An Impromptu Trip to Orange Beach

It has been years since I've taken an impromptu trip to the beach. I remember one weekend, one summer, me, and my friends Summer, Amanda Jones and Lisa Roberts decided at the last minute to take a trip to Panama City completely on a whim. We stayed in a cheap, roach motel and had the best time. I can't say that our trip this week was anything like that besides the part about it being last minute.

Our friends The Vernon's asked us about a week ago if we'd like to join them in Orange Beach for the week at the Phoenix VIII. At the time, I kind of wanted to go but Matt didn't. Then later in the week, he wanted to go and I didn't. Funny how things change...we both decided that it was to good of a deal to pass up. Weston's family has a condo there, and it wasn't going to cost much. SO, we enjoyed some fun in the sun before school begins. After camp last Sunday, we came back home, did some laundry and loaded up for the beach. We arrived in OB around 1 a.m. on Monday and crashed.

The week was perfect. We get along so well with the Vernon's, and our kids are stair steps of each other. We ate out at the Wolf Bay Lodge on Monday night.


At WBL, it's on located on the bay so we were able to see one of the fishing boats come in with all their catch.

I must admit that Orange Beach has some of the best seafood places I've been to. The Shrimp Basket was superb (Karson snapped the above pic. of Matt and I). We ate there on Tuesday night. Prior to eating there, we took the kids over to Air Naval Base that houses the Blue Angels. The museum is completely FREE. The kids had a great time looking at all the air crafts and getting into different cockpits. Karson and Isaac also got ride in a simulator (it actually cost $5, but it supports the museum which is cool). There was a really neat area that we called "The Town" which was set up to resemble what it would've been like to have lived in 1943. The kids also enjoyed being in the living quarters of an air ship. It was simply COOL.




I did a little specialty shopping at The Wharf Wednesday afternoon. I needed to get some gifts for people and scored the perfect gift for my sister's birthday next month. Matt and Weston played golf on Wednesday and Friday. Mostly our days have been spent at the pool and on the beach. One night we went crab hunting. There's more skill required in OB than in Destin to find a crab. They don't cover the beach there, and you really have to look. We found a couple of small ones at first, when all of sudden...

Matt found one of the largest crabs I've ever seen. He was a feisty sucker. Matt trapped him with his net, and I had to take my net underneath and try to wrangle him in our bucket. I didn't have my camera down at the beach but Larie snapped a picture on her iPhone. We called him King Crab. Isaac was extra proud and decided to show it off to everyone lounging at the pool. He would just look at the bucket, look at the person and give them a nod, like "beat that, nuff said." Karson and Tucker were completely panicked by it and had to return to the room with me =).

We have done so much swimming this summer that Karson's best swimsuit is simply starting to fall apart. I got it on sale at Dillard's last year. It's such a cute suit, but seeing her get in and out of the pool this week with sagging, droopy drawers, I decided she needed a new one ASAP. Wednesday, we made an ice cream/candy run and drove down the main strip looking for some shopping. We landed at WINGS and Alvin's Island. The suits were a little more than I wanted to spend, but she needed a new one-- --plus we scored some fun water guns for the pool. Our $4.99 guns lasted a WHOLE day. We got robbed, but hey, that's what happens on vacay right?

Isaac could spend every minute of his life in a hot tub. The only bad thing about the condo was that the hot-tub was at the indoor pool which was more like a fitness pool. There were only a couple of benches to sit on, and the pool was small. The hot-tub was even smaller (looked much like a man-hole). Isaac logged many hours in the tub =).

Matt and I took the kids to Adventure Island on Thursday. A.I. kind of reminds me of The Track. There are bumper boats, an arcade, racing track and mini-golf. Like anything of that sort, we spent a pretty penny. BUT, fun was had by all.

CHEERS to golfing in a volcano.

Karson and Isaac enjoying the CYCLONE.

We decided to go eat at The Hangout for breakfast on Friday morning. We'd heard it was a neat place and that kids ATE for FREE. The breakfast was home style with bacon, sausage, eggs, biscuits, grits and potatoes. BUT, we really didn't go for the breakfast. We went for the show. There is a pirates and princesses show daily. Pirates run around the restaurant (even on the tables) sword fighting and showcasing. The kids LOVED it. Every kid got a pirate bandanna and gold and even got to go on a treasure hunt.

I especially thought the wish wall was neat. When you walk into the restaurant, there is HUGE wall filled with colorful paper and wishes. I wish I had known what to wish for at that moment because tragedy struck later that day.

We had decided to maybe(?)stay an extra night. We planned to leave on Saturday but were having so much fun, leaving on Sunday sounded even better. Little did I know...I received a phone call later that day from my dad saying that my Papaw Pogue had died that morning. Papaw was at the lake, Nolin, his absolute favorite place, in his truck when a neighbor found him. My mind completely left the beach at that moment, and I was ready to come home. Initially I was sad because of the way he died and thinking of my Mamaw being alone, but honestly, my Papaw hasn't felt well for years. He's been on oxygen, struggled with congestive heart failure, and had trouble getting around and has simply felt bad. In fact, Matt and I spent some time with Mamaw and Papaw at the beginning of the summer. Matt was asked to speak one Wednesday night as part of Okolona church's summer series. My point, when we arrived I went in to hug my grandparents, and Papaw told me, "please don't, please be very easy." He was in so much pain that the physical touch of another, no matter how gentle was still painful to him =(. Poor guy. When the minister (Larry Sawyer) did his eulogy today, he said, Jack has been trying to die for years. As sad as it is for us to see him leave this world, I am confident his salvation is in the Lord. AND, he is in better place struggling NO MORE. That gives me a great deal of comfort. I have been one lucky lady having all FOUR of my grandparents up until this point. SO although our impromptu trip to the beach ended poorly, we rejoice for the times we get to enjoy this life especially with family and wonderful friends. Hug someone you love today very tightly!!!