While we took a ton of video during our trip, that doesn’t mean I didn’t capture plenty of photographs, too. Since you’ve already seen most of the important parts, I thought I would share a few (ahem, thirty seven) of my favorites from throughout our stay. This trip was a little different than previous years — we worked hard to say YES to all requests from tiny humans (when safe and feasible, obvs) and to be more relaxed about what we tried to fit in. We went to less “fancy” restaurants and got takeout a ton. We avoided the outlet mall altogether, but we did spent a significant amount of time in the souvenir shops. We rode our bikes and climbed trees and played mini golf more than all previous trips combined and did our best to sooth a mopey Sophie, who suffered from a migraine for the first several days. Wanna see?
SCROLL ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM FOR EPISODE FOUR OF OUR VACATION VLOG!
It took us a few days to establish a schedule, but for the most part we spent the middle part of every day at the pool (because HOT) and then hauled all of our possessions out onto the beach around 4 o’clock and stayed until dusk. There were a few days with a great breeze, where we braved the beach for the day (complete with tailgate tent and lunches) and despite their resistance to get up and get going, the girls were unbelievably good once we got there. My girls LOVE the ocean and are completely self-sufficient once we get settled in. I think they asked me to get in the water once (which I did) and the remainder of the time, they brought me treasures or rode boogie boards in the surf.
This was the norm for pool life. Mother/daughter reading marathons while the daddies took turns throwing the little ones around the pool. Hudson learned to swim under water (he was two!) right before we left and he was such a daredevil the entire time we were there.
I’m not generally a bike rider at home, but I do have a pretty sweet cruiser that we keep in the camper for summer rides. It definitely saw more use this year than ever before, but I think that is mostly because both girls could finally ride their bikes really well and we were able to take full advantage of that independence.
Gulf State Park saw significant damage during Hurricane Ivan in September of 2004. Some of our family had their campers in storage at the park and they were a total loss. The pavilions and bathhouses were destroyed and 85% of the trees in the park later died. Prior to the storm, the park was heavily wooded and the campsites had a lot of privacy due to underbrush and hedges. After Ivan, the park looked more like a wasteland. For a few summers after that, we felt like the only people in the park. Very few people stayed there during the restoration and the park lost a ton of revenue. Thanks to grants and donations, all of the facilities were updated, we got a beautiful pool, bike trails and new trees throughout the park. It still looks so different from the park of my childhood, but the updates and additions have been wonderful for our family. This tree is pretty large and although it fell during the storm, it managed to survive. The kids always like driving by (it’s in a different part of the park from where we stay), but we had never climbed or played here. On an afternoon when everyone was too tired for the beach, my sister and I took the kids on an afternoon adventure!
I’m so glad I snagged a few pictures of the girls with Josh and a few with me, but I didn’t get a single photograph of the entire family with my big camera. We usually take family photos at the beach, too, but we never managed to time it right. I’ll just have to survive with a few iPhone snaps to prove we were all there at the same time!
This is Sophie’s serious face. You wouldn’t know she was feeling any better by looking at her and she spent hours standing in this same spot. She made it her mission to catch every “digger” shell she could get her hands on and she took that job very seriously. By the end of the day, she had recruited Ella and Hudson and we had quite the collection of creatures in our bucket.
So let me tell you about this food truck. One day when we were biking, we realized there was a food truck serving burgers inside the park each night. We had planned for sandwiches that day, but I never say no to a burger. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but a cheeseburger is my absolute favorite food ever and if I can get my hands on a gourmet one? Even better. After a long day at the beach, we hopped on our bikes and caravanned to the pavilion for dinner.
You. Guys. I know not all of you are burger fans or even meat eaters, so please indulge me, but I wish I had a photo of the inside of this thing. I got the Black and Bleu, which was topped with arugula, crispy onion strings, bacon and gorgonzola cream sauce. Have you ever? Josh and the girls got hand cut fries with their burgers, but I opted for sweet potato chips and they were delicious. This was the best $14 burger I’ve ever eaten.
I shared a little bit about this earlier in the week, but we were so excited to have Kalli with us for a few days (that’s her sitting in the sand, in the middle). She wasn’t able to stay for long, so the time she was there, we spent at the beach and soaked up as much conversation with her as we could. I’m pretty sure it was almost dark before we left the beach that day. We’ll get to see her again at Christmas and hope to meet her in California early next year.
We really did have such a great trip and we were so sad to leave our favorite place. I feel like we spend an entire year anticipating and planning these few weeks and then it’s gone in a flash! I may not get to retire until I’m old and grey, but you better believe when that day arrives, Josh and I will be spending our summers in a camper as far south as we can get!
The last episode of our vacation vlog is a little longer than the first three, but only because Ella included a very important (to her) monologue and the girls insisted on filming a little bit themselves (I hope you don’t suffer from motion sickness). It was super fun to capture all of these little moments over the course of eleven days and I’m not sure we’ll ever take a trip where we don’t film a significant amount of video again. That means you’ll get a another installment of vacation vlogs early next year! You’re on pins and needles, right?
Now for a little June by the Numbers recap and we’re all caught up. Just in time for July… I mean August.
Did you miss any of our vacation vlogs? You can catch up here: volume one | volume two | volume three
