Parker Vacation 2015

We finally got to take a vacation!!!  2 years ago was our first vacation in many, many years. We didn't get to go last year so we were more than ready this year. 

I checked around and got a few prices and just couldn't pass up the great price we got 2 years ago at Gulf Shores. So I called and they had one week left for this summer so we decided to grab it. The last day of school was May 28 and we were scheduled to leave May 30th. It was cutting it close, but it worked out great. We decided to leave a day early in order to be able to enjoy the beach just one more day. Usually we get there at night and just end up crashing, but we wanted to be able to enjoy as much of it as possible. 

Maynard got off work on Friday around 4 and by the time we got packed and the car loaded it was around 6 before we left.   We drove for about 5 or 6 hours and we were exhausted and ready to find somewhere to spend the night. We made several stops and either the offices were closed, no vacancy, or crazy expensive. We were so tired, but didn't want to pay a lot of money for just a few hours of sleep. We even ran in a gas station to use the restroom and they wouldn't even let us use their restroom. So we found us good ole faithful Walmart. We used the restroom and then found a place to park in the back of the parking lot. We cracked the windows and everyone layed out wherever they could find a spot. 

It was bad. Horrible. Awful.

I may have cried. 

I may have had really bad thoughts about my husband. 

We rested (not rested) for about 4 hours and then we took off again. 

We arrived in Gulf Shores around 8 in the morning. We stopped for breakfast and let the kids play in the outside playground to burn some energy. 

We wasn't supposed to check in until 4 at our condo so I had the bright idea of taking the kids to the Zoo while we waited. 

We arrived at the Zoo and then just busted out laughing. Maynard called it a Flea-market zoo. We did notice then on the sign it said The Littlest Zoo and the little Zoo that could. Ha ha. So we decided not to pay the admission to see the Flea-market zoo and to do something else. 

How about Putt Putt golf?  That's always fun. Little did we know that Amelia was a pro. She was doing so good and loved that she was beating her brothers. 

After playing Putt putt we just drove around sight seeing. It was killing us though to drive by the beaches and seeing everyone enjoying the water. Believe it or not, my sister had stayed at the condo the week before us and they had left a day early. So we began thinking that maybe just maybe our room had already been cleaned and we could go ahead and check in early. We made a quick trip to Walmart for groceries and headed to our room. My sister had text me and told us that they had left us some groceries in the fridge. So I had the brilliant idea of grabbing my groceries that needed to go in the fridge to go peek and see if the room was clean yet. I looked in and it looked clean. So I walked on in and noticed the bathrooms and bedrooms hadn't been cleaned yet. Bummer. I put my groceries in the fridge and ran back out. I told them the room wasn't ready yet so we grabbed our beach clothes and headed to the pool bathrooms and changed. Ha ha We intended on enjoying our day at beach no matter what.  It was about 1 p.m. then. After playing at the beach awhile they wanted to go get in the pool. Then we went to the pool until after 4. By then we were hungry and tired. We went back to our room and unpacked. Then we ate and then everyone collapsed. I think we were all asleep and in bed around 7.  Of course if you remember we didn't have much sleep the night before. It felt good to stretch out and sleep. 

All week long the latest we ever slept was 9 a.m. And that was really late. My kids were up before 7 every day. We still didn't get to see the sunrise as we had planned, but oh well. We got to see a few sunsets. 

Sunday we stayed on the beach all day. When we wasn't at the beach then we were at the pool. 

My kids went right to the ocean. They wasn't a bit afraid. Even Amelia loved it. 2 yrs ago she hated it. She had loved the sand though. Not this year. She loved the ocean and freaked when sand touched her hands. There was a little dip near the shore where it made a perfect little place for the kids to swim around in. I sat and watched how my kids just went up to other kids and made friends with them. They almost always had other kids to play with. That made me happy that they were able to make friends. 

Josiah liked finding crabs and shells. 

Amelia caught a fish in her net. 

Maynard played with the kids out in the ocean for hours at a time. Made it nice for me because I knew they were safe and I could read my book 

Maynard posted this on his IG and I tagged the author and she replied. I thought that was pretty cool!!

This was their favorite pool!  It was huge and started at 1 1/2' to 5'. It was perfect for my kids and I didn't have to constantly watch them. 

Monday we were all sunburned. I used sunblock on all of us. I even kept reapplying, but we all got some sun. It wasn't horrible and no one blistered, but we were pretty red. I decided then and there to keep us out of the sun until that evening. We spent a lot of time at the indoor pool that day until sunset. 

The indoor pool was almost always empty so we liked having it to ourselves, but it was just more fun to swim outside as hot as it was. 

We walked down to the beach at sunset and stayed a little while and then decided we wanted to eat at Lamberts for supper.   Our condo was a little ways out of town so in hardly no time at all the kids were always conked out before we got to where was going every single night. 

Look how red they are!  Titus was all about catching them rolls though!!

Amelia had a blast at Lamberts. 

Ha ha. She would not wake up. She tried to eat, but preferred sleeping than eating. I was just glad I didn't order her own meal. We had tons leftover and took it back to the room to eat on the next day. 

