Sunday, June 14, 2009

Vacation's All I Ever Wanted......

We had a fabulous time vacationing in Gulf Shores, Alabama this past week. Our niece Courtney went with Paul, Zoe, & I. She had never seen the ocean which made it that more exciting. Here are a few (okay, a lot of) pictures from the week:

Zoe & Courtney playing beauty shop!


Zoe with a lid on her nose!
Licking off the strawberry pie mixture.
Playing in the sand.
Posing by a "little" palm tree.
Watching Courtney getting an airbrush tattoo!
The finished product!
Zoe - the Pirate!!!!
Zoe & Courtney in the shark's mouth.
Checking out the J*nas Bros.
A wedding on the beach...
What a beauty!
A hurt pelican (tangled in plastic wrap) rescued by this boy.
Pelican back in the ocean safe & sound.
At the Gulf Shores Zoo - It's Feeding Time!
A baby alligator...
A big turtle...
Zoe loved feeding the goats.
Posing for mom...
Building a sand castle!
(with Daddy's help!)
Scoopin' up some sand...

Burying Daddy in the sand...

He's being a good sport!
Our hangout on the beach!
Louie the Lobster!!!
(This is what you get when you refuse to use sunscreen!)

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Another Crazy Day!

My first day of summer vacation & I wanted to sleep in so bad. Good intentions, but didn't happen. You know how that is....your body is in a routine & automatically wakes up around the time you're supposed to get up for work. Why lay in bed? So, I got up & starting doing chores around the house. I was quite proud of myself. Rolling right along - getting a lot accomplished. Zoe wanted to swim & I needed to work on the pool anyway so to the backyard we went.

After a little while some neighbor kids showed up to swim which was awesome for me (allowed me to continue working on some outside chores). Zoe had a ball playing with the girls, especially her friend Kaidyn.

Kaidyn & Zoe

Throwing the ball while Madolyn hangs on...

Madolyn, Zoe, Abbie, & Kaidyn

Getting ready to jump...

One of her favorites - jumping in the pool!

Janelle's big jump!

After about 2 hours of swimming a storm starting brewing. Everyone got out of the pool & in the house just in the nick of time. We experienced a severe thunderstorm like no other. In fact, an area of our little town ended up with quite a bit of damage. The weather folks are saying it was either straight line winds or a small tornado. Luckily, we had no damage other than some limbs down & one of our patio tables got knocked over & the glass shattered. However, we were without power for approximately 8 hours. (So there went my cleaning & completing my chores!)

A girl can't cook without power so we ended up going to a town nearby for pizza. My cousin EJ & his girlfriend Mallory came over for the evening so they went with us. When we got back from eating, Zoe, Mallory, & EJ decided to swim. Casey, a neighbor boy, stopped by so he & I sat by the pool in candle light & watched them swim.

Not sure why the goofy look on his face!

Mallory, Zoe, & EJ

Poor Mallory -Zoe was like attached at the hip!

Casey after he put his finger in hot wax!

It's supposed to rain off & on all day so hopefully I will get some more cleaning done inside. Have a long list to accomplish before we leave Saturday for vacation - Gulf Shores, Alabama, here we come!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

School's Out for Summer!!!!!

Yahoo! School is out! My last official day ended yesterday at 8:15 AM. Summer can now begin.
We had a busy weekend with 2 graduations, one Friday night & one Sunday afternoon. Plus, Paul & I also celebrated our 17 wedding anniversary Saturday. Sunday evening we cooked out & several of Zoe's "college friends" came over & hung out. They swam, ate, & swam some more. (Gave us just a glimpse of what our summer is going to look like!!!! Can't wait! I love this time of the year. Hanging by the pool with friends & family!)

Swimming with a smile...

Hanging out with Amanda...

Nick & Zoe...

Pyramid - Zoe Style!!!

Waiting for Jess to throw her...

Zoe & Sissy (AKA: Brandy)...

Brandy & Nick...

LOVE this picture. My two girls with their favorite guy!