Sweet Home Alabama

When I heard my parents were making a trip down to AL in June, I just had to tag along!  The thought of not seeing the beach all summer was making me sad!  Also, I wanted to meet my new baby cousin, Tucker.  Sadly, Sean had to work so it was just me, the kids, and my parents.  East bound!

Of course we headed straight to the beach our first morning there.  AnnMarie wanted Papa to teach her how to boogie board.

She did.

We took a little pool down there for Bubba to play in since the surf was a little strong for him.  It helped!

AnnMarie became fast friends with this adorable little girl, Anna Margaret, from Memphis.  Every day they would find each other!

Clarky wanted to boogie board too so we did some "mock" boarding on the shore with him.  He liked it!

And after the kids were tired of the beach, we would head back to swim in the pool for awhile before lunch.  Clark started swimming by himself with his puddle-jumper on, and that made all the difference!



He's turned into a little fish!



And AnnMarie loves to jump in these days.

We dug lots of holes...

One day, for some reason, Clark did NOT want to wear his suit on the beach.  So, redneck baby in a diaper it was.

Our last night there we quickly ran up after supper and changed clothes to try and snap some pictures before the sun went down.

Somebody is growing UP.

See the clouds and notice the wind?  Yeah, a storm was coming.  We were hurrying!

Mommy, we're done.

Clark:  Mommy, I'm finished.

The reality of trying to take pictures of your kids.  This is WAY more authentic than the perfectly polished smiley ones.  :)

The morning we left we stopped at the front of the resort for AnnMarie to (what they were calling) "bungee jump".  She was begging!  There she goes!

GOODBYE, BEACH! :(

Next we headed back north for four hours to visit my Aunt Beverly and the rest of the crew just outside of Auburn.  Her farm is beeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuutiful.  Also, it's in the 70s at night when the sun goes down.  VERY different than TX. :(
Clark loved pretending to drive the gator.

Clark thanking God for the gator.

We took the kids to see John and Bev's trucking company. 

The last weekend of our trip we went to Beverly's lake house on Lake Martin.  AnnMarie made a new best friend:  AVA.  She's the daughter of my aunt's best friend who also has a lake place there, and she and AnnMarie were inseperable the whole time!  Here they are swimming like crazy in the lake.

Clark sneaking up the rocks towards the beach area.

This picture gives a clue to how Clark's ear(s) were feeling.  :(  I could tell from his behavior that he had an ear infection, and our wonderful pediatrician ended up calling a prescription in for us! 

Bev and her sweet grandson, baby Tucker!!  He was THE cutest and best baby.  Never cried!

Because his ears were hurting, Clark would not let anyone hold him except for me.  sigh.  Except for Jace--my cousin.  He has always loved older guys/men, and it proved to be true in this case as well!



Boat captain



Again, wouldn't let anyone hold him---except when John let him help drive the boat.

So blessed!

We stopped at a shallow area to let the kids swim, and I couldn't believe how clear the water was!

Lake action wore.her.out.

Cousins :)

The morning we left AnnMarie got to ride Gulliver, Bev's pony.  She came to tears begging the day before, and John and Beverly were so sweet to make this happen for her.  This picture was taken at about 6:30 a.m. the morning of our 14 hr ride home!!  (She had also donned all of cousin McKenzie's cowgirl duds that she'd found upstairs in the closet.)

And so then Clark HAD to ride too.  PJ's and all.  :)

This picture cracks me up because he was SO proud of himself.  I guess my kids' true TX genes were coming through because neither of them were afraid at ALL!  I would have been too scared as a child for sure.

We had a great trip, and I'm so glad I decided to go.  The 12 hour trip seemed daunting, but it really wasn't that bad thanks to the DVD player. :)