Gulf Shores, AL June 2008

I've wanted to get started blogging for quite a while now, and what better time to start than while I am on vacation? (Just a warning, this first post will be long). This past week, Erica and I packed up Noah and Luke for our first family vacation. We met up with Fred and Jennifer Shackelford, their boys Clayton and Jack, and Fred's mom, Renee, in Gulf Shores. We rented a house that was a perfect layout.

This was our first time to take the boys in a car anywhere further than Nashville (2 hours away), so needless to say, we were a little leery about the drive. So, last Sunday afternoon, we packed up the ole minivan and headed South with the intentions of stopping somewhere along the way and spending the night. We arrived in Meridian, MS about 7:30 that night and started the search for a hotel room. I won't say the name of the hotel, but let's just say that the germophobe in me was really put to the test by our accomodations. However, as you'll see below, the boys seemed to enjoy it.

We arrived in Gulf Shores on Monday afternoon, and went to eat at The Hangout with everyone. We had some good food and the boys had a good time there at the playground area. Tuesday, we hit the beach and we all agreed that if we would let Clayton and Noah stay out there, they would have played in the water all day long. Noah ended up getting stung by a jellyfish and said that he "didn't like the ocean anymore" and that he wanted to "beat up all the jellyfish." However, he was a tough little guy and ended up going back into the water a little later.

Tuesday was also mine and Erica's 8th anniversary. Renee was gracious enough to keep all of the boys while we went out on a date.

On Wednesday, Fred and I took Noah and Clayton to The Track for some go-kart racing and bumper boats. After some shopping, Erica and Jennifer joined us with Luke and Jack. I'm not sure who had a better time at the track...the little kids or the big kids?

On Wednesday afternoon, Fred grilled out some great burgers and I made some homemade cookies and cream ice cream for an early dinner. We then went to the beach to take family pictures. Jennifer gets ALL the credit for the planning on the pictures and we will be so happy to have our Christmas card pictures already made.

Thursday, we all got up and went to the beach for the last time. Noah got stung for a second time by a jellyfish, and I also got stung as well. Apparently, Mauldin males really irritate jellyfish!! We brought the boys back and got them fed and put down for naps early. Fred, Jennifer and I then returned to the beach for a couple of hours to do some reading. However, we ended up talking and catching up the whole time, and I really enjoyed that time alot. We capped off the night by going to The Oyster House for a GREAT dinner. Even though we arrived at 4:30, we still had a 1 hour and 15 minute wait. However, as hard as this is to believe, it was WELL worth it. (And, I got to beat Erica again at air hockey while we waited). That night, after boys went to sleep, we went out to play some tennis, but the lights at our neighborhood courts were not working. So, we drove to this resort down the road and snuck onto their tennis courts, after we had to park away from their guard shack (you know us, outlaw 30+ year old rebels!).

Although this doesn't fit chronologically, I couldn't let a story about our vacation go by without showing you a picture of what we saw about 50% of the time we were there: Noah and Clayton playing MarioKart on the Wii. Seriously, these kids woke up everyday wanting to immediately play...of course, the Dads also ended their days playing this several times (fortunately, no pictures of that).

We left Gulf Shores at about 8:40 Friday morning and made the complete trip that day. We stopped by to see Pops and Mimi in Walnut for Father's Day and finally arrived back in Jackson about 7:45 pm.

We really had a blast and we know the boys had one of the best times of their lives. We were so glad that we got to spend time with Fred, Jennifer, Clayton and Jack and next year can't come soon enough!! Personally, I also really enjoyed getting to spend time with Renee for the first time in several years and getting to reconnect with her.