Lots of kiddos!
Jump, jump, jump!
Our Crew
Daddy up to no good!
Tatum and her super cute birthday cake!
Daddy stealing a kiss!
Tanner (Shane & Heather's little boy) having a cupcake.
Mommy & Me!
Hailey and best bud Megan all sunburned and water logged from a day at the pool. 
Miranda, Hailey, Nana, Hayden, and Nanny
Hayden, Nanny, Hailey, and Papa Van
Poor Hayden!
Hayden and Jeremy
You can kind of see the bulging starting about the middle of his forehead. It was HUGE!Happy Anniversary all you dads out there! Hope you all have had a good day. It is not only Father's Day, but our wedding anniversary---12 years! Woohoo! I cannot believe it has been that long! We decided not to do much for either occassion, seeing how we just got back from vacation last night. But the kids made Brian some really sweet cards. We had steak and baked potatoes for dinner and "Father's Day" brownies are in the oven! Brian just wanted to mow and then watch golf the rest of the day. So the kids and I headed out to go visit my dad for Father's day and see my mom since we have been gone for so long. On our way, Hayden threw up! He has had a cough the past couple of days and I'm not sure if he was having some drainage or what and he just projectile vomited in the Kroger parking lot and then was fine. He has been fine the rest of the day. We got to my mom's and went to Joe's pizza. It is really good. Then we went to Target for Hailey to spend her money that Nana gave her for our trip. She is particular with her money and didn't find anything down there she wanted. She remembered wanting an American Girl type doll the day we left that she begged for. So we went back to Target and she was thrilled that the doll was still there! We headed home to start our dinner, then. Happy Father's Day, Brian....and Happy Anniversary!!
Today, we decided to lay low and enjoy our last day of vacation. We got up and headed to the clubhouse pool. We weren't there long enough for the kids to even get wet when they decided they wanted to go to the beach to see if Claire was there. So, we headed down there to meet them. We stayed at the beach until around 2:30! We got some sun! Hailey and Claire boogey boarded and dove under the waves. The water was great today-no jellyfish! I even got out in it! We tried to catch little fish for their buckets and we dug in the sand. They ended up with clams, snails, minnows, and sand fleas! We went up to the room to eat lunch and for me to try to get rid of my massive headache. It had pretty much turned into a migraine with the nausea and all. I ate and rested and then we all headed back down to the pool. Again, we weren't there probably 30 minutes or so, and the kids wanted to go back to the beach. Claire and her family had left just 15 minutes before we got down to the pool, but their friends from Conway were still there. After a couple games of ping pong around the pool, Brian and the kids headed down to the beach while I went to pick up our dinner at the Village Grill. We had a picnic on the beach for dinner. It was really fun. The breeze was amazing and the waves sounded wonderful. We sat and talked with our new friends from Arkansas, whom we know several of the same people. It is so cool! We stayed until 8:30 and then went to wash off in the pool. We got up to our room around 9:00. It was a very long day! We will miss vacation, but I think we are all ready to get home. I am definitely ready to sleep in my own bed! You'll notice, I didn't take very many pictures today. I decided to take a break. These are a few of the kids doing their "jumps" into the pool, and a short video too! I will post more of our beach pictures in the next few days as I have time. We plan on leaving around 8:30 in the morning and Brian has already mapped us out a new route that is supposed to shave off 45 minutes to 1 hour! I hope so! Well, time to get to bed. Another long day of car riding awaits us! See you when we get back!
Today, we didn't get out to the pool until almost noon. Brian and Hayden had to go into town because he lost his brand new camo goggles. So, Hailey and I headed down before them. She got a whole day with Claire, and Claire ended up coming back to our room to play. I cooked them frozed pizza and chocolate chip cookies. They had a great time and then we headed back to the pool to meet back up with her parents, Brian, and Hayden. Brian said Hayden had been going non-stop, jumping in that pool! We all packed up and headed to the beach. The girls tried to boogie board some, but the waves weren't great. The jellyfish were better today....the sign wasn't even up. Hailey got stung I think once. Then they found a group of kids who had made a small pool with sand and water and one girl had caught about 5 little minnows. They also had a crab in there. They all had fun with that! We then headed up to our room about 5:30 to get ready to go down to the beach for our family pictures. I was very nervous because I am not very good at taking pictures. I think they turned out really good, for me. I only put a few on here because I took 119! I am having fun cropping, etc. I will definitely have a hard time picking out the ones I want to blow up. We took pictures until dark and then headed to The Restaurant. It is a very nice restaurant (top rated in Gulf Shores) atop the Clubhouse and overlooks the Clubhouse pool. Alvin and the Chipmunks was on the big screen out at the pool, so we sat outside. Our dinner was WONDERFUL!!! We had crab cakes for an appetizer. Then we had the best rolls. I had filet mignon with garlic mashed potatoes and Brian had pecan encrusted grouper. We were stuffed! Afterwards, Hayden & I stayed to watch the end of The Chipmunks out at the pool and then swung on the swing (?) watching the fireworks along the beach. We are all getting a pretty good tan here! The kids got a bit pink today. I had to make them wear there shirts and visors after awhile. We put tons of sunscreen on them all throughout the day, but I guess when you are out there for 8 plus hours, you will get a bit pink, huh? Tomorrow is our last full day, because we will get up early Saturday morning to head back. Hayden is the only one ready to come home because he wants to see Frosty...and I am sure she is missing us, too! Our plans for tomorrow include just hanging out at the pool/beach all day and night. One last hoorah! See everyone back home soon! Enjoy the pictures and let me know what you think. There are lots more to see. I will post more once I tweak them when we get back home.
