be a good day! Even though we weren't on the beach, we made the best of it, and made it in to a "fun" day for the girls! 

 

Spring Break Gulf Shores Part 1

We just got back from our Spring Break trip, and it was wonderful. The time away was much needed, and this was our 2nd long trip with our camper. It's also going to be the longest trip that we have this year, all of our other camping trips will be somewhere in Texas and closer to home. 

Our plan was to leave after Adalyn's soccer game on Saturday; joke was on us, because her game was scheduled for 3 in the afternoon. Sigh. We spent the morning finishing up packing the camper, Megan went to gymnastics, and I managed to get the house picked up. Adalyn played goalie in the 2nd half of her soccer game. Can you see her way over there? After her game, we quickly headed home, and headed off. 

We drove toward Houston, stopped at Buccee's for a late dinner, and since Adalyn left her soccer ball in my car and wanted to play during the trip, we grabbed her a Buccee's soccer ball. We stopped around 10, and spent the night at a Cracker Barrel in Louisiana. Cracker Barrel's will let you stay in their parking lot over night for free. 

The next morning, we opted for a Cracker Barrel breakfast too. The girls all had hot chocolate. 

And since we spent the night at Cracker Barrel we had to add their magnet to our trip board. 

After breakfast, we piled back in the truck and headed to Gulf Shores with a few stops for gas and a stop for lunch. We just ate sandwiches in the camper.

Finally, we could start seeing the gulf. 

We arrived somewhere around 5, and while DJ set up the camper, the girls and I went for a short walk. 

And then I set up the inside with everything we would need, settled the beds, and we got ready for dinner. Our plans was to roast hot dogs, but we decided that would take too long so DJ cooked them on the Blackstone and we warmed up by the campfire. 

The next morning, Gee and Papaw had arrived and they came over for breakfast. 

We bought a smaller camping grill last year, and then we bought a blackstone grill a few months ago. Hands down, it's been the best for cooking while we camp and the clean up is super easy. 

I pre-made sourdough pancake batter before we left, and then we cooked the pancakes on our first morning.  This ring made cooking the pancakes and eggs a breeze! 

After breakfast, we went to the campsite store and rented a bike for Megan and myself (all of the girls need new bikes, so we brought what we had) and set off on a bike ride around Gulf Shores State Park. 

The park has miles and miles of trail, and you can ride around the park and over to the beach. When we had been to Gulf Shores before, we didn't realize the state park was here, and I would totally recommend to anyone staying in the area, to take a morning and bike, run, or hike around the state park. If you're not able to travel with your own bikes, you can easily rent them. 

Lots of boardwalk areas to bike through. 

On our way around the park, we spotted two baby alligators, a Bald Eagle, and a few places to stop and play. 

There were even some big bolders to climb on. 

And a fun little photo op. We stopped at another park to play along the way and all together biked about 8.5 miles! 

We went back to the camper for lunch and then headed out to the beach. 

We had warmed up during our bike ride, but the high was about 66, so it was chilly on the beach. 

My parents hadn't planned on tagging along, but the week before we left, they were able to find an open campsite at the state park the week before we left.

This girl has dreamed about being a mermaid on the beach. 

After dinner, the girls played a game of Left, Right, Center with Gee, and then we called it a night!