Orange Beach Vacation

We headed out for Orange Beach, Alabama Sunday after lunch at church.  We drove for 4/5 hours to Meridian, Mississippi with what I would call one of our top 3 worst car experiences.  After a good nights rest (and a good lecture) Mondays travel's went much better.  Did I mention we picked up Mawmaw on Sunday?  

Once we arrived at the beach we headed straight to our favorite restaurant for lunch.  After lunch we played at the condo with the Mauldins.  Tuesday the big boys headed to Pensacola for a Blue Angels practice session.  Then they went to Five Guys for lunch. 

 Wednesday we headed to the beach.  Andrew was not a fan.  He pretty much screamed the entire time we were there.  We did go to the beach with the pretty lady below.  She did not stay long though.  She volunteered to take grumpy goo back to the resort. 

 Back at the condo the boys loved playing in the lazy river with their friends. 

 Everyone loved the slide...well, everyone but Andrew...he was not a fan.  He kept saying no and shaking his head.  We took him down twice thinking he would warm up to the idea.  He did not.

 Mawmaw and the boys at Doc's Seafood Shack.  I highly recommend the shrimp!

 Back at the condo for our last day.  Yes, Andrew has his pap pap.  He had just gotten up and was not willing to let it go.  I figure if I get to eat dessert every day since we are on vacation he can have his pap pap when he wants it...right?!?  It's vacation after all!!

 I have no words for this shot.  I just thought it was funny. 

We love the beach!  We love the friends that we get to go with each year!  We feel blessed, that for this year, we were able to go, get away and spend time together as a family.   The count down is on for next year!

Five on Friday...belated

1.  We are so excited that Josh Escue and Emily Peery (soon to be Escue) came to Springhill this morning for church!  We have been praying for a year that the Lord would bring someone to our church to minister to the students of our community and to lead us in worship.  Although it's not official yet we are overjoyed at the prospect of working closely with them.  Please pray for our church as we move through this process.
2.  When the tree fell on our house several weeks ago I knew we would have to paint the living room because of the leak down the wall.  Since we're painting the living room, why not the kitchen...and the hall...and the hall bath...and our bedroom...and our bathroom.  We have a guy coming this week to paint it.  WooHoo!!  (Can you see Fred rolling his eyes a little?!?)
3.  Clayton loves to read.  I packed a book for him to read in the car, but did not realize he was almost finished with it.  Fred reminded me that he had his Kindle.  Clayton was ELATED to pick his own book to read from the Kindle.  He looks so big and we have not heard a word out of him since purchasing the book.
4.  Jack jumped off the diving board this week by himself without a life jacket.  He asked me if that was something five years old did and I told him yes it was.  He grinned and was so proud of himself. 
5.  Andrew sits by me at the table.  Lately he has been taking my fork before we begin eating.  This morning while we were eating breakfast he reached over and took my plate...took my plate out from under me.  I told me no, to which he looked up at me with those precious eyes and said, "I want mo!" (Translation:  I want more.)  I took my plate back and reminded him that he had food on his plate. 

Five on Friday

1. Fred tries to keep his weight within a particular range, and recently he’s been edging closer to the high end of that range. Sunday, he decided to start keeping track of his workouts and what he eats using Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG app for his phone (If you’re interested in doing the same thing, go to www.livestrong.com to set it up). Already he’s lost about 4 pounds.  I'm trying not to be mad about the fact that he loses weight so easily. 

 2.  I've been in a baking mood lately.  It started with cinnamon sugar scones the other day.  Then I picked up a flat of strawberries.  After looking at them for a few days I decided to get busy so I made strawberry jam, strawberry cake with homemade icing (for the neighbors), strawberry ice cream (for me and fred!), strawberry bread (pretty healthy), plus I froze a few strawberries.  After all I that I still hadn't had enough.  So, I whipped a batch of these babies for breakfast.  They were delicious and relatively easy...not healthy...but oh so, ooey, gooey.  You should make them!  Go here for the recipe.