Today,we got up around 9:30, had breakfast,and went to the clubhouse pool. The kids didn't really want to go to the beach because of all the stings! The clubhouse pool is alot of fun because it has alot of kids and our friends go to that pool. It has a great poolside grill, too. We had fried shrimp, chicken strips, and ff again. We stayed there most of the day. Hailey got to go up to Claire's room with her for awhile to play and then she came down and went to the beach with Brian for a little bit. She only got stung one time today! Woohoo! We then got ready to go eat at Lulu's. I may have already mentioned it, but LuLu's is a very popular and CROWDED restaurant here owned by the sister of Jimmy Buffet. There is alot to do there for your LONG wait. This week, the Estuarium's mobile unit was there with all kinds of dead sea creatures to look at and touch. There was an octopus, squid, baby sharks, natural sponges, etc. There were a group of kids playing beach volleyball and Hailey joined in. I was very proud of her. Of course, right when she started, we got called to our table. She was walking off and a little girl got the ball and ran to her for her to have a turn serving. She did great! None of the boys could even serve right. It was sweet of that little girl, too. We got our seat which was very close to the live band. The food was great, too. We had cheese dip and salsa appetizers and then boiled shrimp, fried shrimp, chicken strips, fried oysters, blackened shrimp, etc. I saw a girl I used to work with years ago....it is so crazy seeing people you know from so far away! We left there and headed to the go-kart track. We rode 3 rounds of go-karts, the kids rode the slower go-karts by themselves, bumper boats and a few other rides. The kids were in heaven! While we were there, we saw one of Brian's fraternity brothers who married one of my sorority sisters. We have seen so many people! We just got back to the condo around 10:00 and got the kids to bed. When they go to bed they say, "what are we doing tomorrow?". I think they are having a great time. I think we all are having a great time. Enjoy the pics! The one from the bridge is LuLu's where we ate. 
Today, we got up and Brian & Hailey headed down to the beach around 9:30 to boogey board. We decided that the kids needed a break from the hot part of the day and sun. We didn't want them to get burned and they got a little pink yesterday. So, we went to the outlet mall and to the Mossy Oak store. Hayden picked out two toys, a camping set with man and a fishing guy with his money Nana gave him. Then, he found a stuffed animal deer that he headed up to the counter with, sure of himself that he would be able to get it. And he did. It is cute and we named him "Buck". We then headed to the outlet mall. We got a few things for the kids and I got a visor. We didn't really find many good deals. We ended up heading back to the condo to get down to the beach. I went jogging along the beach while Brian and the kids went to the beach. When I came back by, the kids were ready to go to the pool because Hayden had got tore up by a jellyfish right on the ankles. Brian got stung on the leg and bent down to rub it. When he did, his chin went into the water and a jellyfish wrapped around his face. His jaw line was all red. We ended up going to the pool and then down to the beach when the sun was going down for me to "practice" taking pictures for our family pictures I will attempt another night. I think they turned out OK. I have a program on my computer that allows me to crop, B&W, and fade out parts of the pictures. It is pretty neat and I am having fun playing with it, obviously. Brian keeps making fun of me for putting so many pictures on here, but this is what the blog is for! After our "photo session", we got our showers and went to a restaurant on the Marina called Tacky Jacks. I wasn't crazy about it and neither were the kids. We had chicken strips, fried shrimp, fried fish, fried oysters, fried crawfish and french fries. And everything tasted the same. I have not had so much fried foods in so long. I will probably come back weighing 15 more pounds than I started! While we were there, Hayden was in rare form. He is usually very talkative, but tonight was above the norm. Everytime he "needed" something, he would say, "I'm going to go ask our waitress". We had to tell him he couldn't just go find her. He really wanted a hot dog which was not on the menu. So, he said, "I'm going to ask them if they have hot dogs." When our waitress came, he said, "Do ya'll have hot dogs?" Hailey would have rather died than ask them a question. Another older waitress started coming over and talking to him. He was asking her if they had milk and of course she went and got him a big glass. Then he sang for her and chit chatted. She went and got another waitress friend of hers to come and hear him sing. I video taped it with my camera. I tried to post it at the end of the pictures but it didn't load. I may try it again later in another blog. It was funny! She didn't want us to leave. After getting back to the condo, Brian and the kids took flashlights and headed to the beach to hunt for crabs.....at 10:00! Whoa! You'll have to hear the crab story from Brian, it is too long to post here, but pretty funny!
