Snapshots from Orange Beach

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We spent last week on vacation in Orange Beach, Alabama with my mother and father-in-law, who are snowbirds and spend the three coldest, most wintery months on the much warmer beaches of Alabama.

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The week started out a little rough. Traveling with two small children is kind of crazy. Although, we refuse to let having small kids deter us from traveling. We have flown several times since Matthew was born and consider ourselves seasoned veterans when it comes to traveling with kids. Would you be interested in a post with our tips/tricks for keeping our sanity while flying with littles?

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Although, after you read about our few hiccups, you may reconsider your answer… On our way to Pensacola the airline lost Luke’s carseat, which we gate checked. Apparently, instead of transferring the seat to our destination it got hung up in Atlanta. So, they gave us this loaner carseat to use for the day until they delivered Luke’s seat to our condo at midnight! I think this carseat was better suited for a doll, not a baby. I held my breath the entire hour-long drive from Pensacola to Orange Beach.

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Upon arriving at the condo and unpacking our luggage our camera was nowhere to be found! The only pics we have of our vacation were taken via iPhone/Instagram. We are still hopeful the airline will find our camera, but if not the Canon T5i comes out in two weeks. 😉

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For Allan’s birthday, Mark and Lois treated us to a cruise on this lovely catamaran, Wild Hearts.

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Upon returning to Minnesota we were welcomed home to an empty fridge. On Saturday, Luke and I braved the day before Easter crowds to stock up on necessities at Trader Joe’s.

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While in Orange Beach we enjoyed several amazing gluten-free and dairy-free meals. I was pleasantly surprised at how accommodating and knowledgeable many of the restaurants were about food allergies. Unfortunately I didn’t capture any of our meals because most of the restaurants were too dark to use my iPhone to snap pictures. However, there were our favorites:

• Lulu’s at Homeport Marina: Grass-fed hamburger on a gluten-free bun; Fish Tacos on corn tortillas; Guacamole with gluten-free tortillas. Be sure to ask for the special ketchup without HFCS.
• The Cobalt: Seared Tuna Salad and a Willamette Valley Pinot Noir; Grilled free range chicken with steamed green beans for Matthew.
• Bravo Tacos: Roasted Tomato and Mushroom tacos on Corn Tortillas with Tortilla Soup.
• Compleat Angler: Mango salad with tilapia (low oil/no butter).
• Sluggo’s, Pensacola: Nachos; Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito on corn tortillas.
• End of the Line Cafe, Pensacola: Quesadilla with corn tortillas, Chef Salad.
• Ever’man Natural Foods: a large selection of organic/local produce, organic meat and pantry staples. A wonderful juice bar!
• Publix, Orange Beach: many gluten-free items, a decent selection of organic produce, eggs and dairy.

We can’t wait to go back next year!