Four!

My baby girl is four!  How can that be?

We had a fabulous tinkerbell party for her this year at City Park's Carousel.  She invited her friends from school, and we invited a few of her friends from volleyball as well.  It was a stressful week leading up to the party with the evacuation and all.  And actually we didn't even know if we were going to be able to have the party, since City Park didn't have power until 3 days before.  But luckily, they got the park up and running, so I rushed to order a cake, make goodie bags, and finish up our plans!

Cassidy INSISTED on wearing her favorite dress.  We tried to tell her she might not be comfortable riding, climbing, and playing, but there was no convincing her.  So we settled on bringing extra clothes along (which we didn't use).

After our time at the carousel was done, the kids spent some time riding the other rides until we parents fizzled out.

Cassidy's friend Emmy, who has moved on to another school, came to the party!

After a good nap when we came home, Cassidy opened her presents.



Her Halloween costume for this year.  Tinkerbell again...
green is still her favorite color, so Tinkerbell trumps all other fairies and princesses.



36: Another evacuation

Late August Birthdays Suck.  We evacuated for Hurricane Isaac this year.  This time though, we headed to my parents' home in McComb.  We had a really nice week with them in spite of the rainy weather.  We did lose power there also ... after the storm.  I'm guessing a tree must have finished its fall or something of the sort.  We were without power for about a day and a half, which wasn't too bad.  My parents' neighbor generously offered a couple of their outlets which were powered by their automatic generator, so we ran a cord to the refrigerator and a couple of fans.  We were also able to charge our various Ipads, phones, computers, etc for a little entertainment.

We opened presents in the morning and had birthday cake by lantern after dinner!

Les Miserables Tickets!

An Ipad!!!

Thank you for a nice Birthday Evacuation Mom and Dad.  There is no where I'd rather be for my birthday!

More Dates with Daddy

Go Hornets!

Mommy got to come along to the Saints game too!



Go Saints!



Gulf Shores: August

For our trip this year, we planned to take the Mobile Ferry again from Dauphin Island to Fort Morgan.  We arrived kind of late in the day, and found that everyone had the same idea.  We ended up waiting 2.5 hours and luckily got on the last ferry of the day.  The condo was beautiful as always, with 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, a small kitchen, and a deck.  We were greeted this year with a warning about swimming in the gulf:  Jellyfish and Sharks in the water.  Well, I'm not a fan of ocean swimming to begin with, so that sealed the deal for me.  To the pools we go!

We still played in the sand, walked on the beach, and hunted for seashells.

We took a ride out to Johnson Beach in Florida.   It's a National Seashore and it's remote and beautiful. 

Bubbles at The Hangout in Gulf Shores

Bungee Jumping at The Hangout

The swimming lessons are paying off, though we are taking a break from them right now.  As long as the water isn't too cold, Cassidy will swim for hours.

Celebrating our 12th Anniversary

Our trip ended on the same note it began.  We missed the 10:15 ferry by about 4 minutes.  We then sat and waited for the 11:00 ferry, only to find out they were only running one boat that morning, which puts the next ferry at 11:45.  Then we watched a huge storm blow in over Mobile Bay.  As we sat in our car, first in line for the next ferry, we watched as the ferry circled around out in front of the dock because the water was too rough to come in.  While watching this, I grew more and more anxious about the prospect of getting on that ferry as I get a little nauseated crossing the bay in nice weather.  We finally decided to abandon the plan and drive back into Gulf Shores to take the highway around 12:15.  No more ferry for us.