On Tuesday Maynard decided he wanted to go sightseeing. Which actually means we had passed several thrift stores on the way to our condo.  Lol My kiddos were none too happy about this, but soon they gave in because there was nothing they could do about it. This was Daddy's vacation too. 

We went to several thrift stores, tried a new yummy pizza restaurant recommended by my sister and we loved it. It was so good. Titus was dying for a boogey board (is that what you call it) so we let him pick one out at the dollar store. By now they were chomping at the bit to get released back to the beach. I also bought me a beach umbrella to help keep the sun off of us. I wish we had bought one earlier. I was thinking our condo already had one we could use, but they didn't this time. They did provide pretty much everything else. 

Titus was my  little beach bum. There was nothing he didn't like about the beach. 

Beautiful sunset. I was so content just to sit on the beach and take everything in. 

That night I got up to check on the kids and thought this was adorable. 

If they only knew they were sleeping like that it wouldn't have lasted long. 

Wednesday wasn't a very good day. Maynard was up in the middle of the night and wasn't feeling very well. I can't go into a lot of detail, but he needed to see a dr right away before things became serious. 

We left our room around 7 and stopped at IHOP for breakfast. My kids fell in love. It's their newest favorite restaurant. 

We left there and got busy making phone calls trying to find either a Dr or go to an ER somewhere. We finally decided to go on to the hospital. We were there for about 4 hours when Maynard told me to go ahead and take the kids somewhere for awhile. I didn't know where to go and how much time I would have. I pulled into the Tanger Outlet Malls and seen that they had a Fudgery.  I took the kids in and they each chose an ice cream cone and I got Maynard and I a candy apple to share. 

 Maynard and I were feeling really guilty about their vacation day being spent in a hospital. We told them we would make it up to them. What's funny is the 30 minute trip to the Fudgery worked. They loved it. They kept saying thank you over and over. They even still have talked about it since we've been home. The best $20 I ever spent. Ha ha. 

Maynard called and said he was ready to go and things didn't look as bad as it possibly could have turned out. 

We went back and picked him up and then came back to the Condo. The kids wanted to go to the pool so I stayed with them from about 5 til 9. I was going to let them swim as long as they wanted too. Well the pool closes at 11, but they were ready to go around 9. That's the only day we didn't make it to the beach. 

Thursday morning we were already at the beach by 9. We spent the whole time out there until about 3. We cleaned up and headed out for supper. We didn't even break for Lunch. That's how hard my kids played. They forgot to eat. Amazing, I know. 

We took them to a Ryan's because it was kid's night and cheap. They ate like little piggies. I'm sure they were starving though. 

We walked down to the beach and took some pictures right at sunset. 

If the boys looked a little happier then this would be the perfect picture. My dream is to have coordinated outfits for beach pictures, but while on vacation we seriously don't care. Ha ha. I didn't iron the first thing. That's amazing for me. 

My crazy youngin's. 

So Friday was our last day at the beach. We spent the first part of the day at the pool until about noon. Then we walked down to the beach for about 4 more hours. 

She dropped. She couldn't keep her eyes open for another minute.  She stayed in the water most of the time. She would jump the waves and just swim around. Her little puddle jumper had given her a lot of confidence and so now she loves the water. Even in the pool she thought it was funny that she went to the deep part and the boys weren't allowed over there. 

We skipped lunch again and were near starved again by 5. This time we left and ended up eating Mexican.  Amelia was really happy and the food was amazing!!! It put all our Mexican restaurants to shame. 

We decided to hang out at the beach again to say our goodbyes that evening. 

Our last beach sunset. 

I thought this picture turned out pretty cool. 

It's so peaceful at the beach. 

I let the kids go to the pool and swim until they were done.  I needed to do some packing and cleaning up a bit, but I didn't want to rush them. Everyone was done, but Titus, but I had to make him finally get out before they closed the pool in an hour. He had to tell his new friends bye.  One was an autistic girl who was sad when he left and I heard her say, "my buddy is leaving."  I thought it was sweet that Titus had befriended her. He never knew that something wasn't right about her. He just enjoyed her company.   Back in our room I got to work until I crashed. The next morning we were leaving. How sad. My kids were all a little teary eyed that night as they went to bed. 

The last picture I took as we were loading up. There are more pictures of our condo and of the resort in my blog post labeled Gulf Shores Vacation 2013. If you want to look at that post to see more pictures. We stayed at the same place so I didn't want to post the same pictures again. I'll try to see if I can put the link if Yall want to go back and read it. 

http://itsbeginningtolookalotlikechaos.blogspot.com/2013/04/gulf-shores-vacation.html?m=0

I did this comparison picture to see how much Amelia had grown. 

Can you even believe it?  Look how long her legs are now???  Last time we went in March and it was chilly. We did not need jackets in June for sure. Ruth left her this swim dress to wear and Amelia loved it and wore it almost the whole week. People would stop her and tell her how pretty it was. 

We enjoyed ourselves so much. So thankful God kept His hand on us and gave us safe traveling mercies.