Family Vacay 2018 - Gulf Shores

The last two weeks people gave some funny looks when I say we went on vacation with a grand total of 40 people.... all relatives. The ages were 60+ to 4 months old. To be honest we are used to being with these people, maybe not for a full seven days, because they are the same people we camp with. 

Photo Credit: Judith Buescher

We rented a 12 bedroom / 12 bathroom house, Morning Glory, on a private beach in Gulf Shores and it was gorgeous. 

We left Saturday, July 14th about 8am and headed to our first stop, Lamberts Cafe in Sikeston, Missouri. When I was a kid we always stopped at this Lamberts on our way to visit our Aunt and  Uncle in Mississippi. Needless to say I was a bit disappointed. They didn't walk around with the sides that they used to and when it came to throwing the rolls they never made it to our side of the room, they would stand in this one door way and throw. 

Leaving there bummed we prepared for another 5 hours in the car.... hitting just about every gas station and rest stop from Sikeston to Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I was proud of Evan telling us he had to pee BUT it was almost every hour. We stopped for the night in Tucsalloosa, grabbed a bite to eat, found a hotel and called it a night. 

The guys chose Waffle House...

this picture represents how that 

made me feel.

We were up and on the road again by 8am on the 15th with only 4.5 hours left to drive. Once we got to Gulf Shores we grabbed a quick lunch and then headed to our meeting spot "The Hangout." 

Where the boys played in their sand area, enjoyed some Dragons Breath and a good foam party. 

We checked out the beach and then headed back to the car to dry off and head to the house. 

Once we were all unpacked some headed to the beach and others headed into the private pool.... and others went and hid from their wives and kids. 

Monday through Sunday was full of many memories. We played at the beach most the time, I participated in sand volleyball and beach yoga. We swan in the pool at the end of each evening. There were many board games, card games, bags tournaments and video game playing going on. 

The littlest littles watched Moana about a million and one times. There were some ladies that took advantage of the outlet malls, however I did not. 

Our little family went out to eat a few times. One place was on my "have to eat" placed and that was Whataburger. I know it is just a simple fast food place but I haven't had it in a good 20 years.... it is basically a Steak and Shake at the speed and prices of  a McD's. It is delicious for fast food. My brothers Bryan and Randy and his family went out to eat on Wednesday to Lulu's, which is Jimmy Buffet's sister's place. 

There are gift shops there, plenty of things to for the kids to do while waiting for a table, a great atmosphere and the food was amazing. We also went out with Randy and his family on our last night in Gulf Shores to The Hangout, again. This time we ate there. The wait for a table was an hour and a half so the kids played in the sand area again. Oliver, Stella and Chloe jumped on the bungee trampolines while Carter enjoyed his second Dragon's Breath of the week. Poor Evan and Tim didn't enjoy themselves as much. Ev's was going to "jump jump" like Stella BUT as he was being called to the trampoline he all of a sudden had to pee. I tossed him to Tim who went running to the bathroom... but they didn't make it and both ended up wet. He rushed back to the house, showered them both, and rushed back just in time to get their food. After dinner we hung around outside a bit longer before calling it a night and heading back to the  house. 

My baby brother even joined us.

Not everyone in my little fam enjoyed the full vacation. Tim got an ear infection that kept him at the house and medicated. Evan had a rash on his legs from the sand and his swim trunks and Carter got some funk under his arm that none of the medical personnel in my family (1 doctor and 2 nurses) could agree on what it could be. Hell, even our family doctor didn't know. These three stayed at the house from Wednesday through Saturday just giving up on beach life. 

Mine and Tims greatest memory is going down with our boys and enjoying the week. Our plan was to enjoy us 5 and the other people there were a bonus. We did exactly what we wanted to do on this vacation and that was absolutely nothing. We spent the days doing exactly what we wanted, when we wanted, eating out as a family and enjoying my families company. 

