Beach Trip ups

So the beach was awesome.  We have a great little spot in our favorite corner of the world, Orange Beach.  We took my sis and her fam for a full 6 days on the gulf coast.  I am hear to tell you about ALL of the shenanigans, not the fun.  We had a lot of fun, but the unfortunate stuff that happened is way funnier, so here goes.  After a full day of rain and being trapped in a condo with 3 kids & 4 adults, we decided we would take the kids over to the beach.  You see our condo is on the bay, we have pools, docks, and a perfectly good "beach" with sand and water.  Sister & I thought it would be a "fun family" thing to do to get all Griswold and load up all the shit and drag the kids down the boardwalk to the "real beach."  God are we stupid.  We loaded up and went over to Gulf State Park, walked a mile in the sand and set up camp.  Of course my child wanted to be carried 5 minutes into the walk, while I am carrying a 30 lb bag of toys, John is dragging a wagon FULL of shit, sister has 2 bags, her husband had a baby on his shoulders and 2 bags.  I forgot to mention that wagons don't work in the sand.  At all.  Don't take them.  John basically had to CARRY a wagon with 2 coolers and ALL of our stuff, a mile, in sand.  He was not happy with this.  So we set up camp, play for 4 hours and decide we want to go back & get in the pool.  Pack all of the shit and start the walk back.  This time I have a 30 lb baby on my shoulders & a bag, we are all sandy and wet.  The kids are miserable and crying walking on sand that felt like the surface of the sun.  I get to the shower by the parking lot and was on the verge of tears I was so hot and a smell hits me.  I have no way to describe this other than the WORST SMELL I HAVE EVER SMELLED IN MY LIFE.  I'm talking bodies, rotten fish, diapers, food, and dead people.  They picked a fab time to empty the state park trash huh?  Sus threw up, John ran to the car gagging, I was literally in tears holding my breath, & we still had to load the car & kids.  FAIL people.  Just fail.  Lesson learned, we will never. ever. do that again.  So we had a couple more days of fun, went to The Trak & let the kids play, had lunch at LuLu's, & lots of swimming.  Then came Thursday when we had to head home.  We packed the car Wednesday night but still didn't manage to get out until about 10:00 in the morning and this just doesn't fly with John & I.  We are early leavers.  We don't like to get home later than 3.  So me and sis rode together with the girls, the guys took Harrison.  We stop to get gas and Sus hears this hissing.  I go look and the back tire is POURING air from a hole.  Is this a fucking joke?  No, no it wasn't.  We moved the car & the tire was flat within 20 minutes.  OH MY GOD.  We unpack the ENTIRE Expedition.  You guys know what that is?  Those giant SUV's with a family of 4's junk in it.  OH MY GOD this has to be a joke.  The guys catch up with us and change the tire (there goes another hour) and by the time we are done, its lunch time.  So we stop, again, for another hour.  Shoot me now.  The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful (thank god) but we didn't get home until 5.  5pm.  That's right, calculate that.  A 4 hour trip took us 7 hours.  Not to mention the 36 times we had to stop because 2 potty trained toddlers have to poop and pee every 20 minutes.  What a shit show.  So now that I got all of that out I will say we did have an absolute blast, I just wanted to document the things that had us all laughing and almost crying.  Family vacations sure have taken a funny turn now that we added all of these children but we wouldn't have it any other way!  Here are some pics!

 First nights dinner! 

 The girls loved the big bath tub and Emma is a pro at the choke hold!

 My girl enjoying the beach :)

 So this is a fountain at Lulu's for kids to splash in, not get in.  I looked up from our table and of course my water baby was in it!

And this is proof.  Oh my god ya'll we weren't even 30 miles out of town.  I am just so glad we caught it at a gas station and we weren't on the side of the interstate!

So that's the wrap up.  I'm sure Sus will post the pleasant happenings and lots of pics so co check her out!  I didn't get my camera out at all!  Have any of you had any "Griswold" like family vacations?