Spring Break 2013 in Orange Beach, AL

Saturday 3/23: Today doesn't really count as a vacation for me, as it is filled with baseball games, Joey has a double header today, although I am skipping out after the first game to do a little grocery shopping and check into the condo by 4, while Eric will have to fend for himself and bum a ride from the field to Joey's school, where he will ride with him to pick up the other two kids who are hanging out with their mom in Fort Morgan, and then all of them will make their way to the condo. Unfortunately, shortly after paying for the three of us to get into the game, and the first pitch was thrown, lightening was sighted 6 miles from us, which meant an automatic 30 minute delay. Every time a new lightening sighting was seen it was another 30 minutes. They finally called the games when the weather let up...yep cause that's how awesome they are, AND they didn't issue any refunds! 

So quick change of plans, we waited till the boys loaded the bus and left the field, then followed them to the school, and then we all headed towards Fort Morgan. Bre and I went our separate way once we hit the grocery store, cause lets be honest, I could shop while they picked up the other kids, then meet them, and then we would all go and check in together. We arrived shortly after 4pm, grabbed 4 carts to unload our 2 cars, yep all that pre-planning resulted in 4 carts worth of stuff. We quickly unloaded the carts, assigned the kids their rooms, and while the kids returned the carts I quickly put all the kitchen stuff away. The kids were anxious to start their fun, and the request to hit the pool was quickly thrown out. There was some slight debates as some of us were hungry (4 of us haven't had an early lunch due to the game), so a quick vote to eat first and then swim was reached. Thankfully were were having something quick and easy, so while dinner cooked in the oven we finished unpacking our belongings and checked out our surrounding views from our room.

After dinner the kids opted to swim indoors, so we hit the indoor pool in our building. I chose to watch and Bre chose to just put her feet in the pool a few times.

Jordyn

Eric and Jayson

 

Sunday 3/24: With no real plans in place, the kids wanted to hit the lazy river, which is located two buildings over. The temperature was great, mid 70’s, but we had wind ranging from 10-25mph, with occasional expected wind gusts up to 35mph. Bre and I stayed out of the water so for us the weather was great, but everyone got a bit chilly when the wind picked up. 

Our Lazy River view

Jayson

Jordyn

Jayson decided after one pass it was too cold for him, so Eric took him into the closest indoor pool. We later found out that they bounced between the indoor and outdoor pools and Eric even went on the water slide several times…too bad we missed that picture op.

Joey had made plans with several of his friends staying in Gulf Shores (next town over), so they all decided to meet up here around 11am and do a little fishing off the docks on the backside of our condo and possibly hit up some of the other activities on site.

Shortly after noon, the winds had picked up enough that everyone was ready for a break and have some lunch. On our way back I tried to find where they sold their famous ICEE’s that they advertised. We came across a deli just inside where the lazy river and 6 pools were, but nowhere on their menus or advertising boards did we see anything that mentioned an ICEE nor did we see anyone purchase one, so we decided not to stay in the long line and just go back to the condo. We ran into Joey and his friend’s step-sister, Jordan, who walked back with us while the other boys continued fishing. They took a quick restroom break, grabbed some drinks, and headed back to the others, while the rest of us stuffed our faces.

After lunch Bre and I decided to take a quick walk to see if we could find out if the resort had a little grocery shop to get a few items that were not included in our stay, mainly dish soap and trash bags (they only provide 1 for the entire week). We were also hoping to come across those ICEE’s and maybe even some coffee, no luck on either, so it looks like a trip to the store is in order but that will have to wait. On our walk we ran into Joey and his friends who were heading to play ping pong.

Once we returned to the condo Jayson and Jordyn decided they wanted to check out the indoor pool so Eric took them down. Bre and I cleaned up a bit and got the rest of dinner that wasn’t being cooked in the crockpot ready. After dinner we watched Hobbit and then headed to the grocery store to grab a few things and ended our ‘trip’ at DQ. Joey and his friends were on their way back the same time as we were from fishing at another location in Gulf Shores, which unfortunately wasn’t a huge success for them, and they later stated they wish they would have stayed here and saved their $8 (each). They hung out at our place until about 11:30pm talking baseball (my favorite topic NOT) and a little bit about school and some of their plans for college. They seemed to have enjoyed spending most of their day here, so we told them they were welcome to come back each day, or even stay a night with us, cause (in all honesty) it is Spring Break, there are TONS of teenagers here, there isn’t much around us within walking distance so they can meet tons of new people, and overall I feel much more comfortable with a bunch of the kids friends here then on the roads (it is the south, they like to drink – A LOT, and it’s spring break – just not the best combo for my comfort).