3.  We were up late due to the storms Wednesday night.  Once we got home I told Clayton he could not get up before 7:00 a.m. Thursday morning.  He responded with, "What?!?  It's summer vacation!  I'm going to get up extra early!"  I think we may need to discuss our priorities over this summer break. 
4.  While in the car the other day with Jack and Andrew I heard Jack saying this to Andrew over and over..."Andrew, you're not stupid, no you're not.  You're not stupid."  I stopped Jack and told him we don't need to use the word stupid.  He said, "But mom, I was just telling him he was NOT stupid.  That's good, right?!?" 
5.  We call Andrew, Captain Underfoot.  He is always in the way right with us.  While I was making the cinnamon rolls this morning he was glued to my side and boxing me out.  He had gotten his own rolling pin.  He was pushing me and saying, "Move, peas ma ma.  Move, peas ma ma."  I moved out of the way and he commenced to "roll" our cinnamon rolls.  He is a mess. 

Clayton's last day of 2nd grade

Was this not just yesterday?!?

 

Today I dropped this baby off at school for his last day at Rhea...his last day of second grade!

 Celebratory donuts at NeNe's for the last day!  Too funny, the family in the back was at NeNe's last year with us on the last day of school.  Apparently it is their end of the year tradition as well. 

 Last day...

5K@Rhea

Today was the 5K@Rhea.  We had an awesome turn out for our first race!  All in all we had around 250 participants.  Below is the start of the 5K...

 Clayton was off and running. 

 Here is Fred finishing.  Unfortunately I do not have a photo of Clayton crossing the finish.  I get so excited when I see him approaching the finish that I can't get any pictures.  You know, sometimes you just have to be in the moment.  Clayton took 2nd place in his age division with a sub 30 minute 5K time.  (For non-runners, that is less than a ten minute per mile pace.  Pretty fast for 7 year old legs!!)

 Fred and Jack competed in the 1 mile fun run.  You can see Fred.  He is in the gray shirt.  Jack is right next to him.

 Jack is off and running here.  The little girl in the picture is our friend from church.  Her dad is a super serious runner.  BAM skipped during the first part of the race.  It made me smile.

 Here is Jack finishing the 1 mile.  He took 3rd place in his age division. 

It has been a great weekend finishing off the final PTO event of the 2010-2011 school year!

Five on Friday

1.  Fred made homemade whole wheat hamburger buns the other day.  Seriously, if his current career doesn't work I think he could have a future as a baker.  I feel certain I would be his first (and favorite) customer.   
2.  Tomorrow is the 5K@Rhea.  I am really excited for the event to be here.  I'm also nervous to see how it will turn out. I was hoping to have 100 participate.  To date we have 215 registered.
3.  The boys got up one day this week and were beginning to argue.  This is what I heard Clayton tell Jack..."Remember that we agreed that we would get along today.  Let's try harder. Okay?"  After that moment they did not argue the rest of the day.  Ahhh...Nice!  
4.  Friday there was a yard sale on our street.  Fred told Jack he could ride his bike down and see if there was anything we might need.  Jack came back and reported to Fred that there were some things that he thought Fred would want.  They had some real swords and Jack felt certain Fred would want those. 
5.  I changed Andrew's diaper this week.  After I changed it he took he diaper and ran off saying, "Tee, tee, poo, poo, woosh".  I wondered what he was doing so I followed him.  Yes, he threw his diaper in the commode.

Clayton's Awards Day

Clayton had award's day at school today.  He was really excited.  In fact he told me that he thought it might be the best day of his life.  His school has the day down to an art.  Below he's standing and waiting with his class...trying not to smile. 

 His teacher (who he loves!!) came from her maternity leave to the day.  This made it all even more exciting! 

 

Then when we got back to the classroom we discovered another award.  Clayton won the top AR award in his school with a grand total of 225 points.  We were so excited for him!

 We checked Clayton out of school early (shhh!) and headed for a special treat to celebrate.  Guess where he picked?!?  McDonald's!  He didn't want the usual dollar menu fare, oh no, he had to have a Big Mac.  Yes, he did.  He thought he was big stuff.  He didn't eat all of it, but never fear, little brother Jack ate his own  nuggets and finished up the rest of the Clayton's hamburger. 

 What a great way to end a great year!