more beach pictures

Gulf shores-part 2- beach pictures

I have always, always, always wanted a family beach portrait where we are all wearing white and khaki................


My little poser

My favorite picture! Let me tell you it is hard to get this sweet little girl to stay still long enough to take her picture!

It takes Jadyn for-ever to walk across the beach because she stops every little bit to play in the sand! This must have been daddy's turn to walk with her.

Not a very lady-like pose, but sweet none the less................

Gulf Shores Vacation - part 1

Let me just start out by saying, we had a really great time at the beach once we got there. The drive was another story. After listening to Gracie ask are we there yet a million times, driving the forever it feels it takes to get across Mississippi, we get to Alabama, the home stretch. We decided to pull in at the Welcome center to stretch our legs and get a map, and as soon as we took the exit we heard a pop. One of the tires on the camper blew!! Ok, no big deal, we have a spare. After a quick change we are on the road again. We make it about 3.6 miles from the Foley exit to Gulf Shores and hear another pop!! The other camper tire blew!! No second spare! It's Sunday, so we are panicing wondering how we are going to get another tire. We get out the lap top and start looking for a mobile tire service, just so you know there are no mobile tire services in Alabama. We make several phone calls, our insurance company (couldn't help us), several big name stores (again no help), and my dad who the camper belongs to (no help). So, we are stranded on the freeway with two kids and a dog about 30 minutes from our destination. Jerred makes the decision to limp it up to our exit to the nearest gas station. We make it, meet someone who tells us Wal-mart (yay walmart!!) sells the right kind of tires. We leave the camper at the gas station(second one on the right, super nice guy!! thank you!!) find a wal-mart, buy the tire, go back to the gas station, and change the tire. 5 hours later we are making the last 30 minute drive to gulf shores!!! AAAArrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh!!! Then the gps doesn't even know where it's going to get us to the Gulf State Park. We finally make it there around 7. Here's the part that my dad keeps laughing at me for. As we are checking in one of the ladies informs me that I need to be really careful with my dog because there are alligators in the park and they LOVE dogs!! Especially needed to be careful after dark. Be sure and take a flash light to the bathroom. Ok, so now I am freaking out!! And of course our first night there I had to go in the middle of the night (we don't have a bathroom in the camper) I ran there and back terrified I was going to meet a gator ready to eat me. My dad is still laughing at me................and I had to go in the middle of the night all week........probaly because I was so scared to go down there because I don't usually do that.

So, on with some pictures.................

Let me just start by saying Jadyn is starting doing everything big sister is doing, since sister kept throwing herself down in the sand, so did she. It made taking pictures very difficult, but I got some good ones............
We went to the beach every day except WEdnesday (we went shopping) because I was sooooo incredibly burnt! Jadyn didn't care for the ocean but she loved the sand and us putting water in her pool. Gracie and Jerred loved boogie boarding. That's my little surfer girl!! Me, I would get in the water, but not far, mainly I walked the beach looking for shells and just relaxing. The waves hitting the beach is the best sound................I miss it!!

Jadyn playing in her pool.

We stayed at the Gulf state park, which was destroyed by hurricane Ivan in 2004. A lot of the reconstruction just got finished the summer. It was really nice at the park, very clean bathrooms. They are in the process of completing pool, laundry room, and tennis courts. The beach pavilion was also a new addition. It was really nice! We had to pay five dollars to park to go to this beach but it was worth it because it was clean, and hardly any people on it. We visited the free public beach, but with a child who puts everything in her mouth it was worth visiting a free beach if she had her choice of hundreds of ciggarette butts to choose from. So we gladly paid five dollars!

Our first night we ate at Mikee's, very good. It was late so the kids were pretty awful and our waitress was very nice and understanding. We ate at Bahama Bob's, Lulu's,Cosmo's, and The hangout. My favorite was Lulu's. We sat on the water, listened to live music, and just the whole place was a nice atmosphere. The Hangout would have been great, but we had horrible service! The view was the best though! That's all I can say nice about it. Our whole trip, everywhere we went ( with this one exception) everyone was extremely friendly. One place you must visit- Hope's Cheesecake! Enough said!

Gracie's First Haircut

Wow! Gracie is four years old and just now having an actual hair cut. We did have it trimmed a few months ago, but this was her first real salon visit. We waited a long, long time for her to have hair, like two years! She was practically bald until shortly before her second birthday. Her hair was down to the middle of her back and had ringlet curls, and to be honest I guess I waited this long to cut it because I knew it would cut those beautiful curls off.

She looks really happy to be getting haircut doesn't she? I asked her the night before if she wanted to get it cut, and of course the answer was YES! She told me where she wanted it cut to (a little below her shoulders, which is what we did) but as the more time went by it kept getting longer and longer until she started crying and saying " I don't want my hair cut! I want my long long hair!" She cried on the way to the salon, but once we got there she was ok.

She was perfect in the chair. She just sat there and watched. Her sister on the other hand was running around the salon screaming like she owned the place.

Here she is after, all smiles!

Cosmo- our new furry family member

Friday night we drove to northern Arkansas and picked up the newest member of our family! Cosmo, a maltese shih tzu mix. He is really sweet and cuddly! Gracie and Jadyn both just love him. He is 7 weeks old and weighs about 2 pounds. He shouldn't get any bigger than about 10 pounds or so.



I got the sweetest pics of Jadyn holding Cosmo but they are all pretty blurry since she doesn't sit still. She kept saying MINE! MINE! Saturday morning she woke up calling him in her room.