Overall it was a pretty great full day here.

Monday 3/25: Our temps today in Orange Beach reached a whopping high of 61 with winds up to 30mph and while the view was deceiving, it was way too cold to be hanging out outside, unless of course, you had a wet suit and wanted to surf in the pools or get sand blasted at the beach. The boys decided to check out the putting greens before Eric and Joey left for Joey’s baseball game. Joey’s high school every year hosts a tournament over spring break and while there are games going on all day long, Joey’s game today is at 5:30pm. 

Boys on the putting greens

Bre doing a puzzle on her iPad

Eric and Joey left around 1pm and all the rest of us grabbed some lunch. After lunch the kids put on their suits and we headed downstairs to the indoor pool and to play some ping pong. Due to the weather and what seemed to be ten million teenagers running around, or pool time was shortened by a touch and the ping pong table was in high demand, so we never got to play. We made great use of the rest of our afternoon with long naps, followed by dinner. Eric and Joey arrived back about 9:30 and after quick showers and a bite to eat they were ready to call it a day, guess those cold temps and wind really wore them out.

Tuesday 3/26: Another cold and windy day today, the high is expected to be about 55, but by 10am we were still only about 44 degrees. Since Joey’s wasn’t due to be at the baseball field until 3:30pm for his 5:30 game, we decided to hit the outlet mall to get a few summer clothes for the kids. We spent the first part of our shopping trip hitting the stores Eric and Joey wanted to go to first to make sure they wouldn’t be late to the field, after we went our separate ways, Bre, Jordyn, Jayson, and I hit a few more stores. Overall Joey ended up with only two outfits (he wasn’t in the shopping mood even though he was the one who desperately needed clothes), Jordyn only needed shorts and we were lucky enough to find 4 pairs that were long enough for her, Bre bought a new sweatshirt, and Jayson bought 5 pairs of shorts and 7 t-shirts. I can’t brag and say we found amazing deals, but every store had all their items at least 40% off.

After shopping the kids and I went to grab a bite to eat, and while I don’t have the right to complain as I did let them choose where they wanted to eat, I was tricked into going to a buffet.  Anyone and everyone who knows me, knows how much I despise buffets, but I did try to make the best of it and I even bit my tongue the entire time we were there. After the kids filled up on pizza, pasta, and a variety of deserts (primarily cinnamon rolls and brownies) we ventured next door as Krispy Kreme and bought two boxes for breakfast tomorrow. Next we headed to the grocery store to grab some more milk, bread, fruits, and veggies, and of course Eric put in a request for ice-cream, so we bought two containers of vanilla and a few toppings, which is a lot easier than trying to please everyone’s separate ice-cream choices, cause let’s be honest, no one in our family can like the same kind!

Short drive back to the condo, unloaded all our purchases for the day, and Jayson who had told us in the car that he was going to watch movies for the rest of the night kindly informed us we had only brought ‘lame’ movies. Funny thing is I chose all the movies he usually watches at our house, Transformers (all of them), Sherlock Holmes, Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man (all of them), Battleship (which he told us in the car he was starting with this movie tonight), Snow White and the Huntsman, and we even bought The Hobbit shortly before coming here, we even had a handful of kids movies, of course Breanna picked them, so there were tons of Spongebob, Narnia (all of them), Oliver, and all of the Night at the Museum movies (aren’t you glad you just  movies, and Jordyn didn’t want to watch anything on TV, Jayson played video games until Eric and Joey arrived home from the game, which Joey pitched and their team actually won! (If you knew anything about Robertsdale or their baseball, you’d understand the ! on the win). Jayson had also informed us in the car earlier that he was planning on “staying up until midnight, no 3 am”, but shortly after Eric and Joey arrived home he was out cold in the living room chair, poor guy didn’t make it past 10:30pm.

To be continued....