Carter's biggest memory, I think, is that he got to turn 12 in Gulf Shores. Even though he had a f unk going on he got to do whatever he wanted on his day... if that meant playing video games on the beach then so be it. He got tacos for supper and a cookie cake. He though life was good. If turning 12 isn't Carter's favorite memory than his second would be night crab hunting with the big guys. They would be gone for hours. 

Oliver's favorite memory was playing on the beach. He is my beach bum. Every morning he would ask to make sure I was going to the beach so he could go. Oliver didn't miss a day at the beach and when we left he said he had already missed it. His least favorite part would probably be getting stung by a jellyfish. It didn't keep him away from the beach but it did keep him from going further out into the water. 

Evan is not a beach baby... he preferred the pool, which was good with me because that was where Tim was. However, Evan's favorite part of this vacation would probably be his cousins Stella and Jackson. It could be 5:30 am and if he heard one of them awake he would sit straight up in bed and want out of the room asap. These three would run around together until they were forced to go to bed. The morning we left to go home Evan was begging to see them however, Jackson's family had already left and Stella's family was still sleeping. So the whole 12 hours home he begged to go see Stella and Jackson. 

It was a fun week but we were all glad to sleep in our own beds. We don't know if we will go on another vacation where we stay with more than just us 5 but it was all worth it for the memories. 

Weekend Wrap Up

This weekend was our Annual Fall Classic Campout, a/k/a the last camping event of the year. Friday Tim and the boys headed down after work while I milled about Waterloo until Carter's 4H Award Program started. He received a superior in Technology and got firsts in Cooking and Photography. He was pretty proud of himself, as was I. 

Once I got to the clubhouse I visited a bit before heading off to bed with Evan and Oliver. 

Saturday we were up and milling about about 9a, had breakfast ate by 10:30 and were setting on our 10 mile round trip bike ride by 11a. I thought it would be a great idea to pull Oliver AND Evan in the bike wagon... this was later a huge regret. See Oliver weights 37 lbs and Evan 33.5, those two alone were 70 lbs and I wasn't adding the bike trailer. 

The hills and slight inclines killed me. Tim didn't go with me and I take my Aunts and Uncles who would stroll up beside me, grab the trailer and start pushing us up the hills. It was a 5 mile ride to the closest town where we stopped for snacks and beverages. 

When we left there my Aunt had the ok to stop at a farm and see all their calves, cows and chickens. My boys were in heaven. Oliver was right in the calf pin and was not phased when he was told he was sitting in chicken poop.

The ride back was hell, I literally was giving up right at the end and was going to just walk my bike the rest of the way but my Aunts wouldn't let me. Once I made it back to the clubhouse I was exhausted. It took everything I had to get Evan showered and ready for his 2 year pictures that my SIL at Raven Vasquez Photography was taking for us. Once the pictures were over I spend the remainder of the evening in one spot, with the same beer in my hand until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer then I was off to bed... at 8:30pm. 

Sunday I thought I would be sore but to my surprise I was not. I was a little sore where the edge of the bike seat hit my thighs but that was it, not muscle soreness at all. With it being out last camp out of the year we all pitched in and closed up everything... that is until Evan escaped the clubhouse with a sucker in hand. As I followed him outside Tim caught up with us at the same time Evan was dropping said sucker on the ground and crying as he was wiping his mouth. I kept looking in his mouth but never saw anything until I folded his bottom lip down and found a stinger sticking out. The bee stung him and he ate the bee... We gave him benedryl and knowing there wasn't a place to put him for a nap I loaded him in the car to get Carter and head home so I could watch him better. One the way to get Carter from his dad Evan became lethargic and wouldn't respond to me. Once I got to Carter's dads I rushed in the house for Carter, they gave me a rag and some ice. On the way home Carter managed to wake Evan, get him to chew on ice and kept him laughing... but the poor baby's bottom lip and left side of his face was really swollen. Once we were home for about 2 hours the swelling went down and he was acting himself. My biggest concern was that tongue... I kept watching to make sure it wasn't swelling. 

