Spring Break Vacation

10 days, 9 states, 40 hours of driving and 2, 655 miles. Whew, what a trip it was! We started out on a Friday afternoon headed to Detroit Mi. Aaron, Owen, Nate, Annabelle and Cael all had tickets Saturday night to the Red Wings game. My Mom and I were staying at my Aunt Donna's for a visit. Us girls ended up having a real nice time visiting and catching up with a little shopping and dinner Saturday night while all the others were at the game. Sunday morning bright and early we picked up the boys from the hotel and headed South. We planned to stay the night downtown Nashville TN to see a bit of the town and have dinner. We had found out the day prior that Mark and Tracy were in Nashville on vacation. We were able to hook up with them there for the night. Mark was our tour guide first taking the kids to a big candy shop! We then headed down to the strip to listen to some music on the roof top of George Jones place. There were a few good small bands playing up there and we enjoyed a little line dancing and drinks. Next we ventured down the strip. As you walk down there are several open air bars with a muscian playing in just about every window front! We headed to a place called Rippy's (I think) right across the street from the infamous Tootsie's where we enjoyed some awesome BBQ and a huge plate of nachos. Once again some great music was being played. Afterwards we treated the kids to some ice cream and headed back to the hotel so we could hit the road again in the morning. Monday was about a 7+ hour drive to Orange Beach. We made really good time and rolled in about 3:30-4. We had rented a condo from VRBO at Harbour Place #313. It was a really nice place all newly remodled with 3 bedrooms and 3 baths which turned out to be wonderful. Our unit had a waterfront view on the ocean. The building was small compared to some of the high rises on the beach which was also a plus. It had a really cool swim through indoor/outdoor pool. It was also just steps from the beach! When we first arrived Owen was so excited to check out the ocean so him and I ran down to dip our feet in the waves. His first time to the ocean since he was just a baby in NC. I believe Grace would have been 6. We finished up the night with hitting the grocery store and dollar general for some much needed beach necessities, a skim board, buckets and a shovel. Later on we would need a net for crabbing at night. Later that night we enjoyed the pool and hot tub with a night swim which was wonderful! We had incredible weather our whole trip with just a sprinkle of rain one night while sitting on the beach. Nothing a beach towel couldn't protect us from. It was high 70's to lower 80's the whole trip, so perfect! Tuesday was a absolute perfect day with a bit of a breeze, strong sunshine and nice rolling waves on the ocean. We started out early morning with a walk on the beach, Aaron, Owen and I. We ended up camped out on the beach from about 11:30-eveining time. That evening we came up to get ready to go to dinner. Grace had failed to put sunscreen on her face and was bright red looking like a cherry tomato. Later it ended up blistering on her one cheek. Owen was burnt just about all over. We had reapplied sunscreen later in the day but with having spent all day in the water it proved to be not enough. Needless to say both kiddos were miserable the next 24-48 hours. Made me feel so bad for them. We all learned a good lesson. Kind a funny thing we learned from the sunburn was that my hair gel I had packed that I mistook for aloe worked well to cool Owen's sunburn although it proved to be too sticky and the poor kiddo had to wash it off, lol! That evening we went to dinner at LuLu's which was such a cool place for the kids. There were actually alot of places there similar to this with kids play areas and things to keep them entertained. Unfortunetly my meal was far from good. Owen ended up trying Aaron's grouper and loved it. The rest of the trip that is all he wanted to order! Wednesday found us wanting to stay out of the sun till a little later in the afternoon. We ended up doing some souviner shopping and bumming around town. Owen's big purchase was two hermit crabs he named Elvis and Presley. The afternoon we hit the beach again. Thursday was Dolphin cruise day with Surf's up Dolpin Cruises. It was $12/person for a 2hr cruise to experience the dolphins in the bay areas. It was pretty cool. They took out two boats that pulled up next to one another, as they drove together it created a huge wave behind that the dolphins would surf! Well worth the money! I think this was the highlight of the trip for Grace! She made good use of her new fancy camera! Afterwards we met our Janesville friends for lunch at Flor-Bama a cool redneck bar on the Florida Alabama state line. The place was huge and right on the ocean. We ordered food and played a round of bingo in the tent while we ate which was a hoot! Beware of their infamous drink the Bushwacker! Good but very strong! I did find however that later on the day it provided for a good nap on the beach. That night we went out for nice dinner with our Janesville friends the Cronin's at Louisiana Lagniappe which was pricey but excellent!! I had two nice sized fillet medallions covered in a cream sauce with lump crab. Mom had an awesome steak and Owen ended up ordering a kids portion of Grouper that he gobbled up. Afterward we met the rest of the crew at The Hangout which was another cool place that was huge with lots of things for the kids, bungey swings, a tube maze, sand play area and a huge gift shop. Friday was our last day and we decided to make the most of it! We headed out in the morning to Pensecola about 30min away to go see the Blue Angels practice at the Naval Airbase. The show was free! On the way there I recieved a message from my former dance teacher from when I was a kid. They had been staying in the area as well and were at the show. They ended up saving us seats and we were able to visit and catch up! Folowing the show we headed for another visit to a fellow high school/college friend Emily who lived in Pensecola. We had pizza and visited for a while then headed back to take in our last bit of beach time. It was a bit more breezy this day and cooler but we made the most of it. We always followed up our beach time with a dip in the pool to wash off the sand. That night Grandma took us out to dinner at a place called Tacky Jacks. Good food and nice atomoshpere. Owen ordered Grouper again but this filley wasn't created equally. Saturday morning was spent packing and cleaning up to hit the road. That morning on our way out we finally made a stop at the infamous Waffle House. We saw them at just about every exit on the way down south and figured we needed to see what the hype was about. It was a great breakfast and quite the experience! Heading north wasn't a bad drive at all. We really lucked out on the whole drive there and back with hardly any construction and no traffic jams! The only rain we hit was coming out of Effingham IL Sunday morning. As for Orange Beach and Gulf Shores it was an amazingly beautiful place with fine white sand a blue waters. We had timed our week perfectly as everyone else had finished thier spring breaks and we had the town to ourselves. The usual traffic on the main drag was always light and times when it was a bit heavy our Waze app directed us around where we cruised through the state park. There were so many things to do and so much more to experience! I would gladly return again some day!

