{ 40th Birthday Beach Bash }

To celebrate my 40th birthday, Mom invited the girls in our family (plus baby Luke!) to Orange Beach for a long weekend.  It was a fabulous girls trip and we all had a ball!

Mom and I headed down to Orange Beach early Thursday morning and made it in time to meet Courtney, Paige and Morgan at the Shrimp Basket for lunch.  We ate, dropped our stuff off at the condo and headed to the airport, in Pensacola, to pick up Amy.  The rest of the crew made it into town by the time we got back from the airport.  We relaxed by the pool a few minutes before heading to Lulu's for dinner.

The pool area was super nice.  We loved staying at Summer House.

We had a bit of a wait at Lulu's, but we didn't have any trouble keeping ourselves entertained!

 The shrimp and grits were awesome!

I sat on the arm of this chair, while no one was sitting in the chair and it fell forward and dumped me on the ground.  I didn't get hurt, but got so tickled I could hardly get up.  Thanks Paige and Courtney!

 We had some cookies for dessert when we got back to the condo.  Rosie's cookies are so good!

I also opened a few presents, like this Ronaldo bracelet, from Karen and the girls.  Love it!

Pat and Amy gave me a generous gift certificate to the salon for some pampering and my sweet Aunt Carolyn (who wasn't able to make it on the trip) gave me a precious "40" charm for my Pandora bracelet.  I honestly have the best aunts and cousins!

I thoroughly enjoyed Day 1 of the beach trip!  More tomorrow!  :)

{ Painting }

Emma Taylor decided to get a little crafty one afternoon.  She painted a few canvases for her room and had a ball doing it!

She started with a rainbow.

 The next day she finished her hot air balloon.

When they dried we got them hung up in her room.  She was pleased with her work!

{ Camp Lake Stephens }

I dropped Harrison off at Camp Lake Stephens on Monday afternoon.  This was his first trip to camp, so we decided on Mini Camp, which is 3 days and 2 nights.  He went with his good friend, Quinn, so he wasn't the least bit nervous about it.

Harrison and Quinn (along with his little brother, Landon) made it to Camp Lake Stephens!

Here they are headed to their cabin.  

 They were in Cabin 24

I made his bed, got him settled and he was ready for me to GO!

I swiped a few pictures of from the website while he was gone.

He posed with his counselor, Cory, when I picked him up.  He was all smiles (and wearing the same shirt he was wearing when I dropped him off.  Ha!).

He loved every minute of camp and said he can't wait to go back for a whole week next year!  They swam, did crafts, played games, went for nature walks, did Bible studies, etc.  I loved hearing all about his adventures at camp.  I'm so thankful he loved it!  

{ Orange Beach - The Pretty Days! }

We finally saw some sunshine early Friday morning, so we didn't waste any time heading down to the beach!

We celebrated Candace's birthday while we were on our trip.  Here birthday is June 2nd, which is the day after we came home.  We decided to have cupcakes, ice cream and sing to her one afternoon when we came up for a break.  Here she is blowing out her candles.

 Cora Beth loved her cupcake!

The little three were so glad when Anna Grace joined them in the water.  She spent more time relaxing and reading at the beach this year.

We also ate some delicious meals, which is one my favorite things to do on vacation.  I think my favorite meal this trip was at Flippers.  We had fried shrimp, crab claws and yummy cheese grits.  Loved every bite!  They also had a dessert cocktail, called a Bushwacker, made with homemade ice cream that was seriously delicious!

 On the way out of town we stopped by the Hangout.  The kids thought this was pretty cool!

I know there are tons of pictures included (and this isn't even close to being all of them), but the kids love seeing pictures of themselves having fun on vacation.  Even with a few days of ugly weather, we had an absolutely fabulous trip.  Can't wait to go back!  :)