Beach Vacation 2009

She takes my breathe away.

She makes me smile, inside and out.

My blog entry about our trip to Orange Beach with family and friends could go on and on and on. So, I thought I would sum it up with my Top 10 Favorite things about our vacation and tons of photos.

1. The Hagel's (David, Jennifer, Jack, Josie), The Ofenhuesle's (Will, Stephanie, Noah, Anna) & The Usery's (Richard, Janet). What a great group of folks. I loved spending my vacation with each and every one of them.


2. The condo. This place was SAAAWWEEETTT. 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths. A massive balcony overlooking the ocean. Open floor plan. Plenty of space for all of us.


3. The pool. Our building had the best pool set up, especially if you have little ones. It had a nice walk in pool with a couple of little waterfalls. It had a decent size lazy river, which I enjoyed thoroughly. Off the lazy river it had another pool area with a pretty big sized twisty slide (for the record - Quinn loved going down this slide with her cousin Josie. HC said she would go down it when she got a little bit bigger).


4. The ocean and sand. Watching Hassie Clare and Quinn's face and their expression when they saw and touched the ocean for the first time was priceless for me. One of my favorite things about being a parent is getting to watch these 2 precious souls experience things for the first time. It fills my heart up every time. Jamie worked with Quinn for 2 days before she starting enjoying the sand and water. It only took Hassie Clare about 15 mins. I'm not mentioning any names (NANA) but someone told them that little sharks would nibble on their toes. So every sea shell they stepped on they thought it was shark teeth. Once they calmed down, I loved taking them out in the ocean to "jump" waves and just enjoying the serenity of it all.


5. The food. We each took turns cooking dinner and every night the food was fabulous. Of course it was all seafood or steak!


6. The entertainment. The girls had such a good time playing with Noah (also 3), his sister Anna (1) and their cousins Jack and Josie. We had dance parties on the balcony (video evidence), lots of story telling and just hanging out enjoying each other's company. I don't care who ya are, this group of folks are fun people. We spent every day at the ocean and pool and every night on the balcony.


7. Time with my husband. Getting away from our normal routine and the every day stresses of life was fantastic. We even enjoyed the long road trip. Just being in the car without a care in the world. We talked and laughed about silly things. I truly enjoyed my time with him and I can't wait to get away with him again...hopefully soon (wink wink Maema and Nana).


8. My float trips with Quinnie. On the lazy river they had tubes that were perfect for floating on. On more then one occasion, Quinn curled up on my chest and feel asleep. One day I floated for over an hour and a half with her asleep on my chest. I loved it!


9. Watching Hassie Clare find sea shells (or as she says "SHE SHELLS). Most of you already know that she is obsessed with rocks. You can imagine how nuts she went when she discovered sea shells. It would take her FOREVER to walk on the beach because she would stop and collect every piece of shell she could find. I thought I narrowed her collection down to 2 baggies full but I keep finding them everywhere. In her car seat, wash machine, under her pillow, etc.


10. I know I've already listed this but one of my favorite parts of this vacation was hanging out with everyone. I loved getting to know Noah and Anna. I enjoyed all the mommy / wife conversations with the girls. I loved spending quality time with my niece Josie. I laughed like never before on our party nights on the balcony. I can't wait to go on vacation again with this group!

I now fully understand why people "do whatever they have to do" to take vacations with their family. This was only the second full week of vacation I have taken in 11 years (since graduate school). The quality time you get with your family while on vacation is unforgettable. It was, in a nutshell ..... fun!

Sisterly love ... or is it the sleeper hold?

Hassie Clare and I enjoying a stroll in the lazy river.


Me and my good lookin' bro David.


The girls WORSHIP their cousin Josie. She is such a sweet and loving little girl. I'm kind of crazy about her myself.

Stealing smooches from Hassie Clare in the pool.

Kids night with Kristi. I think we were doing yoga or stretching it out for a mean game of Duck, Duck, Goose.

Jamie just stuck the camera in this tub slide at the Oyster House and captured this picture.

Umple Dave, Cousin Jack (or Jack-A-Poo as HC says) and Hassie Clare feeding fish.

Sitting at a "kids" table for the first time by herself. Noah took care of her. When she ran out of Goldfish he came over to our table to tell me she was out and asked if she could have more. Such a gentleman!

Quinnie in her"kini."

99.9% sure that she is hauling "she shells."

Love at first sight. Noah and Quinn stayed by each other as much as they could. We found them on more then one occasion playing in the closet (aka the girl's bedroom). Needless to say, they will need to be monitored closer when we vacation together in 12 years:)

Quinnie's favorite part of vacation - snow cones at the pool.

Hassie Clare rinsing her feet off.

The girls trying to avoid fish guts on a pier.

Bathing beauty.

The kids and I made a sign with all their hand prints one evening (minus Jack ... but he's not really a kid anymore, at least he doesn't think so).

The closet in our bedroom was HUGE. The girls put their new Princess blow up beds in there and called it their room. All the kids loved playing in this closet!

Me, Hassie Clare, Stephanie, Noah and Janet - snuggling on the couch.

A view of "half" the lazy river and slide from 15 stories up.

Jamie and his girls.

Below are pictures of Dance Party USA and hanging out on the balcony.

My original thoughts were to upload a video of the rock stars that made an appearence on our balcony at the beach. Can you believe Beyonce and her 2 sidekicks showed up to put on a performance for us?????? After reviewing the video, I felt it was in the entertainers best interest not to share this video with the public.

Ahhhhh ... the memories.