Bama Here We Come!

We went on another trip.  Instead of doing a week long vacation we decided to take a couple short road trips.  I'm so happy we did.  We headed to Alabama a couple weekends ago.  Why Alabama?  I've been hearing that it has the best beaches within road tripping distance...if you call 8 hours short. :) 

It was long, but totally worth the hours in the car.  Audrey was a champ and surprisingly we had so much fun on the way there and on the way home.  We crossed three states, watched movies, played trivia, searched for ABC's, read books, and talked about life.  It was a much needed break after begin through so much together in the last couple months.

When we got there we were all blown away by view out our balcony door. We were all so excited to head to the beach in the morning.  Instead we welcomed a lot of rain. We were a little bummed, but it was fun to visit the local Ron Jon and other random surf shops.  In the afternoon we got a short break in the rain and spent an hour at the beach before we got poured on.  I had to take a mental picture of the moment in my mind because it was kind of hilarious.  Everyone around us were huddled under their big umbrellas looking at us like we were crazy. We didn't have much, so we were scrambling to get everything picked up while we were getting slammed with water. We were dripping by the time we got back to the hotel.

That evening I had reserved a sunset dolphin cruise.  It wasn't exactly what I had imagined but it was worth every penny.  I guess in my mind I pictured a Sea World Dolphin show in the wild...kind of sounds stupid now. :)  We got to see so many dolphins.  Their fins would poke out of the water every now and then and toward the end of our trip we got to see a few baby dolphins play with each other, which was exactly what I was hoping for.  The captain of the boat was so nice to Audrey and let her drive the boat.  Audrey felt like she was sailing the never seas with her crew and she was Jake.  The whole experience was priceless and the bay was beautiful! 

The next day I was determined to have a beach day.  I bought a really big beach umbrella and we spent almost the entire day at the beach.  It rain a little bit, but over all, was a really nice day.  Audrey gathered a bucket of sea shells, she made a sand castle, we had lunch on the beach, we swam in the ocean, and had a good time on the boogie board.  It was the kind of fun that makes you never want to leave a place. 

 Audrey learned what salt water tastes like and that sand starts to hurt your unmentionables when you've been sitting in it all day. 

We went out to eat, we had late night ice cream runs, we bought cheesecake from the iconic cheesecake bakery, we watched a couple hallmark movies, and saw the hotel's pet alligator.

It was sad to say goodbye to the ocean.  I know I live close to it, but our beach isn't as nice.  

Someday we'll go back, and next time I'll stay a couple more days. 

Work and Play

 I decided to take the morning and do an overhaul on my flower beds.  I've been neglecting them because it's been so hot that I would prefer to go to the pool.  Paul keeps telling me that the weed killer he's been spraying is going to keep the tree roots in my flower bed from sprouting.  He took the tree down a year ago and it's still sprouting. The beast has taken over.  The tree refuses to die.  It continues to multiply despite my best efforts.  Here's hoping that someday it will just disappear.

After trimming all of the bushes, weeding, and pulling out all the flowers that had died from the heat I was cleaning up and watching Audrey help out of the corner of my eye.  She was using a stick to help me "sweep" up all the bush clippings.  This time I let her help how she wanted.  After we got it all cleaned up I let her water the flower beds and then I sat back and watched as she soaked herself with the hose.  

My camera couldn't handle the humidity.  The lens fogged up immediately and I couldn't get it to warm up.  Most of my pictures ended out having a haze on them, but at least I caught the moment.  

When we got inside she took off her soaked clothes and I put a robe on her and made lunch really quick.  As I came around the corner of the kitchen to ask her to come eat I saw her drawing on the floor.  I bought her a notebook to draw in and I have never seen her more excited about a gift.  She's filled it with random words and pictures and I only bought it for her a month ago.  I love her creativity and her made up stories. Maybe someday she'll be a writer.

I love exploring her new found interests with her.
My favorite part was talking with her as she drew.  She was telling me about how she lost the stamp on the end of her pen and her facial expressions were cracking me up.
She's always been able to pull the best faces.

Road Trippin 3

To finish off the trip we put on our swimming suits and headed to Barton Springs.  It's an outdoor pool that's fed by a natural spring.  The only bad part was the temperature.  It was 68 degrees, which is pretty cold for Texas. I thought I was going to freeze to death when I got in, but after a while it was sort of refreshing, as long as you didn't get out with the intent to get back in. :)  When we were packing up to head out we found out that there was a free side.  Next time.

After our swim we got dressed and headed out to find a food truck.  

I've heard raving reviews about the food trucks in Austin.  We we're hoping for a variety of options but found out that they started selling food at 9:00 PM, which was a no go for Audrey. 

Luckily, after some time with google, Audrey feeling car sick, and an hour of wandering around the city we found a food truck! The food was really really good.  The Ribs did not disappoint!  I may find myself going back someday.  

After dinner we drove to a mini golf place that we just happened to see on the way to eat.

    Audrey's been calling it "Putt Putt".  She loved it and so did we.  I thought for sure I was going to beat Paul at the end of our game, but as always he came out the winner.  Next time....watch your back dude!  I may have to resort to cheating.  This is starting to get embarrassing.

After a friendly game of Putt Putt we stopped at the local McDonalds to get an Oreo Mcflurry.  I'm pretty sure that every game should end with an Oreo Mcflurry. 

The trip home was relaxing, and because we decided to drive home a day early (maybe because of the cockroach we found in our hotel room)  we got to spend Monday together as a family at home doing nothing, which was pretty awesome.  

It was a weekend to remember.  

Thanks for treating us well Austin!