Trip to Gulf Shores, part 1

WARNING: There are a lot of pictures. I'll at least break it up into two posts. :)

We left early Thursday morning to drive the 13 hours to Gulf Shores. It really shouldn't have taken that long, but with 3 small kids and a pregnant mama, it happens. We were VERY thankful to get to our condo Thursday night. Plus, we met up with 2 of Keith's good friends and their families. LOTS of kids between the 3 families!!

Friday morning we met up with them at the beach. The last time we were there (6 years ago) EK strongly disliked the beach. Her sensory issues at age 2 1/2 were very intense. Thankfully, she's a lot better. She LOVED the water. While this was great, she can't swim and had no idea how to keep her head above water. We had to watch her like a hawk b/c the waves would take her out into the ocean quickly. No telling how much salt water she drank. YUCK!


It was AK's first time to the beach and he loved every part of it. Playing in the sand, playing in the water, looking for shells, etc. I'm sure it helped to have lots of buddies to play with.

Ms. Allison taught AC how to watch mussels bury back into the sand. That was pretty neat!

The water had TONS of seaweed (YUCK!) and some jellyfish. The parents buried them deep in the sand when we found one. Thankfully, no one got stung.



AC had a blast! She didn't really remember our last time there since she was 1! ;)

These two are just a few months apart in age. They became quick friends. :)

Our condo had bunk beds in one room. I thought it'd be a good idea to try them out since that's probably what we'll get before the baby comes in January. While it made me nervous, AK scaled the ladder up and down just fine. He didn't sleep on the top bunk but had fun playing up there during the day. :) AC did great on the top bunk at night and had no trouble getting up and down. Now, I'm not so nervous to get the bunk beds.

Here's a picture of the girls before our friends headed home.

And one of the boys. Ha!! AK thinks he's such a big boy!

Here are the boys that moved to Texas and started seminary at Southwestern back in 1999. Thankful that my husband has such good friends. They are all pastors, one in FL, one in AL and of course, we're in TX.

Here are the wives: (Like my baby bump?) It was fun spending time with these ladies, who also happen to be sisters. :)

And here's an attempt at getting a picture of all 11 kids! :) And I'm bummed that I had a smudge on my lens. (That's the spot you see.)

EK and SJ weren't really into the photo so he's one without them. And little K is trying to escape. Ha!

It was such a fun few days with them!! On Saturday, the guys went to Mobile to watch Mississippi State play. Never quite thought I'd plan a vacation around college football, but it was a good time! Glad Keith got to spend some time with his friends...they don't get to do it often enough anymore.

Part 2 of our trip to come...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Autism Awareness Day

It's hard to believe this is our 10th Autism Awareness Day. Ironically, I also sat in EK's annual ARD this morning. To be honest, life is so busy right now that I haven't had time to think much about this day approaching. Maybe that's good. When I have too much time to think about how autism has changed our family's life, I sometimes get discouraged. When EK was first diagnosed in February 2009, we thought that if we got her in the right therapies, she'd start Kindergarten in a mainstream classroom. That was our goal and early on, it seemed doable. We changed her diet (which by the way, I don't regret at all. I truly believe it's helped her to be the happy child she is.), we did occupational therapy, speech therapy, ABA therapy, vitamins/supplements, school preschool program for kids with autism and many other things. Fast forward a few years  and we saw no real improvements. In fact, she stopped talking a few months before her 4th birthday. Those begin...
Read more

3 days in a row...

EK started back to preschool on Monday morning. After 2 weeks off for Christmas break, I was a little nervous about how sad she'd be when I dropped her off and how long it'd take her to get back in the routine. When I picked her up on Monday, I was SO relieved to hear that she hardly fussed that morning. She was happy all morning long! She participated in music therapy by playing the guitar. She worked on fine motor tasks with her teacher and she colored with a marker! This last thing is a BIG deal. For some reason, the past 6 months or so, she would NOT hold a writing utensil. I'm not sure if it's because I used to tell her constantly to not put it in her mouth or if it became a sensory thing or a control thing. Whatever the reason, she just wouldn't even try to hold a marker, pen, crayon, etc. If you put it in her hand, she'd drop it or throw it. We literally had to firmly hold her hand around the writing utensil to keep it in her hand long enough to scribble ...
Read more

3 months ago today...

Most of you who are reading this know what our family is going through right now. It was 3 months ago today that we took EK to a developmental pediatrician. We left there with a diagnosis of autism. Even though we knew it was coming, it was tough to swallow. We've done so much research, reading books, searching on the internet, and talking with those who've been down the same road. There is so much information out there. We're trying to be proactive and do all we can to help her live a normal life and I'm praying like I've never prayed before. She's still our sweet 3 year old daugher, our firstborn. Her diagnosis doesn't change our love for her. I'm not even sure it changes our dreams for her. We know that God is able to completely heal her, but regardless of the outcome, we know that our God has a plan for her that will bring Him glory. I'm so thankful to be the mama to EK and AC. They are such sweet blessings, even on the hard days. :)
Read more