Alys Beach Paradise

During our frigid Spring Break we did happen upon a spot that I couldn't miss a chance to blog about.  We had heard for years about Alys Beach on 30A just past rosemary beach.  This was our chance to see it and so we paid a visit.  It’s kinda like stepping into another country or even the Caribbean somewhere.  White houses, condos and apartments are adorned with red doors and Mediterranean foliage.  It’s a quiet place with a cute coffee shop, adorable playground and some of the prettiest architecture this side of Europe.  It’s still under a bit of development but the North side of 30A boasts of a couple of restaurants and a great outdoor venue for summer movies and a splash pad.  It looks like the perfect place for families to spend a week together.  It’s also a prime opportunity to bribe your kids into photographs.  The green green grass, the white buildings and the amazing gulf in the background were breathtaking.  Getting two boys 3 and 7 to cooperate was more of a challenge but they know I always win that battle and I did!  If you ever find yourself in the Florida panhandle with a windfall of money, Alys Beach is most definitely the place you’ll want to find yourself!

Spring Freezing

I think old man winter was preparing us to say goodbye forever this year as he hung around far longer than normal and put quite a "chill" on our spring break trip to the beach this year.  When we move to Houston, we will virtually be living in perpetual summertime and I'm pretty sure I"m ok with it.   Someone please remind me of that when it's 109 in July there with 200% humidity.  My hair is going to be so disappointed in me!   Of course the mom in me packed for every occasion so we were prepared for the temps and don't you know it didn't stop the boys from manning the beach just as they had planned.  As you can see, we had one day of "swimsuit" weather and the others required some some of jacket to block the wind.  We had chosen this condo over some others for one reason.  Heated pools!  We just happened to be on the same deck as ours and it was quite convenient to walk onto the patio and into the pool and hot tub.  

Even on the one swimsuit day, we were prepared with our sunscreen.  Don't be deceived   Just because it says "kids" doesn't mean it's just for them.  I wear 50spf full coverage myself!  I'm not taking any chances on premature aging!  I like the way Wyatt put it best when referring to high noon: "It's happy hour for skin cancer out there right now!"  Exactly.  Pass the sunscreen please!

 It was my goal to eat fish everyday we were there.  We had brought all the vegtables you could consume so fish was the only thing missing on our grocery list!  This night, we grilled shrimp and wrapped some in bacon.   It would have only been better it we could have coated it in chocolate!  Um, nevermind, scratch that!

One chilly afternoon, Daddy took the boys down to the lake near us and they caught a bucket of baby turtles.  It brought back memories for me because when Tracie and I were small, he'd bring back baby turtles for us from the river!  The boys thought the turtles might like to have a race.  They lined them all up in a line and said go.  A few of them turned to go the other way so they got creative and made the race go in the opposite direction.  They love their baby cousin, Allie Gray!

Wouldn't you know Nana brought them some educational toys to play with.  Once a school teacher, always a school teacher!

The next day we went to visit Alys beach.  This place is so beautiful it deserves it's own blog post!!  Coming soon...

Foolish Games

It was April Fools day and I hadn't come up with one reasonable prank yet.  The whole "I'm pregnant" thing isn't feasible right now because he KNOWS I want another and he might just believe me.  I think I'd be the one disappointed there.  I was cleaning up from breakfast and remembering Jackson asking me to go to lunch with him.  Wasn't the 2.5 weeks of Spring Break we just spent together enough time?!  Yes, then I kinda felt bad and considered making him lunch.  As I went to grab the lunch box, I spotted puppy food from when we first got Lucy.  It was just the flashing beacon I needed.  I grabbed it, bagged up some multi colored dog treats and grabbed a chewy bone and stuck it inside his lunch box.  I then made a "backup" lunch of Ham and chips.  

When we finished at the gym we raced over to the school to meet him before he got his lunch tray.  He was glad to see us and I insisted we wait for his friends to sit down with us.  He zipped open the bag and his mouth dropped open with it.  He proclaimed  "Mom!  This is DOG food!"  I faked surprise and said I must have packed Lucy's lunch for him and his lunch for Lucy.  How on earth was she going to drink his juice box with her paws?

As his friends are all cackling, he gives me that "Are you serious!?" look before reaching for my other bag which contained his real lunch.  

APRIL FOOLS!

It was a good one and I had him going for a second.  Then wouldn't you guess in true first grade style, the rest of the lunch period, someone was trying to pull another April fools.  I had to apologize to his teacher after the lunch was over for what I had obviously started.  It was totally worth it to see his face and make his classmates think his mom is super cool!  I have been warned though,I'm in for it when he's old enough to pull legitimate pranks on his own.  

Then there's my mother.  Shes an 8th grade science teacher.  I insisted that she PLEASE pull this prank we had seen over the winter today.  It was perfect.  Vanilla Pudding looking like Mayo eaten right from the jar.  People are crazy about this.  Can you imagine a large mouthful of Mayo?

