Fun in the sun and an easy meal plan for the beach

I thought I'd stop by to share some favorites from the last couple of days in Orange Beach.  We've been working on a pretty relaxed schedule since we got here.  The girls and I are actually staying for two weeks since my brother and his family and my parents are all coming on Saturday.  Unfortunately, Jason has to work for a living, so he's heading back home for next week.  Since we have so long here, there's no need to bust our tails getting up and to the beach and staying there until we are extra crispy and exhausted.  This isn't stopping our early birds from trying to get their worm... they were all up at 5:40 this morning... Lucy was in her swimsuit at 7.
We have been going to the beach or pool for awhile in the morning and then coming in for sandwiches and naps... and then heading back out in the afternoon.  I've been cooking dinner (again, 2 weeks is more than we originally budgeted for, so eating in is much more affordable) and the girls have been bathed while I cook and ready to hit the sack around 7:30.  Lucy was more than ready for bed by 6:30 one night, but we held her off until 7.  :)
This morning Jason suggested we take the girls to the pier at Gulf State Park and it was so much fun!

I'm pretty sure if this giant bird got between me and my babies I would still run... my heart was beating fast just looking at it.

The girls got to watch the fishermen and we saw tons of sea creatures. This guy actually hooked a stingray, but the line broke before he got him pulled in.  I've never seen so many stingrays before!  There must have been 100 of them just right on the surface of the water... and they were probably 3 feet across... seriously beautiful.   Then we saw a ton of dolphins and the girls all got to see them.

There was a purple flag out today warning that sharks were spotted in the water... so this girl is staying far from the ocean (as always).
Adelaide has really caught on to the whole swimming thing this week, thankfully.  The whole jumping in the pool in my sundress wasn't something I wanted to repeat.  She's now doing backflips underwater and we bought her a set of dive sticks and goggles this morning... she's a happy camper.  Lucy also picked out some goggles, but she now says that she doesn't like them, so we'll see how that goes.  She's afraid to let go of her puddle jumper, but is super happy in the water and is content to play with her sisters or just kick around.

Julianne picked out these silly "gobbles"  we will see if she actually wears them.  She was doing her part to share the good news of Jesus at the pool today when she was walking around singing, "Hear, believe, repent, confess, be baptized in the water, rise up again to walk with Christ and live like you oughta'."  She's so silly. :)

As I mentioned before, since we are doing the beach on a budget (sort of... it's still pretty pricey when you stay this long) and since it's  a pain in the neck to take three kiddos under 6 out to eat when there's a 6 hour wait... we are eating most (if not all) of our dinners in this week.  It has worked out really well so far since the kids are tired and we can just give them a bath (Jason does this) while I cook supper and then everyone is in pajamas and hanging out watching a movie before bedtime.  I made a meal plan for this week (and I'm pretty much repeating the same meals next week too, but for more people) that was easy, didn't require a lot of ingredients and would be good for leftovers.  The last thing you want at the beach is something that requires rosemary and thyme... or anything else you don't want to buy a lot of that has to be transported back home.
Here's our plan for this week.
We got here Saturday afternoon (along with everyone else in the entire state it seemed) so we brought in pizza since I hadn't gone to the grocery store yet.
Sunday: we went to church and the condo was being cleaned "again" since it was filthy when we arrived, so we had to stay out longer than lunch... we ate at Live Bait and then  I made breakfast for dinner (eggs, frozen biscuits, bacon and fruit).
Monday: we had sandwiches/ leftover pizza for lunch and I made tacos and quesadillas for dinner with yellow rice and chips and salsa
Tuesday: we had sandwiches for lunch and I'm working on some prep for "chicken stuff" for dinner... this is basically poppy seed chicken without the poppy seeds... Jason started calling it chicken stuff a long time ago and it stuck.  It's just chicken (cooked and cut up), cream of chicken soup, a dollop of sour cream and half a stick of melted butter... spread in a pan and then top with 2 sleeves of crushed ritz crackers and 1 stick of melted butter.... bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  I'll serve with either peas or green beans.
Wednesday: We'll have either sandwiches or leftovers for lunch and I'm making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner (a bag of frozen italian meatballs, jar of spaghetti sauce and some spaghetti noodles) and then some cheesy bread that I've never made before found here and a salad.
Thursday: Sandwiches or leftovers for lunch and Bacon Ranch pizza for dinner.  I got this recipe from my friend April and it's definitely a family favorite!  It's just a pizza crust (I've done both Pillsbury in a can and Boboli and I think I like Pillsbury better... but you can make your own if you're being fancy), spread ranch dressing on the top of the crust, top with bacon and cheese... pop in the oven until the cheese is bubbly and you're done.  I've also topped with rotisserie chicken and April likes to put fresh tomato on top... it's seriously yummy!
Friday: We will have chicken fingers and tater tots
Saturday we will start over with what we had Sunday this week and I'll do the same meals... that may be boring, but it made for an easy grocery list and it's super easy to cook.
What do you like to cook at the beach??

 I had to end this post with a super cute photo of my two "little girls" playing sweetly together.