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We Brought the Boys.....to Gulf Shores for Christmas!

  A month or two ago I overheard the boys talking about Christmas. Baylor asked, "What do you think mom and dad will get us for Christmas?" and Brooks said "Presents don't matter Baylor, we are probably going to do something together as a family!". It stopped me in my tracks. I was so excited to hear that he is beginning to see the value in our Christmas tradition.  This Christmas, we decided on a trip down to Gulf Shores. We let them open a new swimsuit and a fishing shirt and had them guess where we were going. They were right on the money. 


     Thursday was a travel day mostly. We left around 11 that morning and stopped for groceries when we got close to the condo. We were able to find a super cute AirBnB on the beach for a reasonable price, perks of going in the off season! After unpacking, we cooked dinner, took a walk on the beach, and played some light up frisbee thanks to Nana and her awesome Christmas gifts! 







     Friday was waterpark day! I scored half off a family four pack of tickets to Tropic Falls at OWA on Black Friday! It even came with a free large pizza so lunch was covered! We got to the waterpark right when it opened and hit the ground running! These thrill loving boys had us running up stairs most of the day! They loved every ride, even the ones that looked too scary to me, like the water slide that counts down and just drops you! I did it though, couldn't look wimpy in front of my boys 🤣. After getting our fill of the indoor waterpark we hit some rides outside. Despite Brooks insisting he was not riding a ride that flipped him upside down, he did it and he absolutely loved it. We headed out around 4 and made a stop at Publix. We gave the kids a budget and told them they were in charge of dinner that night. They were big stuff walking around that store, telling everyone that they were the grownups tonight! We got back and let them cook. I was surprised by their choice of burgers and fries, and more surprised that I only had to recook one burger! Brooks has decided he would like to be in charge of dinner more often and I'm definitely open to that! 





     Saturday was our day to relax and explore. We spent the morning on the beach playing in the sand, playing football, playing wiffle ball, playing frisbee-keeping these boys busy and entertained. We decided to go to Lulu's for lunch so that we could walk around the marina and check out the motors on the boats (our favorite pastime 🤦🏼‍♀️). After lunch we found Kid's Park downtown Gulf Shores. We love a free activity, especially if it's a park as nice as this and keeps the kids busy all afternoon! We headed back to the condo and called it an early night because we were waking up super early the next morning to go fishing! 










     Sunday's 5:00am wake-up call came too early for mom but the boys hopped right out of bed! The waves were too rough to go offshore so we hit the intercoastal and the bay. We spent most of the morning hopping from spot to spot and unfortunately had absolutely no luck! We payed a lot of money for a boat ride 🤣 Check out the picture of our goldfish haul, the only fish we saw that day! We were done before lunch and decided to go to the Sunliner Diner for brunch. It was the cutest 50's style diner and the food was delicious! My only regret was not asking if we could eat in the car booth in the center of the restaurant. Despite a disappointing morning of fishing, we made the best of this beautiful day by going back to the beach. It was a gorgeous sun shiny day and it felt like summer! The boys were able to get in the water a bit and we all got a tan! Baylor crashed about 4:30 and slept till the next morning, I guess early fishing mornings are not for him. We spent some one on one time with Brooks watching the sunset and then watching a movie together. 

   It was a great trip and according to the boys the waterpark was their favorite part. We enjoy experiencing new things as a family and I can't wait to save up and plan to bring the boys on another adventure! My husband, however, thinks he needs to go fishing again since we came up empty handed. 🫠


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