Hurricane Party! "Beach" Post 3

So, yeah. We left. It was sad, but from the way the water had already come up along the beach and the heavy winds and the hurricane warning alerts on our phones, it needed to happen. So, along with all the other tourists, we got the heck out of dodge. And we knew we were going to Mobile for the night but really weren't sure what was next.  On our way out of town I emailed the condo owner to see if we could get a partial refund due to the mandatory evacuation. She responded rather quickly that she would do that for us as we were forced to leave. That helped us make the decision to not go back, but rather to figure out what to do next. We tabled our worry and drove to Mobile to do some shopping and then check into our hotel for what we were telling the kids was our Hurricane Party. By this point, Hurricane Michael was now labeled as a Cat 4 hurricane and they were saying it would be the strongest hurricane to make landfall on the Florida coast in over 100 years. Yikes. 

Good Bye Okaloosa Island, Florida. 

Hurricane Party!! Doesn't everyone get a pedicure and eat pizza during a hurricane party?!

During our hurricane party, Josh and I did all kinds of searches looking for a plan and a place to spend the rest of the week. About 11:30 that night I booked a condo in Orange Beach, AL. It turned out that some friends of ours were evacuated to the same building to stay with family who already were there. The next morning we got a call from the condo owner and they gave us the option to back out of our rental because they didn't know if they could clean it with the decrease in staff due to the hurricane warning. We called Kristen and asked her to check out the condo to see what condition it was in. She said it was great and she even started laundry and made beds up for us while we made our way down. How amazing is that!? If you are reading this, thank you again Kristen!!!  After I booked the condo I looked over at my babies all asleep in the same bed and got a good laugh. How heart warming to me that we could salvage this vacation for them. They never knew the worry or stress.

The next morning we leisurely got up and got ready for the day. We took the kids to the USS Alabama battleship and enjoyed some history. I also enjoyed showing the kids a place from my childhood. When I was a little girl in Girl Scouts, our troop stayed the night on the USS Alabama. It was such a neat experience then and I thoroughly enjoyed sharing this with my kids!

Then! (can you figure out which one is me?)

Now! 

 

This little boy was absolutely in heaven while we were on the battleship.

 

 

Hurricane Michael making landfall. We didn't know yet what devastation lay ahead. Such a sad day for those in Panama City Beach and nearby areas. 

After touring the USS Alabama we headed on down to Orange Beach to continue the rest of our vacation. Nothing like true spontaneity. And a bit of crazy? We really were gambling and didn't know what we were getting into...  but we were pleasantly surprised. And our condo was gorgeous and twice as big as what we were staying in in Florida. AND because we got a partial refund, we were not out any money!!