Alabama!!!

We have been planning our trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama for almost 6 months, and it finally got here! I was worried about the 8 or 9 hour drive with all the kids, but I prepared with many (way too many) activities for them to do on the way. I didn't care if they watched a couple movies, but I didn't want them to watch 8 hours worth! I knew Adilyn and Kacy would be okay, but I was worried about little Brookie! Well, we got started later than we wanted to because the night before I clogged up the kitchen sink drain with leftovers. Oops! Cory and I worked until about 2am to get it working, then he worked again until 10:00. Finally, we decided to give it up and just go. Unfortunately, that meant that we were going to have to stop for two meals and we wouldn't be getting in until way later. We started driving, and Brooke fell asleep pretty quick, but then someone had to go to the bathroom and we had to get gas. Of course, when we stopped, she woke up. Then, she was grumpy, really grumpy! When we stopped for lunch, we turned her car seat facing forward hoping that would help. It did, a little bit. Then we got stuck in two major traffics jams that put us another two hours behind. The girls did remarkably well! I had to do some entertaining along the way. Making their tiny baby dolls dance and play hide and seek, doing feet fights and crazy stretching, and singing some songs. But overall, things went really well! We stopped for dinner with only about an hour and a half left. Luckily, after dinner, we put a movie on and Brooke finally fell asleep! We got through a ridiculous rain storm, and we were there. Only 11 1/2 hours later...oh my! Of course, when we got there, everyone was super hyper, and we didn't go to bed until midnight. Our little rental house was just perfect for us! It was tiny, but had space in all the right places. There were two bedrooms on each side, one room had double size bunk beds and all the others were just one bed. The living room and kitchen were one big room, so it gave us lots of room to run around (which we needed)! Everyone woke up ridiculously early to a very rainy day. It was a wonderful view from the windows, but it really did rain all day long. At one point, it stopped for a bit and Cory took the girls to the beach for a few minutes until it started pouring again. We still had fun in the house, and we decided to go out to eat that night. We found a restaurant that looked great with a lot of vegetarian options on their menu, so we were pretty excited to check it out! We got there, and quickly realized that it was a completely different menu! There was nothing vegetarian, and all the cool things that were on there were not. It was mostly burgers and stuff. We survived, but it was kind of annoying! The next day was super windy and a little chilly, but at least it wasn't raining. We played outside at the beach and had a great time. Brooke was a little unsure about the sand at first, but once she realized how amazing it was, she was all in! The boys went fishing the next day, and mom, the girls, and I went into town to go the zoo. The zoo was interesting. There little tag line was "The Little Zoo That Could"...we should have known that it was going to be little and weird. There were a lot of tigers, one bear, and a lot of random animals all around. It was super hot outside, and nobody was really into it. The highlights were feeding the goats, and hearing all the animals go crazy when some tigers started fighting. And that was it. Everything else was amazing! We just played in the water and the sand, relaxed, and spent time together. We had a little birthday party for the girls one night, found a yummy Mexican restaurant, and just had a great time. Everyone had an fantastic time :) Memories to be cherished for a lifetime!