First Days of School

A little late, but finally some back to school pictures! We actually had 2 first days of school since Blake started on Wednesday and Evan didn't start until Thursday. Blake was SO excited to get back to school. Since we missed orientation because we were on vacation, I had talked to his teacher and told her I would walk in with him the first day with his supplies so Blake could see the classroom and meet her. He is in Mrs. Linam and Mrs. McClain's classes. We walked in and introduced ourselves and we were fairly quickly ushered out. No hugging or taking pictures in 4th grade, just all business :) So, I walked Blake back out the door and he was off! Here he is before we left the house...

He looks SO grown up here!!

On Thursday Evan had his first day of school. We woke up to a DOWNPOUR! It was storming and raining like crazy. Evan was ready, but not quite as excited about school as Blake was. Here are my guys before we left the house...

Evan has Mrs. Newcomb for 1st grade. We are very excited about a great year for Evan. You can tell by his face, just how thrilled he was to have me taking his picture in front of the whole class.

So far so good!! Both boys have come home every day happy and with lots of stories to tell. Evan thinks it is SO cool that Mrs. Newcomb knows his Nonnie. I think it's great too, because I know I will get all the inside scoop!! Hope everyone is enjoying "back to school"!!!

More Beach Pics...

I love taking pictures on the beach. It's always a lot of trouble, but I'm always so thankful that we went through with it. Thanks to Poppy's great camera, tripod, and remote we were able to get some really good family pics without a photographer!! Here's a pregnant picture of me. I promised myself I would take some pictures this time around and I haven't done very well. But, here i am at 27 weeks!!

Evan had a really hard time getting serious and started crying before we even made it out to the beach. So, he's got "cry eyes" in some of the first ones.
Sweet pic of mom and I!

I have a picture very similar to this from every year since the boys were born. Love it!!

A "sea oats" picture!!

The family at sunset~

Another sunset pic. I don't know how to edit/lighten, but when this one is doctored up it will be better~

We always have to do a crazy pic!

Ocean background...

This is one of my favorites of all of us!!

I love the beach!!

Beach Days...

Wow, are we having fun! I've been so busy being a beach bum I haven't taken the time to blog about it. Until now. Here is one random pic from our tour of the USS Alabama. We spent Friday morning walking around the ship and surrounding area. It was really awesome, but REALLY hot!! There are a lot of very narrow, very steep ladders to climb all over that ship. I started feeling a little light-headed and decided I needed to take a break. So, I spent part of the morning in a little air conditioned area watching a "movie" about the ship while Travis and the boys tromped all over the actual ship. Here they are standing on the deck...

We got to check into our condo about 2:00 on Saturday afternoon. It's absolutely beautiful. Here is the living room with a view that looks straight out to the beach from the 9th floor!!Here is the view back towards the door. The boys bedroom is on this floor and the other 2 bedrooms are upstairs. It's an awesome layout for us!

Here are the boys playing on the beach. It is SO nice that they love to "play" at the beach. We stayed down there for about 3 hours straight today before I heard them say anything about going to the pool.

But, the pool is awesome too! It is the perfect temperature to just walk in to. We have spent plenty of time at the pool also. One big accomplishment...Blake has learned to DIVE. We have been trying to teach him for years. He's just been very timid. But, this was his year!! It's far from perfect, but his hands usually go in first and his feet usually go in last :)
Here is a pic of my mom and I waiting for a table at "Bubbas". We always HAVE to eat here at least once. It was crab legs for me!! YUM YUM!!
Here is a pic of our "camp" at the beach. We started bringing a canopy a few years ago. It is so nice to just set it up the first day and know that our "area" is staked out for the week. We just take the cover off every afternoon and leave all the chairs and everything on the beach. We've only had a couple of chairs stolen one time. Totally worth it not to have to haul all that gear back and forth every day. If you look closely, you will see that Travis is reading, yes I said READING a book. In all the time I've know Travis, I think I've only seen him read one, maybe two books. But, he has heard a lot of about "The Shack" and mentioned that he might want to read it. I made sure it was here for him and he is actually enjoying reading. I SO hope it sticks!!

Here is a pic of the family on the balcony before we left for dinner last night!

My sweet little beach bums!!

They have spent LOTS of time digging holes and skimming for shells with their nets!

Me and my boys in the pool!! The only way you will see me in a swimsuit is covered in water :)

This afternoon Evan and Nonnie spent some time together in the pool. Evan drug mom all over the pool on her floatie, then she returned the favor!Here we are tonight eating at LuLu's. LuLu is Jimmy Buffet's sister and the whole restaurant is outside. It was a really cool atmosphere and the boys threw french fries to the sea gulls from the table through the whole meal.

Our favorite souvenir store - Souvenir City. We always take a picture in the shark's mouth.
We are having a blast. I think tomorrow may be shopping day. There is an awesome outlet mall just a few miles down the road. Mom and I will shop and the guys will probably go to a movie. Lots more fun to be had!!

99 Days and Counting...

I just looked at my pregnancy ticker and it says 99 days!!! Wow, I'm finally in double digits. It seems like a big milestone to me. In a way I can't even imagine being pregnant for 99 more days, but compared to the 200+ I started with, it's great!! I keep wondering what I'm gonna look like in 99 days...I feel like I'm already as big as a house. Fun times...

We are leaving in the morning for vacation!! Woo Hoo!!! We are heading to Huntsville, AL tomorrow to take the boys to the NASA Air and Space Museum. Then on to Mobile, AL on Friday to tour the USS Alabama. We will head on into Perdido Key, FL on Saturday and check in our condo. We're staying there for 7 nights, then half way home next Saturday. We'll spend the night somewhere in Mississippi and head home the rest of the way on Sunday. Wow, it's making me tired all ready! But, I can't wait to get to the beach. I dream about it all year. I'll be updating hopefully with lots of beach pictures over the next week! Everybody have a great last couple of weeks of summer!!!