Wednesday, July 31, 2013

A Fun Morning On The Beach

After our fun walk on the beach, we were ready for a great day on the beach.  Well, the weather didn't quite cooperate.  It was cloudy and overcast but at least it wasn't too hot!  We enjoyed some sand castle building.  





 Along with some fun play time in the ocean.  The waves were up quite a bit with the stormy weather so that made it fun!




 You can't go to the beach and not have a snack!




Then there came a massive storm.  You can see it rolling in behind us!  We had to run to get out of the rain and lightening.  It was still a great morning on the beach.

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Help Support Ben (& Babies)!!

 On August 24th, Ben will be participating in the 8th annual Swim for Melissa.  This is a fun non competitive swim event where he will try to swim as many laps as possible during a set amount of time.  The goal will be to raise money for the NICU at Huntsville Hospital.

This is a cause that is very close to our family's heart.  As most of you know, Kate was born 3 weeks early with breathing troubles and spent 1 week in the NICU.  There is nothing worse than seeing your newborn baby so sick.  The Melissa George Neonatal Fund works to raise money to buy life saving equipment for the NICU.  We have seen first hand the impact that this can have.

Would you consider supporting Ben?  He is very excited to swim to support babies!  You can click on this link to make an online donation to Ben.  Thank you so much!!!  Let me know if you have any questions.  You know there will be lots of pictures on the blog from the actual event in a month!!


Sunday, July 28, 2013

A Sunset Walk On The Beach

After our time in Mississippi (and I won't lie we were ready to leave) we took a trip even further south.  First up was a trip across the Mobile bay on the ferry boat.  


 And it was on to Gulf Shores for a fun few days in the sun!  We were excited for our first walk on the beach.  The sunset was beautiful and it was an amazing walk!  There was splashing in the water along with sliding down some sand dunes.  The kids loved getting treasures like drift wood, shells and feathers.  What a great start our time at the beach.



















Friday, July 26, 2013

A Night In Mississippi

The reason for our pit stop yesterday was a trip to Mississippi.  Matt is speaking today at The Mississippi Hospital Pharmacists Association meeting in Jackson.  We figured it would be a good chance to get away and have a little family vacation.  Although I have lived next to Mississippi my entire life, I don't think I have ever spent the night in Mississippi. Had to get a picture as we crossed into Mississippi.  
 We are staying at on old historic hotel in Jackson.  this is the view out the window of our room.  It is like a scene out of a movie about the Old South.  Really what you think of about the South.  I must say I do like Alabama much better than Mississippi.
 We went over to the state capital building to get a Team Gary picture.
 And had to get our traditional picture on the steps in front of the capital with the kids.  Hopefully one day we will have all 50 states with them in front of the capital buildings.
 We then walked over to the governor's mansion.
 Funny story about our dinner - We ate at a local Jackson place and when we walked in all we saw were people dressed in Alabama Crimson Tide gear.  It was the local meeting of the fan club.  We thought we could get away from the Bamers but we ran into everyone of them in Jackson.  The kids love staying in hotels so of course they had a great night!
 Matt is off speaking now.  I know he will do great!  It is the exciting topic of Oncology Emergencies.  :)
We have enjoyed our quick trip.  I can finally cross of spending the night in Mississippi.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Tacos & Pops

Since our last trip to Birmingham in May, the kids and I have been talking about Little Donkey and Steel City Pops to Matt all the time.  We loved them so much that we put them on our Summer List of Fun to do again.  Today we were traveling through Birmingham so of course we had to stop!!  So glad that Lisa and Savannah Grace could meet up with us for lunch and a special treat.  Little Donkey was as good as we remembered and Matt loved it too!

 Then we made the short walk next door to get some yummy pops!!!
 They were even better than we remembered.  Ben got lime.  Kate got blueberry cream.  Matt got orange cream and I got vanilla bean.  So yummy!!

 Love the picture of the 3 kiddos!!  It was great to catch up with Lisa.  Savannah Grace is so cute and lots of fun.
It was a great pit stop to break up our trip!