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| Our view from the condo. |
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| This was only the beginning of jelly fish caught that day. |
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| Loaded down inside and out. |
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| Sunday afternoon nap. |
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| Peanut butter jelly time! |
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| Another day, another nap on the beach. |
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| Mr. Pinchy |
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| Old Ernie, New Bert (Old Bert is now lost at sea) |
Last week we attempted our first-ever family vacation and it was a huge success. We spent a whole week in Fort Morgan, Alabama, and enjoyed lots of sun, sand, and surf. Both kids did really well on the LONG car trip there and back (what normally takes around 8 hours actually turned out to be 11 hours there, 12 hours to return home). The condo was super-nice, with plenty of room and each kid got their own bedroom, so we were able to sleep pretty normally. We only ate out once or twice, which was just fine with us. The condo had a great kitchen and it was a lot easier to fix meals in the kitchen and pack plenty of sandwiches and snacks for the beach. It turns out all we needed to entertain Hank for hours on end was a big hole in the sand. Both he and Maggie would pretty much live in the hole and dig, play with toys, etc. for the whole time we were on the beach. Maggie even napped on the beach under our canopy, so we got to stay put and play for a lot longer. We caught LOTS of jellyfish the first day, and saw a few more during the week, but the kids were just as happy playing in the sand as they were in the water, so it wasn't a big deal. We drove an hour or so and visited the Cates and Hymans on Tuesday at their place in Perdido Key. Then Noelle came down from Montgomery and stayed with us on Thursday and Friday nights, which the kids really enjoyed. Overall, I think everyone had fun. I was definitely not looking forward to getting back into the regular routine yesterday. And we are already talking about doing it all over again next year.
