And now it is time to recap it, before I forget.

Saturday, Kiki flew in. The boys and I went to pick her up at the airport, and that evening, Kiki and I had a nice dinner at my friends’ restaurant. We got up bright and early (not really) on Sunday and got the van all packed up for the trip to the beach! We were headed for Orange Beach, Alabama, which is about 4 hours away. Without kids, that is.

We hit Foley, Alabama around 2pm, and intended to stop for lunch at Lambert’s. Lambert’s is famous because they throw bread at you. Gotta love it. But there’s always a wait, and when we got there, we got the vague information that it would be between 20-35 minutes. Fine without three cranky four year olds, so we decided to try again another day and went to Cici’s Pizza instead. I’d taken the boys to one before, and they’d eaten lots of pizza, so I thought it would be a good idea. But no one wanted to eat and when Miles saw the plate of cinnamon rolls I got to tempt them with, he barfed. Seriously. Who looks at cinnamon rolls and throws up? He wasn’t sick, either. He was gagging at the sight of them, and I guess I didn’t move them off the table fast enough. Yeesh.

The resort we were staying at was only about half an hour away, so we got our keys and made our way to the condo. It was gorgeous. Three 13 story towers with a ton of zero-entry pools, a lazy river, indoor pools, waterslides, and across the street was the beach. As soon as we got our bags inside, we put on our bathing suits and hit the pool.

After swimming, we went to the grocery store, and then cooked some dinner and put the boys to bed. And then Kiki and I started our nightly tradition of having some wine on the balcony while we spied on the people in the building across the way. It was very relaxing.

Monday morning, we decided to hit the beach first thing. The boys had never been to the beach, so I was excited to see how they’d like it. And they loved it! We staked out a little spot between the Gulf of Mexico and the bay behind our condo, and played in the sand and in the water. At least until the clouds started to roll in…

We de-sanded ourselves and then spent some time in the pools. There were three interconnected pools that we spent the most time in. So pretty!

That evening, we took a friend’s recommendation and went to have some fried seafood at a restaurant overlooking the water. Delish! But before we ate, I insisted on a photo shoot.

On Tuesday, we decided to surprise the boys with a trip to The Track, where I’d read they had a tiny race track where 4 year olds could drive. I knew my racecar obsessed children would go out of their minds with excitement over that, so off we went.

Indeed.

After a race and some games inside, we decided to try Lambert’s again, and this time, we were seated without any wait at all. We’d bribed the boys with the promise of another lap around the racetrack if they were good at lunch, and thankfully, it worked. They loved the bread, but barely touched their meals. Alas.

Ready to go again!

When we got back to the condo, Kristina and I were ready to hit the pool again. I tried to brand the boys. Heh. Didn’t work, unfortunately.

Wednesday started off with another trip to the beach, this time right on the Gulf. The current was a bit strong, but the boys mostly stuck to the sand, where they built sandcastles threw sand at each other. It was so nice out. Sigh…

Another trip to the pool after that, where Miles and Oliver bravely jumped off the ledge. A million times.

Linus was not quite as fearless as his brothers, but still had a blast “swimming” in the shallow part.

That evening, we went to dinner at the restaurant at the resort, and afterwards, I bribed the boys with cupcakes so I could get a picture of them with Kiki.

and me.

(Seriously, though? The boys have such similar coloring to Kristina that most people would look at her first and assume she was their mom. Heh.)

That night, after the boys went to bed, I finally took a trip down the waterslide. Hee hee! So fun.
This is what it looks like during the day:

The next morning was devoted to packing and driving home. Linus threw a fit when he realized we weren’t staying forever.

I feel your pain, kid.

Overall, it was a great trip. The weather was beautiful, the boys were pretty well-behaved, and I got to spend a ton of time with my best friend. The only downside (beside the fact that we couldn’t stay forever) is the fact that the boys all were a little sick. They had coughs, but only at night. All night. And guess who had to sleep in their room with them? (Otherwise I knew they’d get hysterical if they woke up and didn’t know where I was.) So I didn’t get much sleep. But it was totally worth it.

Until next year…