Vacation

We hit the beach a few weeks ago.  Before we went to the beach the boys spent a little time in Jackson while Fred and I toured the state for TBC meetings.  Seriously, we toured the state.  We had to be in Lexington by 9, Donelson by 2 and Crossville by 7.  Then we drove back to Knoxville for the night.  We had the best time together.  Fred left the next day while I shopped in Knoxville all day...good times!  We drove in Wednesday, packed and then loaded up for church.  Once church was over we drove to Jackson to sleep for the night and leave out bright and early.  We really have the best traveling kiddos on the planet.  We left at 6:00 a.m. and arrived in Gulf Shores by 3:00 p.m.  That's awesome, isn't it?!?  I think it might be a record.  We stopped two times...yes, two times. 

Once we got to the condo (which I would highly recommend, click here to see it...not great pictures, but a great price and easy to work with!) we dropped our bags and the boys hit the pool and beach while I went to the grocery.  Other than eating out for lunch that is pretty much what we did all day.  Below are a few pictures from our days...

While we were at the beach, Jack celebrated his 6th birthday.  Seriously, 6?!?  Where has it gone.  I may or may not have gotten a little teary as he blew out his candles on his birthday breakfast of beignets.  We celebrated all day long with all things Jack:  beignets, putt putt golf, go carts, bumper boats, an arcade, lunch at LuLu's, the tower of youth, ice cream and a roller coaster ride.  Could we have possibly squeezed anything else in that day?!?  I think not. 

As we were driving in to Gulf Shores I saw a billboard about a Hot Air Balloon Festival in Foley, Alabama (10 miles away).  We all thought it sounded like fun and it did not disappoint.  If I ever see one of those again we will stop for sure!

After five days at the beach we headed to New Orleans for the annual conference of the Southern Baptist Convention.  I don't have too many pictures from those days.  We did spend some time one day at lunch in the French Quarter...walking and walking and walking and walking...

Good times for the Shackelfords!

We rolled in late Wednesday night, just in time to get ready for Jack's party on Saturday.  And then to  roll out again for Seattle on Sunday.