Picture Results

And the results are.....

#3!!!! I just got back from Bedford's store where I ordered the 20 x 24 of #3. I get to pick it up tomorrow, so I can't wait to get it up in our hallway. Thanks for all the input.

Please Vote

We are going to be hanging a 20x24 family picture in our hallway. I need your help choosing which one would look the best. Here are the four options. Let me know what you all think!!!

-Audrey, I know you already did. Thanks!

Well, today's the big day... Megan started back to school. She is now officially a 1st Grader!!! Of course, she was totally thrilled to be going back to school and never seemed a bit scared. But me, that's a different story. It's just so hard for me. Especially when I leave the school. That's the hardest because I feel like I'm walking away a little emptier. Luckily, some of us ladies got together for breakfast and prayer. That was fun and eased my sadness. And, it certainly helps having my sweet Sissy here with me. I've got one more year with her to enjoy. Next year, I'll be crying buckets of tears I imagine!

Anna and I made a "Crayon" cake for Megan and some of the neighborhood kids as a surprise when they get out of school. Plus, it helped the day pass more quickly. :)

Here's Megan with her teacher, Ms. Griffis, at the open house Monday night.

Cruise

We left on the cruise Monday afternoon. As you can see, the girls absolutely loved jumping from the window down to the bed. They'd pull the shades and hide out in the window area saying, "Let's go to our privacy!" They'd change clothes in there, play with their toys, write in their journals, just about everything in about a 1 x 4 foot area. It was hilarious.

After all the luggage was delivered we headed straight to the pool. Here are Jason and Megan getting ready to go down the slide. Anna wasn't quite tall enough yet.

Next, we headed to the putt-putt course. Which we must have played about 4 or 5 times. It was one of their favorite things to do on the boat. Putt-putt, 24-hour soft-serve ice cream, the bunk bed, and towel animals were BIG hits!!

That night we dressed up and headed to supper.

Bed time at last! They're both laying on the bunk bed in this picture. There was only one bunk bed in the room, so they had to take turns each night. They never argued about it, which was nice. You can tell they're very happy up there.

Here's one of the towel animals. I'm not exactly sure what it is...maybe an elephant.??..

Tuesday night was the formal night. We were on the boat all day.

Wednesday we finally made it to Cozumel. We had previously arranged to have a dolphin encounter, but it wasn't until later that afternoon. So, when we got to Cozumel, we rented a jeep and headed to a kid-friendly beach. It was wonderful. There were hammocks, a bungee trampoline, and big water toys out in the ocean. Plus, we snorkeled quite a bit and saw lots of fish and two lobsters.

After playing, we grabbed some quesadillas and Pepsi at the outdoor hut area, then headed to the dolphin encounter.

The dolphin encounter was amazing. We all four stood on a platform down in the water and met "Leesy." We got to hear her sing, watch her dance, jump, and swim. We got to kiss her and shake her fins. She kissed all of us too. She did all kinds of cool things right in front of us. We were up close and personal for at least 30 minutes. It was great and very educational too. Here's one of the MANY iguanas we saw while there.

After the dolphin encounter, we hunted for iguanas and then went snorkeling again a little down the beach. Lots of fun and pretty fish. We went pretty far out where there was some coral and tons of beautiful fish all around us. Anna actually touched one as it swam by.

The next day we ported in Calica, Mexico. We went to ExCaret. We first went on a walking tour and saw tons of iguanas, deer, a monkey, and wild boar. Then we went on a boat ride along a river with iguanas hanging off rocks all around us and beautiful birds. It was neat to watch the iguanas crawl into the crevices along the cliffs or see a tail hanging out of a hole.

We went to a butterfly palace, saw tigers, aquariums full of all kinds of creatures, sea turtles (even babies), fish farms, sting rays (the girls even got to pet them), an alligator, and all kinds of stuff.

We snorkeled for quite a while in a beach area as well as these cool inlet areas where the waves crash over the rocks on top of you. Amazing!!!

My favorite part of the day was snorkeling through the caverns. It was about a mile long underground with lighting along the way and openings as well where you could exit if you wanted to. It was quite fun and very unique.

The trip was wonderful. We made lots of great memories together and had lots of fun.

Gulf Shores Day at the Beach

I haven't blogged in forever, so now I'm playing catch up with all our pictures over the summer.

Here we are in Gulf Shores, Alabama. It was the day before the cruise left. We went down a day early so we could have a full day at the beach. We played and played. The girls' favorite part was searching for sea shells. The waves would wash them up, then quickly wash them away. It was fun for the girls to try to spot them and then grab them as quickly as they could before another strong wave hit. Jason and the girls built sand castles and we all had fun swimming and riding the waves. It was a great day. I'd love to go back there sometime and stay longer.

Here are some snapshots of our summer

This is at Nana's house in the midst of her lush, tropical gardens.

Then we headed across her street to let the girls do some small fireworks.

After all the fun, the girls and I headed to Fayetteville to visit with my family. On the way, we stopped and saw Pam and Kelly along with their gangs. What fun! The kids all swam, but it was a little too cold for me, so I just enjoyed watching and visiting. Then we had a great meal together.

We finally made it to Mom and Dad's late that night. Here are Mimi and the girls reading a bedtime story with their new Fourth of July lights.

The next day they were searching the yard for bugs, critters, just about anything that moved. And they were successful...they found a teeny tiny frog. They were so excited.

Dad took them fishing. Half the fun is cleaning the fish and cooking it. Believe it or not, they actually like to eat the fish.

It always seems like when we visit Fayetteville, we're busy the whole time. One morning we just hung out doing not much of anything. The girls swam in Mom and Dad's big blow-up pool/slide, we had watermelon and a big picnic lunch outside, and just stayed outside all morning enjoying the beautiful weather. It was nice.

We all got together with my brother and his wife and sweet Myrah for a fun-filled game of bowling. The girls all played on their own lane, while the adults had a little fun of our own on a separate lane. Bowling is always fun with them. Especially watching how excited Myrah gets!!

Back home, the girls had a pajama/movie night with some of their friends.

We haven't been able to camp in the last year or so, so we decided to pitch camp out in our own back yard. We roasted marshmallows inside in the fireplace, had smores, played flashlight tag, and just had a great time. Once we all got tucked away nicely in the tent, turned all the lights off, and settled down, the girls mentioned that they might sleep better in their own beds. Jason and I were more than happy to sleep in our own beds as well, so out we crawled back inside to have sweet sleep the whole night through!!! :) As far as I was concerned, they got the memories but we all got good sleep too! PERFECT!

They wore their head flashlights from Aunt LaLa throughout the night. Here's Anna eating a smores.

The night before we left for our cruise, the girls were invited to a sleepover. They had a wonderful time. It was Anna's first sleepover ever, so of course, I had to take a pic.

We had a blast on our cruise down to Mexico. I'll post about it soon.