More from the Beach

Earlier this week I posted about our trip our trip to the beach, and while I said I wasn't going to do a day-by-day recap I never said that would be the only post about it. While the point of our trip was definitely to spend time in the sand, that wasn't quite all we did.
We went to dinner at The Hangout where we played ping pong and our niece and nephew got to dance on the table.

Of course there was food too, which was a fried crab claw plate for me.
We spent nights in the condo playing King of Tokyo.
We went to lunch at Slap Happy's Sammiches because, well, with a name like that how could we not go. I had a chicken salad sandwich with potato salad, which was pretty much exactly what you'd expect a sandwich at a place like this to taste like.
We spent the day shopping at the outlets, and while the baby may not need any more clothes they may have gotten a thing or two. And while this isn't a photo of shopping in progress, it was most definitely taken at the outlet mall.
And for one last meal, we went to Lucy Buffet's Lulu's. I may not have a photo of my actual meal (which was a greek salad and jerk chicken sandwich), but I do have one of the mango daiquiri I had while waiting for our table (non-alcoholic obviously).
It's crazy to think that this is our last vacation as a family of two. And while we may not have an official babymoon scheduled, I think this was a close as we're going to get.

What are your thoughts on babymoons? Have you ever taken one? Or would you want to?

Orange You Glad I'm Here

You may have noticed posting has been a bit light this past week. With good reason though since we spent the week of 4th of July in Orange Beach, Alabama.
On a vacation like this is doesn't really make sense to do a full day-by-day recap. Instead there was a lot of time spent laying out and tanning,

looking for shells,
playing in the sand,

swimming the ocean (which I don't technically have photos of since I was little scared of getting my camera too close to water),
and of course, getting buried in the sand.

All in all, a pretty relaxing trip for the whole extended family.

What are your favorite types of vacations? Those full of lazy days or ones where you're out doing something each day?

Tales of the 4th

Over the long 4th of July weekend, we spent time out in Destin, Florida.
We were hoping for a relaxing time at the beach, except it rained everyday we were there, which meant we spent most of the time in our condo.
Although I guess we did leave the condo, just didn't spent that much time on the beach. On Thursday, the actual 4th, we spent time shopping at the outlets. For lunch that day the boy and I stopped at Panera, so I could get my fix. (Panera still hasn't opened up in Baton Rouge, although I keep hearing rumors about one.)
I did branch out a little and try something new with the Thai Chicken Salad (good, but I think I like the Asian Chicken more), and a Mediterranean sandwich (ok, but I'd don't see myself ordering again). Of course had to have their French Onion Soup, and still consider it to be the best French Onion Soup out there.

Friday morning we spent wine tasting, although honestly not a bad way to spent a rainy morning.
Saturday, I finally made it out to the beach!
Except it was still cold and overcast out, and when it started drizzling, I stopped my "tanning session." (Which I'm not sure can be called tanning without any sun.) But I did stop at the pool on the way back, since after all, if you're already wet from the pool, do you even notice the rain?
At least I'm sure that's what my niece thought.
That night we went out for dinner at Hammerhead's where I had shrimp tacos.
The tacos were good, although the whole meal felt a little overly tourist-y. But speaking of tourist-y, the kids got to experience the benefit of being a tourist on vacation, and both had a turn on the giant trampolines.
I only wish these things were bigger back when I was little!
Sunday morning, on our last day in Florida, we finally woke up to sun. Great timing right? But at least we did get to spent some time at the pool before starting the long drive back.
And the boy and I even managed a photo together.
It may not have been the perfect beach trip, but even so still had a good escape from everyday life. (And still maybe even better than our last beach trip where we wound up with food poisoning!)

Have you ever been on a vacation where the weather just didn't cooperate? I do remember going camping once in the summer growing up where we experienced rain, hail, and snow in a single week!

4th Recap on the 5th

I hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July with lots of fun and of course, lots of food. At least that's how ours turned out.

The boy used our smoker to smoke a pork shoulder for pulled pork.
Whereas I contributed a few side dishes. I went with bruschetta, as well as a few slices with store bought olive tapenade and feta.And also made a potato salad.For dessert I went with some lemon bars. I realize this isn't quite the traditional berry dish, but for whatever reason I've been craving lemon bars lately. I found the recipe online, and they were ridiculously easy to make as well as ridiculously delicious.After we ate all the food we even had time to light off some fireworks over at the boy's parents' house.
It wound up being a nice relaxing day overall, and I hope yours was as well!

~Shoshanah