Disney Vacation

Wrote this a long time ago and forgot to post :

Im excited to write about our wonderful vacation! FYI, this post will be a update on our vacation as well as a reference guide for me to go back to if we ever have the chance to return someday. Our trip started out a little stressful with a flight delay and the fact that the early bird check in we paid for to auto check us in didn't go through. Because we were flying Southwest and they have open seating we were put in a later boarding group which was give us less of a chance to sit together. With it being Owen's first flight we were really looking forward to all being together. We ended up putting up a bit of a stink at the gate and one of the gate agents was kind enough to let our whole family pre-board. We arrived into Orlando about an hour late at 9:30. We took Disney's Magical Express Bus to our hotel. It was a nice service, we didn't wait long for a bus but did stop at a few other hotels since it was late at night. We had ordered some groceries from a delivery service and they were waiting for us in the refridgerator at Bell service. Our bellhop loaded us up along with our groceries and luggage and shuttled us to our room. I have to say the grocery service was really nice even though I think I over ordered. We didn't end up eating as many breakfasts in our room as I had planned. One thing I would change is to arrive a bit earlier in the day. The kids even though tired were really excited and then there is unpacking. Needless to say it was a short nights sleep as we hit the pavement running early on Wednesday. Wednesday morning was Hollywood studios. We were to the bus stop just after 8am and at the park before 8:30. Gates opened at 9am. As soon as the gates opened was when it started to rain. Our plan was to spit up right away. Owen wanted to do the Jedi training and I knew we had to get in line right away to sign up since there were only so many spots. I sent Grace and Aaron to Rockin Rollercoaster beacuse I knew that would have a long line later in the day and that was one ride Owen and I wouldn't ride. By this time it was pouring rain so we broke out the ponchos. Note: buy nicer ponchos We got Owen signed up for Jedi training only to be told that if it was raining they wouldn't be able to complete the training but would do something special for them. Owen was signed up for 10:40 and we prayed the rain would lift by then. Of course it hadn't but they took the kids in to meet Darth Vader which was still special because Darth no longer does meet and greets! Hollywood Studios was a good park for a rainy day. Alot of the attractions were inside. Rain did let up a little early around 11:30. The rest of the day was beautful. Owen loved all the Star Wars attractions and was so excited seeing the storm troopers roaming around the park. It was a very light day for crowds we didn't wait long at all in any of the lines. We had a few fast passes to skip a few lines. Aaron and Grace had Tower of Terror while Owen and I did Muppets 3D, we all had Star Tours and Toy Story. I got to meet John Stamos in the Star Wars Launch bay as he was walking through!!! I really liked Hollywood Studios. Its a smaller more manageable park. We got to meet alot of characters including Minnie, Chewbaca, Kylo Ren, Green Army Men, Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. We had a good lunch at Dockside Diner and our Darth Vader cupcakes for our dinner dessert at ABC Commisary were amazing. We purchased the quick service dining plan for the week. This included 2 quick service meals and 1 snack per day per person. Each Quick Service meal included a drink, entree, side and dessert. It was a lot of food. At the resort we had refillable mugs that we could use anytime we wanted coffe, tea, or soda unlimited. That meant when we ate at the resort we had the option of two beverages! We thought the meal plan was pretty worth the price. Each of our meals seemed to total up to over $70 before they took off for our meal plan. Quick service is basically fast food Disney style. The food was good for fast food. We even had steak at Hollywood Studios. We had one sit down meal we paid out of pocket for and the was Chef Mickey's.

Hollywood Studios

We made it!! After a long day of travel to get here we are ready to pound some pavement! We r staying at Caribbean Beach Resort and have the perfect location with a short walk to the bus stop and just a 5 minute walk to the center of the resort! Are room is smaller than we imagined but very manageable. Nice bath area with two sinks and a separate shower/toilet room. Very clean, fridge for the groceries I had delivered and just enough room for my overpacked family! 

Our first morning today was a 8:02 shuttle to Hollywood Studios where we arrived a half hour before gates opened. Owen and I hi tallied it over to sign up for Jedi training and Aaron and Grace to ride rockin roller coaster. The morning brought pouring rain and wind but we managed with ponchos. The afternoon was beautiful! The crowds were fairly light and there was no more than 20 min waits for the rides! We got to meet Star Wars characters. Plus a bonus for me I got to meet John Stamos and get a selfie with him ❤️. Also met Minnie and Buzz and Woody!  Our meals were all very good. We have a small dining plan but u get an incredible amount of food! Meals come with main entree, a side, drink and a dessert!! Our fav dessert had to be the Darth Vader peanut butter cupcakes 😋 fun day was had by all!!