Summertime, Week 1

Alexee has spent a lot of time sorting through all the shells she collected at the beach.  She had two friends over today and let them each take some home.

I saw in the new Paula Deen magazine that Paula has been busy with shell projects, too!  I thought these shell shoes were funny and showed them to Alexee.  She would probably have a great time crafting with Paula!

We've been swimming twice.  We've had such an unusually cool spring, but summer temperatures are definitely here now--probably to stay.  They had fun at the pool with friends.  It's so nice that Alexee can swim this year.  

Yesterday afternoon we made a trip to the new children's library.  They had their picture made by the "read" sign, then ran straight inside to the DVD section.  I did make them all check out books too, just to make myself feel better.  

(Do you like C's Batman gloves?  He wears them everywhere we go.)

This morning we went out for donuts then went to the park to play before it got really hot.  We had the whole park to ourselves!

Beach, Part 2

Lots more vacation photos...

Beautiful flowers surrounding the pool.  They had such pretty landscaping.

Crosby & Everett's toys all lined up.  :)

On Wednesday afternoon, Lane, Rhett, Tim and Ethan went to see a movie.  I took Crosby and Alexee to Target to grab a few more groceries and let them each choose a new toy.  Crosby got this Iron Man helmet and Alexee chose a princess coloring pad with markers and crayons.  She and Ella had a lot of fun coloring when we got back to the house.  We played for a while then we all went back to meet the guys for dinner after the movie.

Dinner at Cactus Cantina

I love the beach in the early morning and late evening.  We went out to look for shells one morning after the waves had been so rough and found a lot.  Alexee loved collecting shells!

Alexee's footprints

Rhett looks so grown up to me.  I just can't believe it--where does the time go?

Loved the screened-in porch there!

Crosby's feelings about sunscreen.  :( 

There was a storm way off in the distance one night after dinner.  We sat on the porch and watched the lightning over the ocean.

On Friday the five of us went to LuLu's for lunch and then went to play mini golf at Pirate's Island.  We had a great table overlooking the water, and I thought the food was great.  The kids all had fun golfing! They even won three free games that can be used at any Pirate's Island.  We hope to use those in Hot Springs soon.

We made a giant sand mermaid one day.

Alexee made S'mores for everyone--yum!  She's sweet and thoughtful and such a helper.  

My favorite meal was probably at Oyster House.  Lane and I both love seafood, and Rhett likes a lot of it too.  Crosby fell asleep on the way there, so I sat in the car with him to let him nap while we waited for our table.  He woke up in a good mood, especially when the kids' meals came with colorful plastic alligators!

I love you, Rhett, Alexee & Crosby!

It was a great trip.  Candy, we really enjoyed our time with y'all--thanks so much for traveling with us.  I hope we can get together again very soon!

Beach, Part 1

June 2-8

Beach Vacation in Gulf Shores, Alabama

***

It was a loooong drive, but so worth it!  We left home at 7:30a and made it to the beach house at 5:00p.  We were all ready to get out of the crowded car, see our friends, check out the house and hurry to the beach!

(Love the pic Crosby took of himself--how cute is he in flip-flops!)  :)

This was Crosby's first time to see the ocean, and he was super excited about it!  He loved it! (Well, he loved it the first night and the next morning...until he got sunburned on his shoulders, then it was a little bit of a struggle to convince him to stay at the beach.)

Alexee and Rhett had not seen the ocean since 2008.  They all jumped into the waves in their regular clothes!

Candy and her family arrived shortly after us.  It was so good to see them again!  We all played at the beach for just a little while, then drove back into Gulf Shores for dinner (our rental was in Ft. Morgan, about 15 miles from all the shopping/restaurants).  It was getting late and we were all tired from the day of travel.  We decided on Mellow Mushroom, which was really good.  I'd never eaten there before, and now I'm happy that one is opening in our town!  We all went straight to bed when we got home...looking forward to a fun week ahead.

***

The house was great.  It was so convenient being right on the beach, and the view was just beautiful.

The water was calm the first day.  We saw several manta rays (? really not sure what they were, but that's what someone told us) and even one SHARK.  I love to look at the ocean--I could sit and watch it for days and days, but I'm honestly not crazy about swimming with sea creatures.  Especially sharks.  We enjoyed beautiful weather every day, but Tropical Storm Andrea did cause the waves to be much rougher later in the week.  We stayed out of the water then of course.

Tim & Lane pointing out something swimming in the water.

I was so grateful that the kids all got along so well!  Everyone had a buddy (close to) their age.  Crosby and Ev were cute in their matching Spider-Man life jackets.  Crosby turned 4 in March and Everett turned 4 in May.  They had a great time playing together!

You can barely see it, but this bucket has a jelly fish in it!  Another reason I 'd rather just LOOK at the ocean.

Monday evening we tried to go to LuLu's, but the wait was way too long for us.  We moved on to Tin Top where there was no wait to be seated...at least for anyone willing to dine on the patio.  We should have known it was trouble when we saw several bottles of Off bug spray on every table.  The food was fine, but it took a long time and the bugs nearly ate us up while we waited.  I'm still covered in bites.

The Spanish moss was so pretty on the trees

Tuesday night we decided to stay home and grill burgers.  The guys did a great job on that.

Candy and I thougt this would be a good night to do family pictures on the beach.  For us, I'm not sure it's ever a good time to do family pictures.  Are we the only ones that always end up in a fight?  I just can't seem to ever have everyone in a picture-taking mood, but I keep trying.  Alexee and Rhett were actually cooperative this time...Crosby not so much.  He had been crying in these photos, but they're far enough away that maybe it doesn't look like it?  Ha!

This was May 2008

Rhett was the same age that Crosby is now...and I barely remember Alexee being this small!?  They're growing up TOO FAST.

 Sweet smiles from Alexee!

Alexee, Ella, Everett, Ethan, Rhett & Crosby (soaked and silly)

The Joyce Family--so happy to know them!

(I've been looking forward to this trip since Christmas.  I'm sad that it's over.)  :(

Joyce Family & Garner Family

June 2013

I'm extremely thankful for healthy children and the opportunity we had to spend time together at such a beautiful place last week.