Gulf Shores Fun!

Okay, so this is a ridiculously long post.  But I really wanted to document what all we did on our trip to Gulf Shores for reminiscing purposes later on. So, apologies up front!

Highlights:  A sleeping baby on both flights; Davis' face when he saw the ocean; 4 year old Bridger using the phrase "OMG"; The beach house - loved it!; Jared shooting a 78 at golf; Yummy food; the "Allen-jandros" theme song

By day
Wednesday:  We headed to Dallas and stayed with our favorite family, the Gurgs.  Thankfully, we were able to get there in time for the kiddos to get some playtime in before bath and bedtime. 

Thursday:  Jared and I got up at 5:30 and got ourselves dressed and bags loaded in the car before we woke up Davis a little before six.  With breakfast in the car, we were on our way to the airport to catch our 8:15 flight. 
Davis was pretty ready to go back to sleep after we got to the airport, but cousins Brynn and
Bridger and Daddy did their best to play with him so we could get the nap in on the plane. 

The oh-so-wise Aunt Brittany brought the DVD player and a Mickey Mouse DVD for the plane.  And after maybe 10 minutes, Davis was asleep in my arms and slept until about 15 minutes before we landed.  Hallelujah!  Definitely an answered prayer!!  We landed in Pensacola, loaded up the rental, and headed to Gulf Shores. 

First on the agenda, LUNCH.  Davis ate a ton and kept himself very occupied by looking out over the water.  Next, the boys dropped the girls off at Wal-Mart to pick up groceries for the week and the boys headed to the beach house to get settled in. 

Our house was AWESOME!  It looked like we had just stepped foot in a Pottery Barn catalog. It took some serious self control to keep me from packing up all of the gorgeous antique furniture and bringing it home with me.

Davis LOVED pool time with Dad and the cousins in the backyard.  I think he would live in it if he could.

Check out Jared singing - caught you!

Hamburgers poolside for dinner was the perfect cap to a packed day.

Friday:  We were at the beach by 8:45.  Jared and I made the mistake of not hanging back and letting Davis take his nap first, so he was not the happiest of campers.  Davis loves to play in has sandbox at home.  But beach sand is hard to wipe off and it became pretty frustrating for the little guy that was deprived of his morning nap.  He did love the ocean water though!  We headed back shortly and let him get his nap in.

Jared has some work to do over vacation.  This was Davis trying to convince him otherwise

Jared and I made sandwiches for the crew and headed back out to the beach after Davis woke up.  He fared a little bit better this time.  But again, was incredibly happy when in the water, not so much when on the sand.  Although, he did enjoy hanging out in the lounge chairs (that's my boy)!

Brittany and I treated ourselves to some spa treatments that afternoon.  Gosh, I love facials!!

That evening, we all loaded up and headed into town to the coolest restaurant for families I have ever been to.  It's called "The Hangout" and is 110% designed for families.  There is a huge sand pile, a bubble machine, hula hoops, etc for kids to run around and play before and after dinner.  This is a MUST for Gulf Shores visitors.  Davis had a blast dancing to the music and watching all of the kids run around.

Funny face, but this was literally a shot in action of Davis dancing :)

Brynn after the bubble machine

Saturday:  We spent the morning and early afternoon either beach or poolside.  While the days of lounging in a chair, reading an entire book, soaking up some rays are long gone, it was glorious!

After Davis' afternoon nap, we headed to The Wharf for some shopping at local boutiques.  A red balloon provided for about an hour's worth of entertainment for Davis, and Daddy as well :). 

Dinner was at Ginny Lane.  Very yummy food, not a yummy experience.  They lost our order and what should have been an hour long dinner turned to two.  But, Davis held in there and did great!  Although, we did catch him trying to figure out if he could just go to sleep in his highchair.

Sunday:  The boys headed for golf at Kiva Dunes around 8:00, Brittany and her kiddos headed to the beach, and I hung out with the D man at the house.  The beach trip did not last long as storms blew in.  So, Brittany and I took the opportunity to hit up the outlet mall.  My 2nd favorite store is J. Crew, second of course to the J. Crew OUTLET store.  Gosh, I love that place, especially with excellent Memorial Day sales and an extra 20% coupon!  Torrential downpour was in its perfect definition when Brittany went to get the car when we were ready to head back to the house.

The boys came back from golf in time for some pool and beach action before the luau that the resort had planned for that evening.  Unfortunately, there had been storms pretty much afternoon, and even more unfortunate than that was the resort did not really plan for rain.  When we showed up for the luau and saw how poorly prepared they were, we opted for taking some pictures with the leis, getting a refund, and heading into town for dinner. 

We did get a family picture too, but I will have to post later when I get pictures from my sister

By this time, the wait at restaurants were extremely long, especially with a 13 month old.  So, Jared and I ate at a yummy hole in the wall pizza place and the rest of the crew were able to manage the wait for a famous seafood restaurant.

Monday:  Last full day in Gulf Shores, and we decided that while Davis is an excellent "pool" guy, he was just going to have to tough it out at the beach for an extended amount of time.  I mean after all, we were at the BEACH!  And this time, he lasted THREE HOURS!  We found the magic combination:   playing in the sand with cousins, lots of ocean time with Daddy, and about 1/4 a bag of Cheetos while sitting in a lounge chair. 

As close as we got to walking on the beach, but he's getting closer and closer...

We had dinner in that night as were doing laundry and getting things packed up.  Sous-chef Brittany made wonderful spaghetti and incredible homemade pizzas.  My favorite was the tomato, basil, and goat cheese - YUM!  Jared was a fan of the pineapple and Canadian bacon.

Tuesday:  We got up and finished packing and had the sad task of saying good-bye to our wonderful beach house.  I did refrain from swiping any of the goods... but it was hard!  Check out time was by 10 am so we went into town to the local zoo.

The zoo, well, it was kind of like some hippies decided to get together and take care of some animals.  Don't get me wrong, the animals were extremely well taken care of.  But, the zoo's facilities were comprised of some chain link fences and a couple of mobile homes.  But they did have some baby tigers that were beautiful!

After the zoo was lunch at King Neptune's and it was AWESOME!  Hands down the best fried shrimp I have ever had in my life.  Davis gave it two thumbs up as he scarfed down one and a half bowls of applesauce, an entire grilled cheese, and several french fries. 

The trek back to Pensacola to fly out was filled with us laughing nonstop at the comedian Bridger.  Good gosh is that kid hilarious! 

The flight back was as smooth as the one going.  Davis fell asleep pretty instantly after we took off and woke up just shortly before we landed.  I think we have an expert traveller on our hands!  Actually, I give God all of the glory, because I really prayed hard for that one!


In short, we had an amazing time!  The Allens are so much fun and are awesome travel buddies.  The Gulf Shores Excursion will absolutely be a repeat!!

It was just such a blessing to have so much time for the three of us to hang out together.  Even though it did seem possible that I could, but I fell in love with my two men even more over this trip!  Words just cannot express how wonderful it was for us all to have such a long amount of time of uninterrupted quality time together.