Spring Break Fun

Yay, SPRING BREAK 2016!!!!  We are so excited to put our toes in the sand at Gulf Shores!  We loaded up the "Big Grey Rolling Turd" aka 2004 Honda Odyssey on Friday night and rolled out bright and early Saturday morning.  Our awesome minivan has recently transitioned names from "Silver Bullet" to "Big Grey Rolling Turd" when the engine caught fire after changing out the starter.....this van must have 9 lives!

Day 1 - New Orleans

We pulled up to NOLA mid afternoon on Saturday and were greeted with big hugs and smiles by Aunt Sarah and baby cousin Sabrina.  After a bit of chitchat, the boys were ready to run off some energy, so we headed by Audubon Park for play. 

After our park stroll, we stopped at our favorite restaurant New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Co to eat Shrimp Roumelade Poboys and count the green trolley trains down St. Charles Ave.  We returned to the house and everyone crashed.

Day 2 - We woke up and were greeted with big hugs by Uncle Bill.  He was performing at a bass convention in Baton Rouge so he didn't get home til well past our bedtime.  Aunt Sarah had an opera to play so we brought all the kids to Jean Lefitte Natural Historic Park and Reserve for a new Junior Ranger badge.  Oh yeah!

Day 3 - We woke up early, rolled up the sleeping bags, gave big hugs to the fam and headed east to Gulf Shores to meet Grandma, Grabdpa, and the Stobaughs.

The boys were so excited to play at the beach and swim!

Day 4 - All the kids were up at 5:00 for our morning walk to the pier.

Check out the Pelicans!  We could have touched them!

When we returned to the condo a few hours later, Grandpa was ready with hot breakfast!  After the fam ate breakfast, we were so excited about our morning trip to see replicas of The Nina and The Pinta from Christopher Columbus's Voyage.

The boys toured the ships and worked on their knot tying skills.

I can't imagine sailing across the Atlantic Ocean on this little ship.

The ships were convienantely docked at LuLu's, so we stayed for some amazing boiled shrimp for lunch and the kids played.

We made it back to the condo for more beach time then we hit the hay.  

Day 5 - Yes, the kids were up again at 5:99 ready for their morning walk on the beach to search for shells.  The rip currents and high waves brought in the most incredible shells to the shore!

The kids brought their shovels and started digging for their favorite fighting conch shells, nautilus, and sea shells.  This was the by far the best weather we had so far, so we planted on the beach and stayed in the sun all day!!!

We even brought the ukuleles down for a concert.

http://youtu.be/irX-vgTfWfU

We made sand castles, played frisbee and football, flew kites, swam in the pool, and 9 hours later, we were all a little burned and ready for an early bedtime.  

Day 6 - We all woke up and wished Sarah and Joe a Happy 15th Anniversary!  

All 4 Schettlers had patches of burn spots where we missed sunscreen application, so the 4 of us took a little jaunt 5 miles down to Gulf Shores State Park to check out the campgrounds.

We will definitely be bringing our Casita back here!  They have loads of amenities, full hookup spots, swings, pool, splash park, and 15 miles of trails!

We headed back to the condo for beach time and swimming at the pool.  Joe and Sarah headed out for their special anniversary dinner while the rest of the crew headed to Wolf Bay Lodge in Orange Beach.  We had seafood extravaganza....Oysters Rockefeller, Seafood Gumbo, and Broiled Seafood Platter complete with lobster tail, scallops, gulf shrimp, fish filet, and crab cake....yum!!!!  We were stuffed, and the kids were complete Angels.  They spent the whole dinner coloring pictures to give to Sarah and Joe.

Right when we arrived at the condo, we received a call that Sarah and Joe had a flat on the "BGRT" aka Big Grey Rolling Turd.  We met them to put on the donut and replace the slashed tire in the rain...fun times!  

Day 7 - While the Stobaughs and Grandpa were leading up the Suburban to head home we went on a quest to find a Goodyear to get the tire fixed.  Thanks to the awesome Goodyear warranty, we left with a new tire and $20 our of our pockets for a warranty on the brand new tire.  On the way back we found the camping Mecca of ALL outlet stores....

Oh yes!!!!!  We left with a new camping potty for the Idaho Floathouse, cooler for the Texas houseboat, 2 new sleeping bags for the Casita at a whopping $13 a piece, and a 4 man tent for the boys for $29 down from $99...as well as binoculars for the boys a new lantern and loads of accessory things for the Casita.  We would have never found the Colemam Outlet!  After our camping shopping spree we stopped at the famous GuflShores Scoops Ice Cream, loaded the BGRT, went for our final evening stroll on the beac, and hit the hay.

Day 8 - The alarms went off at 4:00 am, we loaded the car and headed back our 700+ miles to Frisco.

The highlight of the vacation was definitely our morning beach walks to look for shells.  The minute the alarm went off Carson says, "Grandma, can we PLEASE go walk on the beach to look for conch shells?"

We loved this precious time with our family, and this will definitely be a vacation the boys will never forget.