Gulf Shores

We were so excited leaving Arkansas on Friday afternoon.

The third week in June, we took a road trip down to Alabama to camp with Ranjo and Lindsay in the RV at the Gulf Shores State Park.  Reese and Eli invited Anna and Trey, and I invited myself and the kids. ;)  If you're counting, that's 3 adults and 6 kids.  It was a little crazy!  But everyone got along remarkably well considering how much time we spent together in a small space.  Rhett was pretty grumpy the last few days, because he'd been staying up late with no nap, but, hey, I was pretty worn out too by the end of it. ;)

This was probably 24 hours later.  Not so excited that we still weren't there yet.  We drove to Lake Village Friday night and spent the night in the RV.  Saturday we hit major beach traffic, and I thought we were never going to get there.  I love Anna's face in this pic...totally the way I was feeling too.  The kids were champs though, thanks to the DVD player.

ME is my early riser, so Reese and Aunt Lindsay contributed a sleep mask in hopes of helping her sleep in.  I don't know if it was the mask that worked, or the fact that she never napped, never stopped, and stayed up late, but she slept later than she ever does at home.  Rhett, on the other hand, my late sleeper, was the first one up every day.  It's hard to keep a 2 year old quiet and in his own bed in such close sleeping quarters.  My bed was on top of the kitchen table, and he was right by my head on the sofa, if that tells you anything.

Finally made it to the beach!

It rained one day, so we hung out in the camper and had lunch at a yummy local fish place.  We still went to the beach later that afternoon.  We managed to make it to the beach every single day. I'd say that's making the most of our week!

The state park beaches were beautiful.  Most days we packed a lunch, left the cooler in the truck, and had lunch at this nice pavilion when we were ready to eat.

The campground had an awesome pool and splash pad, lots of biking trails, (we hit those up...I got a new bike and carrier for Rhett right before we went) a sno cone shack, a nature center (ME held a snake...eek!), and 2 lakes.  I'm thinking renting a cottage or cabin would be nice there too.  We loved it!

ME is such a beach bum.  She barely ever got out of the water.  She was jumping waves, diving waves, riding waves, hardly catching a breath before going back under.  Rhett, on the other hand, is my sand buddy.  He loosened up and enjoyed the ocean (from the safety of an inner tube) the last half of the week.

 

 

 

 

Anna's little black fish she caught and named Dori.  We encountered all kinds of wildlife while we were there.  Bunnies were all over the campground.  We saw some sort of big beach mouse.  We spotted alligators in the lake.  And at the beach we caught fish, hermit crabs, sand dollars, starfish, and saw dolphins swimming.

I had to dig a big hole for Rhett each day.

 

 

 

 

 

Hermit crab

 

 

Oh my happy place!  And it's a million times more special experiencing it with my kiddos!  We missed Daddy so much, but we're sooo thankful he let us go even though he couldn't take the time off from work.  And we looove that Ranjo and Lindsay let us tag along.  Probably one of my most favorite vacations ever!