By the time we got the camper unloaded we were loading up the walnuts Carter collected and off to turn them in. 

It was kind of fun watching them shell the nuts to get an accurate weight for Carter's payment. He had 156 lbs and made over $20. Once we were finished we headed home and spend the rest of the evening relaxing. 

The WORST Birthday Weekend EVER!

My birthday used to trump Friday the 13th. I don't ever remember an unlucky birthday when it landed on Friday... until this year. I took my always dying iphone 6 into get fixed. I was told it would just be a new batter and/or charger port and about $100. Ok-awesome... wrong. It all started last Friday the 13th, on my 38th birthday. First I stopped at the phone repair place because their "Open" sign was on... but they weren't open. So I stopped at Walmart only to figure out that when I got back to work I forgot the main thing I needed, Evan's birthday present. At lunch I ran to the phone repair place to drop off my phone then to Walmart and back to work. It all seems to be going good.... but then... After work I stop by the ATM to get a few dollars for Carter to attend Uncle E's alum football game then to pick up my phone. When I went to pay for my phone my debit card would NOT work. It kept getting denied. I grabbed the phone I was trying to pay for only to not get through to the bank, my call to be dropped or I sat on hold for 15 minutes while the employees just stared at me. I then decided enough embarrassment I will just run across town to the bank only to get there and be told that SCU cards are being denied at certain places because of a glitch in the credit processing company that facility was/is using. They proceed to list off all the companies in town that are denying them and guess what, all the gas stations and the place I was trying to use it were in the loop. I needed my phone and gas in my car before I left town. I withdrew the money from the bank, grabbed my phone from the repair shop and headed to the clubhouse for the weekend. Once there we unloaded all of Evan's party decor and such, started cleaning the pavilion and made tacos for anyone who wanted to join us. The night was going great until I plugged my phone in at midnight and the screen went to the restart screen to nothing at all... I let it sit on charge overnight and it still wouldn't turn back on. 

Now my Friday spilled over into my Saturday and I was NOT happy about it. I drove back to the repair shop to find on Saturdays they don't open at 9... nope, they open at 10 so I stopped and got gas then drove all the way home to grab a camera (because if I didn't have my phone I needed the camera) and then back to the repair shop. The guys tried to change the battery and that wasn't the problem so he asked if he could keep it and try something else. I left, headed back to the clubhouse and set up for Evan's party. At this point I was nixing decor left and right because I was so aggravated about my phone. I knew I had my mom and Aunt that were going to be trying to get a hold of me and there was no way to do so. About 3 hours later the guy calls on my phone with the worst news in the world... my phone is fried! I drive back to the shop to get my phone and  in further detail. Apparently the updates I have done in the past months were slowly destroying my phone. He stated that the main drive on my phone was just gone. He had put 4 new batteries and charging ports in my phone and it would not hold a charge and every 4 minutes the phone would power off, reset and come back on. There wasn't even enough time between resets to back anything up. Which meant I was losing pictures from June (when I started having issues) until October 12. I was heart broken but the only thing I could do was go to AT&T and see what they could do for me. Long story short... we were one month out of our warranty, I had 11 months until the upgrade, and because this bug was so new Apple wasn't filling insurance claims. I ended up taking my in-laws upgrade and am now walking about with a new iphone... but still have 11 months to pay on the broken one. Guys, this all happened before 2p...

Once I got back to the clubhouse I finished setting up for the party, got myself and the family ready before guests started showing up and enjoyed the rest of the evening celebrating my little guy turning 2... Charlie Brown and The Great Pumpkin style. The last of the guests helped clean everything up and then sat around the fire before heading home and us back to the camper. 

