Beach finds

Chris is the winner. Each year we have this unspoken contest to see who can find the best beach shell. If you don't know sand dollars are really hard to pick up without breaking. They are VERY fragile. Also they will come in & before you can get to them, the sand is covering them up with the next wave. So Chris comes in first. Steph was 2nd runner up with her shell that is about the size of a baseball. It has no chips or cracks (which is unusual).

Surfer Boy

This is one of the few photos I have of Logan using the boogie board. Most of the time he'd just throw his body into the crashing wave & body surf in.

Surfer Girl

Steph & her skim board.
If you keep practing long enough, you will eventually learn it. You will unfortunately end up with sandblasted skinned up elbows, knees, & hips too.

Chris & I

This is something I really enjoy doing. Just sitting in a beach chair right at the surfs edge & watching the kids play. I also scan the water for black fins (I'll be honest). I'm a little freaked out just knowing sharks are in the water. So far the only fins I've saw are the dolphins making their daily trek down the coast.

Stars & Stripes

Saw this in a Family Fun magazine, decided to try it out for the beach trip.

What we ♥

We enjoyed our annual Gulf Shores vacation this year. I have many photos so I'll add one for each day. This is just a little preview.

Fun Outing

I found a thing online to buy certificates for things in our area for cheaper than you get. So Retha & I both bought cert's for Golf Mountain, the new course in Lowell. Wallace didn't want to go so I went along with them. This was taken then. I didn't take a photo of the trip that Chris went to with me & the kids later that night.

To Do List

I am a list maker. Something about having a long list & marking them off one item at a time just makes me feel like I've accomplished something & making progress. So this photo is about my list making, not just for items I need to buy, but for places I need to go while running errands. As you can tell I had already gotten two places marked off. I did get through the rest & marked each one off. It felt GREAT too :)

more tomatoes

Here is a couple little cherry tomatoes coming up on the plant I have by the back porch. (not enough room in the garden).

garden tomato

Here is a tomato I noticed a couple days ago in my garden. I think it is more weeds than veggies/fruit. But still happy with my tomatoes, bell peppers, cabbage, & melon.

view while walking

This is a pond that is at the park I've been walking at in the mornings. It is a lot prettier in person.

Walk in the park

We enjoyed our first day out of school with a morning walk to the local park, around the walking trail, then back home. Retha & Cali (the dog) went along with us. Stephanie walked Cali almost the whole walk & they both enjoyed it. We are really lucky & have not one park, but two in walking distance from our house. I'll admit we don't enjoy them as much as we should.

Last Day of School

Remember the PAPER CHAIN we made in March to represent the days of school left? Today the last one was torn apart & our summer break started.

Friendly Neighbors

Retha came over to enjoy our freshly cleaned out, chemicaled up pool with us. I'm not sure if she even knew I took this photo. Steve came over for a little bit, but didn't last long, just enough to cool off from being outside most of the day I think.

Actual Pool Time

Finally we got the pool cleaned out, & chemicals in. Logan couldn't wait to get his toes wet. Notice the water level on Logan? When we first got the pool only about a half inch of Logans hair/head would stick out when we was standing. He sure has grown since July 2005.

6th Grade Choir Concert

This is a blurry photo, but it'll have to work. Especially since I'm not sure how to get the photos off the video camera :) Logan is located on left, 3rd row up from bottom, 2nd one over.

Railroad Crossing

There is a railroad crossing very close to our home. We stop at this crossing almost every time we leave our house. Even though we hear trains quite often, we usually don't have to actually stop for a train. We were first in line as a train was approaching the crossing the other night so I grabbed my phone out to snap a photo.