Summer Travels. July 12, 2022

It has become a family tradition for us to rent a beach house or condo with Jim and Alesia once a year. We look forward to this time together, and love spending it on the beach! In the past we have gone either in late spring or early fall. We love this time of year to go to the beach because it is less expensive, not so hot, and a little less crowded. This year, however, we chose to go over the week of July 4th. The beach house where the kids and I stayed for a month while Andrew was at CHBOLC was available and at a great rate. Plus Andrew had block leave, so we decided to take vacation because who knows what the fall will be like. I must admit I was pretty nervous about the eight hour drive with an almost three month old. We decided to break it up into a two day bit, driving around 4 hours each day. Audrey did amazing for her age, and I was relieved that she did so well throughout the whole trip. She slept well at night too in her pack and play, which made Andrew and I both happy!

While we did have an amazing time at the beach, because well, it would be difficult for it to be any thing else! It is the beach after all! We did have a couple hiccups. Alesia and I plotted to have family pictures with cute patriotic outfits. We dressed the kids up, had them looking all cute, everyone was happy. We walked down to the beach. It was hot. Two of the kids suddenly decided they didn’t want to take pictures. I’ll let you take a guess at which two! No amount of bribing or threats was going to change their minds! We took what pictures we could, but to my disappointment none of the pictures with the kids really turned out. The one with all of us above was by far the best one!🙄 Sigh!! Why is it so difficult? It would have taken all of five minutes if they would just cooperate! So to my disappointment we returned to the beach house. I give up!

The other curveball in the week was Samuel. One day we were out on the beach and almost literally with the snap of a finger he went from playing and being excited about going down to the beach, to throwing up on the beach. I don’t know why or what, but it seems he contracted a stomach virus. After it was off his stomach it took a couple days for him to reach normal again because he would complain about his tummy hurting. Fortunately, no one else got sick while on vacation!

On the way to the beach we stopped at the U.S.S Alabama. Andrew and David especially loves this! We toured both the ship and the submarine. We were blessed to hit it right after some rain showers, so the temperature was cooler and skies cloudy. Otherwise we would have melted. The guys love the big guns, and the mechanics. I like seeing the more personal, lifestyle side of it. It’s basically a small town on a boat! Impressive to me. I sure do respect those who lived and do live that type of life to protect our freedom!

We love Dauphin Island! It is a small, quiet island. Even over the fourth of July, when it is at its busiest, it’s still not all that crowded. You can enjoy a family friendly beach environment. This was Audrey’s first beach trip, and her first fourth of July! 🥰 The fourth was our first full day at the beach. It was slightly cloudy, with a few showers around, but still a great beach day. The kids had a blast! That night we walked down to the beach to watch the fireworks!

Even though I didn’t get all the posed pictures that I wanted, I still captured a lot of great smiles! The natural ones that came from laughter over a fun time. The beach water was so warm! You could just walk right in and not twitch. We loved swimming in the ocean, and it was the best way to beat the heat! The suns rays are really intense in July. Andrew and I both burned the first couple days. 😅 That’s why we are wearing shirts in the picture below! 🙂

The kids love to visit the aquarium on Dauphin Island. It’s considered a must every time we go. Even though it is a small aquarium, it has a lot of fun things for the kids. They love seeing all the native sea life, and petting the stingrays.