Sunday we were all up and out of the camper headed to church my 8:15, not without one kid falling in a mud puddle, the other two fighting because the oldest is in the car but won't help the 4 year old in first, and me screaming because everyone was already getting on my nerves. My niece, Harlow, was being baptized and I was the godmother so we had to be there... church was pure chaos with 8 cousins sitting in front and behind us, my boys would not sit still or stop being turds. The baptism was after church and then we headed to my SIL's photography studio for the party. My boys were just not stopping and we had a lot to get done at the clubhouse before we could even head home so we left before presents. Once back at the clubhouse Tim loaded my car with clubhouse stuff, I cleaned and got the camper ready for travel and once I was done with that the boys and I loaded up and headed home while Tim hooked the truck up. We got home about 3, got everything unloaded and put away about 4p. I made the leftover tacos for supper, we played with the kittens and went for a drive to the bottoms to look at the progress of Tim's family party barn. 

My luck started turning around about mid-Sunday afternoon. How was your weekend?

Weekend Wrap-Up

This past weekend was our Annual Vasquez-Treveer Float Trip. This has been going on since before I was born and although I have missed about 10-ish years I started going back like I didn't miss a beat. My boys are now making the memories with their cousins and Great Aunts and Uncles. We drove down on Thursday, got set up and just relaxed around the fire for the evening. 

Friday we were on the river by 11a and floated until probably about 6:30p. The best time to float with family (kids) is Friday. There is hardly anyone on the river, there aren't drunk 20-somethings beer bonging and flashing boobies and it's just a quiet time for the kids to enjoy. 

I know my boys had a blast. We started off at a group of 5 but shortly after we took off Oliver jumped in Great Uncle Rodney's boat and Carter jumped in with Uncle Randy and left Tim, Evan and I to float in 6 man raft alone. Evan loved floating until he realized he could play in the water.

Once he realized that he could play in the water it was hard to get him back in the boat. There were actually times that I was floating in areas I could not touch with Evan on my back just keep him happy, and because I wouldn't let him just float in the water alone. He giggled and smiled the whole time he was in the water...

I hardly saw Oliver once he jumped ship. At one point in time he passed our raft riding on the front of a Treveer cousin's kayak. Oliver had the best time... probably out of our whole group he had the best time. Carter is my reserved child so I know he had fun but he also just kept within his comfort zone. 

When Evan couldn't be in the water he wanted to eat... all the time. He even learned how to get into the cooler and pull out the food he has wanted. 

Once we were off the river we got cleaned up, ate dinner and was ready to relax around the fire. However, Oliver and Evan were exhausted so we called it a night about 9p while Tim and Carter stayed out and socialized. 

Saturday morning we were up and ready to sit in the river. But not before a little cousin pillow fight. You really never know what Evan and Stella are up to... They are two peas in a pod. 

Once we were all sitting at the river the pre-teens were armed with nets and buckets and off catching crawdads and minnows, the older teen-aged kids were begging adults to go with them on the tube loop.

And the littles were busy  just playing with rocks, floating on rafts and taking turns napping in the "nap tent". 

Oh, and how dare I forget the adults... The ladies were watching their kids and babysitting their husbands while the husbands were soaking up the shade, consuming maybe one to many adult beverages... and daring each other to crawl up the dead (almost hollow) tree that was hanging over shallow water. 

The ladies were basically the ones to determine it was time to take off the water when the husbands were attempting to talk the kids into climbing the tree. Once we were all back and cleaned up the kids started playing with water balloons, a few people passed out, and others just hung around the fire. We went for our annual Dip-n-Dots run and when we got back a few of my grade school friends found our group and walked over to visit. My boys made new friends and I got to catch up with old friends. 

Sunday while we were packing up to head home the older kids went for a horseback ride. This was something Carter really wanted to do but was super nervous. When he got back to camp he was so excited that he tried it he said he was going to beg his dad to go when they go back in a few weeks.

Evan passed out before we left the campsite, Oliver never fell asleep and Carter decided to nap about 20 minutes from home. 