 Then this one was also clever.  Dog treats divided and replaced with dried fruit.  I wonder how long she had to stick her hand in and eat it before he students noticed she was eating out of dog treat container?  

I'm not a big trickster myself but I was quite proud of my hijinks this April fools!  

Happy Spring, Y'all.

  It was SLEETING today in Tennessee.

Adventures in Rattlesnake Rodeo

Would you believe me if I told you this wasn't the first time I've been the the rattlesnake rodeo in Opp, Alabama   This annual festival has been going on for quite some time.  Many years ago when Jason and I were dating, he lived in Enterprise, AL and we made the trek over to Opp for just this event.  I tried my hardest to find the ONE photo I know we have from the event but in this small rental house with our things scattered from TN to AL, I wasn't able to find it.  Big surprise.  Nevertheless, it does exist.  Pre-marriage, pre-children, we made a stop in Opp(ha, that rhymes!) for this yearly event!  We couldn't miss our second chance to share it with the family.

It made for some great photo Opp-ortunities (hardee har har)

Jason wasn't with us this time.  We were visiting my sister in Dothan, AL and we knew for sure the boys would LOVE this idea.  We didn't anticipate the unseasonally frigid weather in March.  While it wasn't snowing like it was in TN, it was quite chilly for southern AL.  

One might be wondering what in the world you do at a rattlesnake rodeo?   It's a legitimate concern.  The first order of business is to sell your wares.  I really should have had some Stella&Dot out here but then again, how was I supposed to compete with rattlesnake head jewelry and tortoise shells galore?  

 If you've ever wanted your name stamped on the back of your belt, here's your chance.  You could pick your own name or just go with Bubba to keep it simple.  They probably even had a few of those already in stock.  

And what woman doesn't want this camo wreath to hang on her door.  I'm not sure what kind of message it sends.  Maybe I'm reading too much into it.  We won't go there.

Then there's Christian Motorcycle Santa.  He actually came down from my hometown in AL.  So he's kinda like my neighbor, ya know, when he's not riding in a sleigh and making toys.

 Now here's the good stuff.  We were there on Friday evening and would you believe they were putting the snakes away when we walked up.  Seriously, they said something about PEETA and not being allowed to have the snakes out during the music performances.  So let me guess, it's hurts the snakes EARS to hear the music?  Are they not country music fans?  Is it past their bedtime?  Regardless, we talked the guy into getting out one snake for the boys to see, we didn't pay $20 bucks to get in and NOT see a snake by Gosh!!

He brings us out one angry rattler that was twisting and shaking around. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was dancing to that music!  

Then the crazy man grabs that mean ol' snake by the HEAD.  With it's tail whipping around, that man straddled that snake.  

Please take a moment to giggle about the next photo.  We did.  A lot.

 He proceeds to show us the fangs of this over tired, annoyed-at-country-music snake.  I'm pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy my teeth being barred for the world to see either.  Maybe he hadn't brushed them today?

The boys stood and looked on wide eyed in delight.  Snakes are totally cool when you're a boy and your 7&3.  Not quite so much when you are their mother! (the children, not the snake) 

 And last but not least, I should note that the agenda for Saturday was far more lively.  Upon this here pole, they'd be having a greased pole climbing contest.  Not to be confused with greased pig contest.  No, that's at the Dothan Peanut Festival.  Yep, that's right a whole festival celebrating peanuts.  Folks, south Alabama.  It's where it's at!

Lincoln Lately v.3.0

I usually don't post videos because they won't print out in my blog books but this one was too cute. I was at my sisters and Lincoln was pretending in her bathroom. Apparently her bathtub was a shark tank. And if you didn't know, sharks are MEAT-EAT-ERS!

 This weekend Jason was perturbed with Jackson for some reason and threatened "If you do that again, I'm gonna whoop your tail!" Lincoln looked up innocently and said, "but we don't have tails but uncle Wyatt gave us some rat tails!" For the record, no rat tails here, they were mink tail key chains. I'm not sure that's any better though. Hey, we're from Alabama! 

 Lincoln says, "Hey mom, mom, mommy...." "I love you." About a hundred times a day. I wouldn't be tired of it if he said it a hundred more.

 We were talking about a baby being born recently and Lincoln asks, "Was I in there when I was born?" Yep, I recall you being there

! On the way to the gym a while ago they had cut down some trees in our neighborhood. We weren't happy about it. I hate trees being cut down, I get it from my mother. Lincoln told me "God uses his magic wand want to make more trees." Well...something like that I suppose.

At the beach last week for Spring Break (blog to come) we saw a plane fly over the beach.  Lincoln said, "Look Mom!  That plane has a SAY behind it."  

Well, I'll say.

 At my sisters, I kept joking asking Lincoln if he wanted to wear this dress or that dress and he loudly proclaimed "I don't wanna wear those GIRL dresses, I wanna wear a BOY dress." Clearly, more explanation is needed on dresses.

 We took our picnic down to the bridge creek while visiting my niece.  The snake had to come too!

Most certainly the cutest kid on the block!  I love him!