Winter Weekend Getaway Post 1

Last Thursday we picked Cruz up after school and began our afternoon journey down to the Alabama coast.  We had plans to do a Winter Weekend Getaway with our friends the Brown's.  It's hard to get together and really visit when you have small kids so we thought it would be fun to go somewhere together so we could have more time to fellowship.  We also liked the idea of putting the kids to bed at night and us being able to sit up and talk, drink coffee, and play games.  It was a wonderful weekend and we had such a great time.  I'll write about it in two posts because as you can imagine I took a few photos to share.  ha 

 

We began our trip with a stop by the Krystal for lunch.  I have always loved Krystal burgers but because of their 5 for 5 special they are currently having I have now discovered my new love- the Krystal Chik.  Yum!

 

One of the things I was looking forward to was going through the tunnel in Mobile, AL.  I have fond memories of going through there as a child on our way to Florida every summer on vacation.  I had told Cruz about it and he was excited too.  One thing that our family always does in Guatemala City when we go under a bridge or through a tunnel is hold our hands up in the air.  It's just a fun thing we like to do so that is what we did in the Mobile tunnel.  We also love to blow the horn because it makes such a loud noise.  I snapped a photo with David's phone so it's a bit blurry, but I love it!

 

Cruz and Ben in the tunnel 

 

Another thing we always do on the way to the beach is stop on the edge of Mobile for coffee at Starbucks.  David and I started that tradition a few years back.  We took a restroom break and then sat outside for a snack break.  In addition to coffee David got us some lemon pound cake to share.  It was good to be out of the car and stretch our legs.

my guys snacking at Starbucks in Mobile

We arrived into Orange Beach, AL just at sunset.  It was beautiful! 

 

After stopping by the office to pick up our condo keys we headed to supper.  That is when we met up with the Brown's.  We chose Bubba's Seafood because it was right across the street from our condo and we also just wanted some seafood.  The meal was good and our three kids kept us quite entertained.

Supper at Bubba's- David, Ben, me, Sara Madalin, Reagan, Cruz, and Malinda 

We got checked in (you can see David had a little help).  We let the kids play a while before bedtime, and once they were asleep we made coffee and stayed up past midnight playing Phase 10.  We also laughed, A LOT!

Friday morning began by the kids each having a surprise laid out on the couch.  Reagan had picked them up a sand bucket kit at the store.  They all loved them!

the kid's surprises

Cruz, Ben, and Sara Madalin watching cartoons on Friday morning before breakfast 

 

After eating we all got dressed and headed down to the beach to take photos. 

David, Cruz, Ben, me, Malinda, Sara Madalin, and Reagan 

our family at Orange Beach 

my sweet, precious Ben 

A photo of just the two of us.  Since having kids we rarely take those anymore. 

David and the boys walking down to watch the waves 

Ben was a huge fan of the beach.  He tried so hard to get in the water and loved playing in the sand.

Even when it's cold, windy, and cloudy the beach is still beautiful. 

brothers 

me and my boys on the beach 

Our condo building.  We were on the front corner unit on the 9th floor.  It was a great location.  We had a huge wrap around balcony.

Once we came in from the beach we changed clothes and headed down to the heated indoor pool.

everyone loved swimming 

Don't we look like a fun, relaxed bunch? 

 

Naps were next on all of our agendas.  They were much needed might I add.  Afterwards we took the kids back down to the beach to play some more and then came back up to prepare supper. 

 

Sara Madalin and Cruz in the elevator.  Thankfully over the weekend our wild crew only set the alarm off once.  We found that hard to believe too, ha.

 This boy would have played in the sand all day long. 

 

For our supper I baked a chocolate turtle cake and Reagan made spaghetti, salad, garlic bread, and some sauteed mushrooms.  We ate good!

Reagan cooking supper and David washing dishes.  That's a good combination! 

eating supper on Friday night

 

After the kids were in bed we made coffee and stayed up way past midnight playing Phase 10 again.  We did that all three nights that we were there.  It was one of my favorite things about the trip.  We talked about everything under the sun and laughed until we cried, literally.  It was just a good time for David and I and we enjoyed that adult fellowship time with fun friends.  The only bad thing was that we have early risers so we were kicking ourselves every morning for staying up so late knowing that we were going to have to get up early the next morning.  We didn't care though.  We were having fun!

 

I'll share about the rest of our trip in my next post.