Once we were home everyone helped unload the camper, I had laundry started and all 4 boys were napping on the couch by 2p. I decided I wasn't going to let the pool go to waste so I aired up my raft and headed out...  only to discover it was a disgusting mess. SO, I skimmed, vacuumed and skimmed some more. I was frustrated because I hadn't got to use the pool in over a week and here I get in and I have to scrub it before I used it. Once I got it clean I relaxed in it for a few hours before the boys joined me about 7p. Time flew while we were in there splashing around because before you knew it it was time to get out and head off to bed. 

What did you do this past weekend?

Weekend Wrap Up

What a great weekend had with family and friends... mainly family. Since it was Memorial weekend we stayed with tradition and went camping at the clubhouse with the Vasquez family. Friday night my Aunt had her son's college graduation at the clubhouse. Where we visited and sat around the campfire until the early hours. 

Saturday Oliver was up when Tim left for work, 5:30a. Tim got him set up with a drink and a movie and was quiet until about 7a, about the same time grandma text to let me know she was up. Oh, ya, Tim's parents were camping with us. Anyway, Evan was upset with Oliver for waking him so I put him in bed with me, changed his butt and gave him a cup of milk and he was back to sleep in no time.. we got to sleep until about 9:30a.

My 1st cousins boy Jackson. She is just the snugglest thing.

Once we woke we headed to the clubhouse for breakfast, which was baggie omelets (I will share this tomorrow). Some had left after breakfast for other graduation parties and such while the small group left at the clubhouse was relaxing before we had to get ready for a family wedding. This small group, which consisted of my in-laws, Uncle Mark, Aunt Lynn, Cousin Sam and Cousin Kelli, Brother Eric and my boys and nieces, was surprised when my brother Randy's Tahoe pulled up. He was at the party the night before and told us that he wouldn't be there the remainder of the weekend because he had to work. Only then we realized it was my baby brother Bryan, the one I visited the weekend before in Minnesota. 

He even knew he was showing up to the clubhouse the weekend I went to visit. It was the best surprise. We talked him into going to the wedding as well, he actually took my +1 because Tim was working. Before we knew it we had to get ready for the wedding. My boys stayed back with my in-laws while I went to church with my family and then to the reception where our favorite Fish Eye guy was there working the photo booth. They had some of the best wedding cake every... so many choices, from red velvet to peanut butter to german chocolate and coconut. 

My Uncle Jay and I (we are only 6 years apart)

Randy was at work but he made it for a bit...lol

I was ready to leave about 10p so I hitched a ride back to the clubhouse with my brothers where I stayed up a bit longer before calling it a night. 

When your baby brother doesn't show up to camp but once in a 

blue moon you photo overload him. This is Bryan and Evan, his godson.

Sunday Tim didn't have to work so he, Oliver and Evan (poor kid was woke by Oliver again) were up and out of the camper early. I slept until about 9a and joined everyone for breakfast. Once everything was cleaned up we played a very competitive game of kickball before needing a permanent break.

Carter and Uncle Eric practicing pitching... Eric even has Carter throwing better.

The remainder of the day we played other games, rode bikes, rode 4-wheelers and just enjoyed not being rushed. It is amazing how fast time goes when you are having fun. I called it a night about 1am and I am glad I did because when I got to the camper, where Tim and the boys were already sleeping, Evan was crying. I showered and then put him in bed with me, since Tim was sleeping with O. 

Two of my favs.

Monday mornings of 3 day weekends are my least favorite. I hate seeing fun weekends come to an end. I was up at 8 and started packing the camper and then joined everyone else for breakfast. We visited a bit, cleaned the clubhouse and gradually everyone was packed up and leaving the clubhouse by noon. We have unpacking down to a science so it took about 10 minutes and the laundry was done in only three loads. We relaxed napped the remainder of the day and watched Moana and Trolls. 

Evan and O attempting to share a bed.

I had to move them because they had switched spots

and Evan was about to fall off at one point. 

I can honestly say I did not want to wake up this morning nor did I want to come to work... but here I am. How was your Memorial Weekend?