Orange Beach 2010

Before it gets too far out of my memory, I decided I should blog a little about our Orange Beach 2010 vacation! We were there from May 22 until June 1.

As you all know, the BP Oil Spill has now hit many beaches in the gulf region. We were lucky enough to have booked our beach trip for before the oil reached Orange Beach. I know many others were not as lucky as we were, or are traveling further to get to clean and clear beaches.

This is the third year (2 in a row) that we have taken a vacation to Orange Beach. It is a great family vacation spot. We also have gone with other families that we are close friends with who also have kids our kids' ages! This is the way to do it! The first 2 trips we went with Toby and Eron Hamblin, and their kids, Todd and Ellen, and Kurt and Mandy Goodwin, and their kids, Dylan and Hayden. This year, the Hamblins had moved to Virginia and did not make it to Orange Beach with us. We were very disappointed they couldn't be there, but understood it was too far.

So, it was the four of us

and the four Goodwins.

We share a condo, with the 4 boys, ages 7,6, 4 & 3, in their own room.

We were able to stay for 10 days this year! That's right, 10 days! We were a little concerned it might be too long for all of us being that close together for that long, but IT WAS WONDERFUL!!! We'd do it again this summer if we could!

The night before we were supposed to be leaving, Tyler got some kind of bug and was throwing up! Ugh! It was a Saturday morning, and luckily our pediatrician's office is open on Saturday mornings. We took him to the doctor, who advised we at least wait until late afternoon to be sure he felt well enough to travel. He slowly began drinking a little and was able to keep it down. After several hours of no puking, we decided we'd get in the truck, with a small garbage can next to him, and head to the beach. Tyler was very worried that he was going to be too sick to play on the beach. An advantage of being there for 10 days was that we could go slowly. But we made it there and Tyler slowly began eating over the next couple of days and got back to his normal self, and, thankfully, no one else got sick.

Our good friends Jeremy and Katie Toombs and their 3 children, Olivia, Wyatt, & Hampton, who live in Memphis, were there at the same time we were so we were able to spend some time with them as well. Although they had some bad luck while they were there. Jeremy (Toombs) twisted his ankle and was on crutches, and the baby, Hampton, got sick too. So they had to make a couple of trips to the nearby urgent care facility.

One of the great things about being there for 10 days was that we didn't feel like we had to get up and rush out to spend every moment we had on the beach. We slept in a little, with the adults taking turns getting up to monitor the boys, who seemed to wake up by 6:30 every morning. Then we went out to the beach for a while, playing in the waves and the sand and just relaxing.

The boys dug lots of holes,

caught lots of crabs and minnows, rode boogie boards,

and jumped waves. Tucker and Hayden were also "killing" or "punching" the waves as they came in. They all had a blast and were a lot of fun to watch.

We'd go in for lunch and to rest for a bit, although there were several naps taken on the beach.

Then we'd head back out either to the beach or the pool.

The guys, Jeremy and Kurt, grilled out for us a few times for dinner. We ordered pizza a couple of times, and of course we had to go eat at Lambert's Cafe one night.

The Toombs' came to eat with us when we went there and we all went to The Track afterwards to ride go-karts, which was lots of fun! This was the only picture we got since we were all riding them at the same time. This was the "rookie track" where the kids got to drive their own!

The only cooking I had to do the whole 10 days was a couple of breakfasts and the baked potatoes, which I put in the microwave, when Jeremy grilled steaks.

One morning, Jeremy and Kurt and the big boys, Tyler and Dylan, went on a charter fishing trip.

They were all excited about this. Tyler even caught a shark!

It was a small one, but a shark nonetheless! They all had fun doing that. Maybe next year, or the next, all the boys can go. The mommies will just take a nap on the beach until they get back!

Mandy and I did get an evening of outlet shopping, which we thoroughly enjoyed, while Jeremy and Kurt took care of the boys. They also let us have a couple of hours of tanning time by the pool without the kids one afternoon. They even had them bathed and ready to go to Lambert's when we got back to the condo! Awesome!

THAT is my kind of vacation - little to no cooking, sleeping in, sitting on the beach or by the pool, kids entertaining themselves with friends, and just relaxing for 10 days! I am so thankful that I have a wonderful husband who has a good job/career and is able to take us on a 10 day vacation to the beach. He works hard, and he really enjoyed the time away with us too! I am looking forward to more fun vacations in the future!