Ben update

Ben is much better now! None of the rest of us have caught the bug (hopefully we won't!).

Birthday Party

We celebrated Mary Claire's first birthday yesterday with a small group of family and friends. We had sandwiches and cupcakes at the South AR Arboretum. Mary Claire did great and enjoyed herself until the very end when she got tired and grumpy. Imagine a baby getting tired and grumpy? :)

Later that night, Ben got the stomach virus - poor guy. He's been resting a lot today. His dad kept him while Mary Claire and I went to church this morning.

We got to rest up from vacation a little this afternoon. Back to work tomorrow! Aren't we blessed to have jobs, though? :)

Last Day at Gulf Shores - Happy B-day MC!

Today is Mary Claire's first Birthday!

We were at the pool ALL DAY on Thursday and Ben still wanted to stay longer! He was SOOO dark by the end of the day.

We had pizza at the Mellow Mushroom for supper - had enough seafood for one week!

Afterward we stopped at the Souvenir store then went and played a game of miniature golf. Jason won, and I just barely beat Ben - but don't tell him that. Ben thinks he won. Ha!

Jason got us all up at 5 this morning and we were on the road by six. Lovely! But it was nice to make it back in the afternoon so we could get a few things done.

We had a really good time and it was hard to come back. I have a feeling Monday will be even harder.

Oh, I had to post a picture (below) of Mary Claire in this bathing suit. I thought it was precious - it reminds me of Popeye's girlfriend, Olive Oil!

Shopping, etc.

Tuesday night we had supper at Big O's Seafood. It was good and we could tell it was a local favorite. They've been their for 25 years or so.

Wednesday, we went shopping at the outlet mall in Foley. Got some cute clothes for the kids. Wish I could have stayed longer, but we were only there a couple hours.

For lunch we ate at Lambert's (Home of the Throwed Rolls). We had so much fun their! The waiters were all practical joksters and made it interesting. The food was awesome and we had a ton of leftovers.

We did a little more shopping (Booksamillion) after lunch then back to the Condo. We finally got some beach pictures yesterday, but I wish Melissa Laird had been there to take them for us... they would have been so much better! We just used the camera timer.

Ate at Bubba's Seafood last night... Crawfish Po'Boy was good. A storm came through while we were there and there was a tornado warning, but it blew over quickly. Other than that, the weather has been just gorgeous here. Hot and humid, but gorgeous. I am looking at the forecast for next week in south Arkansas, and I'm thinking we better stay here another week to wait out the rain there! Wow, I can't believe all the rain there!

Lazy day at the Pool

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Eat, swim, sleep. That pretty much sums up what we've done since the last time I wrote.

We went out to Cotton's seafood last night. It was really good - I had grouper stuffed with a crab meat. Afterward, we watched Ghostbusters (Ben's pick) at the Condo.

Today, we hung out at the pool. Ben now has a deep, dark tan (in spite of the gallons of sunscreen). Jason and I are just a little red. No fair. Mary Claire is still pretty white. I try to keep her covered up (hats/towels/tent/sunscreen) as much as I can. :)

Ben & Jason took a dip in the ocean again. The Jellyfish are really bad and the seaweed bugged Ben, so they quickly headed back to the pool. Guess we should have gone to the Holiday Inn in El Dorado for a week. ha ha.

Believe it or not, we haven't taken any pictures this time. We got all ready last night, trecked out to the beach before supper with our camera stand to take the official "family beach pictures," but UNFORTUNATELY, the camera lense had fogged up (inside, so I couldn't just wipe it off) so we couldn't do it. We'll try again at some point.

Thinking about going for a night swim later.

Monday in Gulf Shores

We went out to Doc's Seafood after my last blog entry last night. There are about 50 million Seafood restaurants here. Doc's was good, but Jason and I think Lawson's Ole Feed House has them beat.

This morning drove into Florida - just to say we did it. We headed for "The Wharf" in Orange Beach (AL) around 10 a.m. It is a brand new development with cute boutiques, restaurants, a concert arena (Brad Paisley will be there Aug. 11), and a huge ferris wheel - Ben, MC, and I rode it.

We went to "Monsters of the Deep" museum there - Ben's idea. It was about sharks. Pretty cool. We watched this video of a guy who is a shark fisherman catching sharks. Then, when we went to the gift shop afterwards, he was there. I guess he owns the place. Pretty neat to meet a shark fisherman anyway.

We've been at the pool all afternoon. Mary Claire swam a little then took a nap (at the pool) then swam a little more. I would sit her on the side and she would fall into my arms in the pool. She had fun.

First Day at the Beach

Jason, Ben, Mary Claire, and I headed for Gulf Shores, AL Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. We got in town around 5:30. We had to stop three times (kids!) and the traffic was really heavy when we got to Mobile. Everyone was headed to the beach.

After we made a stop at the grocery store, I unpacked everything while Ben and Jason went and swam in the ocean and the pool. Ben said his dream has finally come true - he is loving every second!

Today (Sunday) is our first full day - the weather has been perfect. We woke up around 9 a.m. and hung out at the beach and took a dip in the pool. Mary Claire does NOT like the ocean - so far. I tried to let her feel the waves on her feet and she would not have anything to do with it. As of today, she doesn't like the sand either. But she was pretty content to hang out under our little tent. She is upset in the picture of the tent because I got up (to take the picture).

Ben and Jason have just walked down to go swimming in the pool again. We're staying in one of the Brett/Robinson condos - Island Winds East. It's clean and really nice. We have a full kitchen with all the cookware, etc. and a washer/dryer in our room. A great view too!

More later...

-Magen