Catching our breath!

We made it home from our wonderful beach vacation last Sunday evening and were welcomed by a 93 degree house and a washing machine that didn't work! Nice, huh?

After sweating for three hours, we decided we couldn't sleep in that heat and checked into a hotel for the night! We got the air fixed on Monday afternoon. And got a washer repair man lined up for Tues afternoon. So, things seemed under control.

Robbie took my van to get gas Monday evening. After being gone for about 30 mins (and the gas station is like 4 blocks from our house), I got a call from him saying that he couldn't get the van out of park and I needed to come pick him up! We had to leave the van in front of a gas pump overnight! We were a little worried about what might go wrong next.....

and how much these repairs were going to add up to!

Luckily, Robbie learned that it was an $8 fuse that would fix the van! The washer repair man ordered a part and installed it on Thursday. And I did 7 loads of laundry yesterday to get us caught up! So, I think we are officially back in business today (Friday!) We are very thankful that the van waited until we were back in town to have its issue! Would have been awful if it had happened at a gas station on our way home from Gulf Shores!

Needless to say we didn't get out and do a whole lot this week....in between all of our many issues! We did however try to make the most of what is left of summer!

Here are some pics of the kids this week!

I was informed that this was their Circus Ring Master costume!

Not sure what kind of Circus my kiddos have gone too! Kinda concerning!

Snow White and Santa Clause!
Enjoying some more pool time!
Pretty sure the kids and I could live at the pool all summer long!
We love it!

Hudson's Photos

Hudson wanted a turn with the camera this afternoon.

Without paying too much attention, I handed it to him and let him take a few.

When I was looking for pics for my blog, I came across the ones he took and I just LOVED them! So, I thought I would share them.....

So, this is Hudson's vantage point when he looks up at his Daddy!

And of course, he took a picture of his favorite person in the world! His mommy!

Our Big Summer Vacation - Gulf Shores, AL - Day 5

Can it really be our last day here?!

Where has our week gone?

Here are the kids with the big crab we caught on the beach last night.
He spent the night on our balcony and the kids couldn't wait to go out and check on him this morning!

Here was the Buie Beach Condo.

We had the best set up! Yes, we had a double wide!
Here is the view from our balcony!
The kids loved sitting here and enjoying the view.
The parasail boats were constantly going up and down the beach right in front of our condo.
More fun in the sun!
Sand Castle Queen!
(So, I realized today that the only "beach" thing we had not done was build a good sand castle. I invited all the kids to come help me....I only had a couple of takers and they quickly desserted me! I couldn't admit that my plan failed....so, I sat and finished it alone. Iwas pretty sure that I looked ridiculous...then I looked a ways down the beach and saw another grown adult working alone on a sand castle! So, then I had competition!
Turner made me have a photo opp with my masterpiece when I was done!

This morning we took Lawson to parasail! She decided she wanted to....and it was the perfect excuse for Robbie and I to do it again! She had a blast!
Here we are about to lift off!

I certainly don't want to go home tomorrow!

Our Big Summer Vacation - Gulf Shores, AL - Day 4

We started today with a bang!

We parasailed!

It was a first for us! And was a lot of fun! It was SO peaceful up in the air.We had quite a trip to get out to get on to the parasail! I felt like I was in the military for a moment! We road a little bananna boat that was pulled behind a jet ski out to the parasail boat. And the guys running the show were constantly barking, "sit down, hold on, get to the front of the boat, get up, etc.!" And they don't say please or thank you! I was laughing SO hard! It's just not often that you pay people good money to yell at you! And during times that didn't require so much perfect timing, they were really nice guys. They just have a job to do and want to keep everyone safe. We hit the beach again after parasailing. We found the water was infested with Jelly Fish. So, Robbie and his dad started a Jelly Fish catching operation. They would catch them and bring them in to the kids. Then the kids sorted them by size into their buckets.

Why did we do this you might ask? Not sure.

Maybe too much sun this week has affected our ability to make good choices?

Anyway, no one got stung and it kept us entertained while the ocean was off limits to the kids. Here is one of the larger ones we caught! None of us had EVER seen one this large!

Then tonight we went out and went crabbing! We caught about 30 little crabs. Then people around us who were ready to go in started dumping their catches into our bucket. So, we ended up with 1 big one and about 75 little crabs in our bucket. Although Hudson's feet never touched the ground for the entire hour we were out(he was afraid the crabs would get his toes),
we all had a lot of fun!

Our Big Summer Vacation - Gulf Shores, AL - Day 3

Here are todays highlights.....

The BIG kids got to play on the Boogie Boards for quite awhile this afternoon! (Thanks to Robbie's parents who watched the kids for us!)

Hudson took the best nap out on the beach today! He fell asleep sitting in his Aunt Lori's lap and then slept on this towel under the Cabana for about an hour and a half.

Lawson and Huson played with their cousins (Mary and Morgan) ALL day! At one point, they had set up a mini pet shop. The had a couple of buckets filled with different types of fish and some with tiny crabs that Mary had caught. They named all the animals and handled them all... until they all died. They then built a sand cemetary and had a funeral.

Robbie's Dad bought Lawson this rainbow kite today. She has been begging to fly a kite all week and rainbows are her FAVORITE thing! I'm sure this is one of her favorite moments of the trip.!
Here she is manning the kite!
Look how happy she is!

Our Big Summer Vacation - Gulf Shores, Al - Day 2

This day was a BLAST! We got some body boards and Rob and I had a blast riding them! We would stand side by side, wait for a wave and then "race" to see who could ride it the furthest! I took him down 7-0 in the body board contest! I think he is planning on a re-match tomorrow...so I will ket you know the results! The kids spent a TON of time playing in the sand today!

You can't tell from the picture (below)....but they totally looked "sugar" (white sand) coated from head (yes, that is sand in their hair!) to toe at this point. Earlier this summer when we were talking about our beach trip...Robbie promised the kids that they could bury him in the sand. Well, you know my kids NEVER forget ANYTHING! So, today they wanted to make good on his offer! He is such a good dad! Because, he was hot and he was sweaty and they were putting shovel fulls of sand on him that was sticking to him and getting into his swimsuit! Luckily for him, they have never seen someone REALLY burried in the sand, so after 5 mins they declared him "burried" and he was off the hook!
We brought the kids fishing poles. They just have practice weights (that look like fish) on the end. They cast them out and real them in over and over and we don't have to worry about them getting "hooked". They LOVE doing this and don't seem to mind that they arn't really fishing! So, it is a win-win for everyone! While the kids were "fishing", there was a man on the beach who was fishing. He caught a small fish and brought it over while it was still on the pole. He wanted us to take a photo so it would look like they had actually caught something. The kids thought it was cool and complied...but they acted a bit confused as to why the man had interrupted their casting session to show them a fish. It was like.....can't you see we are busy pretend fishing here, Mister. Funny! This is a moment I wish I could freeze in time....could my family be any more precious?!

Our Big Summer Vacation - Gulf Shores, AL - Day 1

We are SO lucky to able to spend a whole week enjoying the white sand, wonderfully cool ocean water and time with Robbie's family in Gulf Shores, AL this week! We arrived tonight (Monday) about 6pm. We unloaded the cars and got out to the beach as quick as we could!

We didn't have too long before it got dark, but we made the most of about an hour! You can see the kids were thrilled! This is Hudson's first time at the beach and Lawson's second (we spent a day on the beach in Galveston when she was 2....but that isn't much of a beach).
This was when the kids first got out to the beach. They were just grabbing up handfuls of sand!

Here we are just beginning our vacation!