He loves to sleep!

Isn't he just the cutest!! We think so!!

Questions

I was over reading Kelly's blog at www.oxboroughchaos.com and she had asked her 3 year old little boy some questions about her and I thought it would be fun to ask Gracie the same questions to see what she would say. Well, half way through she was like "What about daddy and pawpaw?" So, I asked her the same questions, but about daddy and pawpaw. She made it all the way through with daddy, but after number 11 she was done answering questions about Pawpaw.(and his are pretty funny!) Here you go! I hope you enjoy!!




1. What is something mommy always says to you?
M- No
D- No and yes
P-help him unload his truck

2. What makes mommy happy?
m-when I'm good
d-to say I love you
p-playing with him and letting him sit down

3. What makes mommy sad?.
m-when people break your cook pots. ( idk?? you think she's confessing to something?)
d-when I'm not good
p- when we don't help him unload his truck.

4. How does your mommy make you laugh?
m-telling jokes
d- telling animal jokes
p-tell knock knock jokes

5. What was your mommy like as a child? ( i don't think she understood this question)
m-draw with markers.
d- to laugh around
p-play

6. How old is your mommy?
m-5
d-4 ( how come I'm older??)
p- very old. ( LOL I promise Dad I didn't tell her to say that!)


7. How tall is your mommy?
m-8 points
d-18
P-48

8. What is her favorite thing to do?
m-watch the kids and stay home.( well I do love being home, but watching the kids is NOT my favorite thing to do!! At least I must be putting on a good show!)
D-work in the garden
P-to just sit around. ( i swear I had no part in this one either. HAha ahhahaha)


9. What does your mom my do when you're not around?
m-cook
d-cook
p- goes outside and leaves. ( this one made me sad)

10. If your mommy becomes famous, what will it be for?
m-kiss your children. (huh?)
d- to laugh
p-laugh
( she must think daddy and pawpaw are comedians.)

11. What is your mommy really good at?
m-cooking ( =) )
d-cooking ( well she likes our cooking so much most nights she'd rather have pb&j!)
p-putting table clips on. (they are sitting on the cabinet so I guess that's what she needed to say)


12. What is your mommy not very good at?
m-running
d- running
she was done answering for pawpaw


13. What does your mommy do for a job?
m- watch babies
d- make money

14.What is your mommy's favorite food?
m- macaronie and cheese
d-pb & j


15.What makes your mommy proud of you?

m-cleaning all my messes up.
d-being good

16. If your mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be?
m- maggie ( maggie and the ferocious beast)
d- hamilton (from the same cartoon)

17. What do you and your mommy do together?

m- play
d- play

18. How are you and your mommy the same? "
m- when mommie got married we both had blonde hair.
d-nothing


19. How are you and your mommy different?
m- after mommie was done getting married she decided to change her hair
d- daddy has black hair and I have blonde

20. How do you know your mommy loves you
m- always tells me
d-always tells me

21. What does your mommy like most about your daddy?
m- to get a kiss ( well i guess there's a lot of pda going on around here!)
D- she takes care of me when he;s gone.

22. Where is your mommy's favorite place to go?
m- walmart
d- target ( i would say the yard, but........)


So, there it is Mommie, daddy, and pawpaw according to Gracie the four year old!! Ask you kids these questions and see what answers you get! Funny!!

Movie Under the Stars-George of the Jungle

So this past Saturday night we had a bunch of friends over ( like 50 people!) and we had an outdoor movie showing of George of the Jungle!! It was so much fun, and I think everyone enjoyed it! Everyone got here around 8 and the kids played out in the yard while we were waiting on it to get dark enough to start the movie. I think we ended up starting the movie around 8:45. We supplied the popcorn and drinks and had everyone bring movie snacks. This is the snack table after the kids and there is still a bunch of candy, and if you look under the table there are two bags that didn't even get opened! We have enough left over that next time no one will have to bring any snacks!




The movies about to start, all the kids are finding a seat and going through their goodies. Gracie is up front in the blue laying down.

Jadyn would sit for a little while and watch the movie, and then she would wander aroundFixing to get started........

Here's the beginning of the movie. We used a white tarp that Jerred had and it worked out perfectly. My only complaint was that it wasn't loud enough because all of the crickets were singing! So, next time we are going to find some bigger speakers!

Home Grown

Thought you all could use some humor today!

Jadyn ran and jumped in the pool fully clothed so I stripped her down and let her swim. Then she just wandered the yard in all her glory. It almost looks like she is posing!

Happy Father's Day

We spent Father's day outside grilling some steaks and enjoying the girls playing outside in their pool. Jadyn loves to swing!!! Here she is saying "Chhhhheeeesssseeee" she says that anytime you get the camera out!


Daddy put the pool under the slide, and Gracie loved it! She went down the slide any and every way you can think of.

Here's my little evil knievil..............She kept inching towards the slide but only when there was noone standing close to it. She was determined to do it by herself, and she did and didn't mean to I think but ooopsss!!

This time was intentional, we didn't have the camera out for the oops!

Fun in the Sun!

Here we are at our first pool party of the season..............I had a jewelry show that day so I was late getting there but I still got in with Jadyn!

My Gracie swimming like a pro! (as long as the life jacket is on!)

My little water baby! Jerred told me she dunked her head under water twice because all the big kids were doing it! She is not afraid of anything!