Meals at Dauphin Island

Since we were at the beach house for 6 nights, we each planned 2 evening meals.  The noon meals were a joint effort.

 I got on Pinterest for some ocean theme ideas:

The top of the doll had been used for Claire's birthday cake.

Okay, Pinterest really does a good job of showing off these foods.  Ours didn't turn out real well, but not epic fails like some of those Pinterest failures!  The "octopus" hotdogs looked pretty funny and we couldn't get mustard faces to stick on them.

Ours

theirs - so cute!

I also made some inari sushi and fish-shaped rice balls. And there was seaweed and furikake (what the kids call "sprinkles") and dried squid/cuttlefish or ika.  Adam does NOT like fish smell so he was rather grossed out.

I had brought some Hillsboro, Kansas sausage along - we love it!  And our used-to-live-in-Hillsboro kids really miss it!  Staci making pancakes for us.

 we have our own barista!

We tried to get the kids to write their names on the cups and use a cup all day, but they kept getting new cups and we ran out of cups before the week ran out!  Jill fancied hers up.  Luckily the house had glass cups and we were able to wash those.  I suppose people might criticize us for using plastic cups, but hey, we were on vacation and the less house work the better!

I made my 2 evening meals ahead of time and froze them.  We took them in the cooler.  At the hotel in Memphis, we had a full size fridge and we put them in the freezer there (they were still frozen solid).  At the beach house, I put them in the fridge to thaw out so I could just pop them in the oven the nights it was my turn for dinner.  I took BBQ meatballs and sausage and rice.

BBQ Meatballs:  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/86936/bbq-glazed-homemade-meatballs/

I just cook these on cookie sheets.  I made a bunch, tripled the recipe so we'd have leftovers for lunch too.  I do top them with the bbq sauce.

Sausage Casserole:  http://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/sausage-and-rice-casserole-60905

Except I use ground sausage unlike this recipe.  For 2 lb. I sometimes use 1 hot and 1 mild.  Since the little kids were eating it this time, I did all mild.

It is always fun to eat together!  We sometimes sang a song for grace or said a common prayer.  Or someone gave the prayer.

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;

Praise Him, all creatures here below;

Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

Celebrations at Dauphin Island

The week we were at Dauphin Island, we had 3 different celebrations:

       Father's Day for the 3 dads

 This is a salt rifle to shoot flies!

 We celebrated Claire's birthday

Jill let Hannah and Emeri help decorate the cake 

 

And my birthday too.

What a great place to have celebrations!

Caravaning to Dauphin Island

After a good night's rest in Memphis, we had the free breakfast that comes with the hotel.

Then we packed up our cars and caravaned out of town. 

 We took turns being the first in line.

 When we filled up with gas, we switched riders around.

Do you see Eli?

There was hardly any room for him!  He was squished between all the luggage.

 

 Before leaving that town, first things first...we would have to take a little detour.

 A church on Church Street.

We had to make a stop at Starbucks, of course!

After 6 hours on the road, we made a stop in Mobile to pick up our groceries.  Staci had suggested we order ahead and do a pickup rather than go inside for our groceries.  Saved us a lot of time!

Dauphin Island came into view!!

 

 I love these little colored cottages that greet us when we first arrive on the island!

We found our house for the week and parked our vehicles underneath it. 
(Josh's pic)

The kids were so anxious to head to the beach, but we first had to unpack the cars and put all the food away.   It didn't take long for the kids to change and hit the water!!

 

 We ate supper out on the deck.

more to come.....