John's Birthday Weekend at the beach

This past weekend the whole family went to the beach. We celebrated John's 32nd birthday pretty much all weekend. Which means we ate ice cream cake each night. On Saturday the guys went fishing (Zachary included) but only caught two Trigger fish. They actually caught some Red Snapper but they weren't big enough so they had to toss them back. On Sunday we took the kids across the street to the gulf side to play in the waves. I thought it would be fun to have another slide show so here it is.....

Jeb & the pretty fish/Jeb & the ugly fish

My cousin, Jeb, sent this picture out to the family. He is living on Little Cayman Island as a fishing guide. He has his own boat and takes tourists out deep sea fishing. Needless to say, life is good for Jeb! He sends a picture of the week every week of particularly big or neat fish. This week he emailed this picture with the subject "Little Cayman Swine Flu Update" with the caption, "It's getting bad down here....time to head home." I found it hilarious and told him he should use this picture for his Christmas card. The mask on the fishes face is so funny. Apparently not everyone got the joke and emailed him back that he needs to be careful. :) I do think the picture is awesome. The color of the fish (which is a Dolphin fish/aka Mahi Mahi) goes so well with his shirt and you can't beat the color of the water down there. Last year Jason and I looked into going down to visit him but the plane tickets were outrageous. So we ended up going to Vegas. However, after you count up the money we lost gambling it would have been about the same to have flown to Little Cayman. Wish we would have, it looks beautiful there.

Okay, now not to give everyone nightmares but here is a picture he sent the other week. These fish, which are called Alantic Scombrops, live 1400 feet at the bottom of the sea. I'm not surprised either, I too would stay that far down if I looked like this. Look at the one that is laying on the pier on the left hand side. His eye is not photo-shopped either. Holy cow are they ugly or what! Jeb says they taste good. I think I'll take his word for it. Jeb, we really enjoy getting your pictures each week. Keep them coming!

Jason's annual fishing trip

This past weekend Jason had his annual boys fishing trip to the bay. There are six of them that normally go....Jason's "old lady" from college/corp (Keith Foy), two friends from Austin/Dell (Michael Murphy & Art Archariykosol), his closest friend from grade school/high school (Justin Garrigues) & his brother, John. Last year it was mentioned that the wives might get to go this year. I was really looking forward to it. Unfortunately it didn't work out. Some of the guys have three & four kids so it was very hard to coordinate kid sitters so both parents could go out of town. I decided to go anyways just for a few nights so I could get away and relax. Besides, I knew the kids would LOVE staying with Grandmama & Pop for the weekend. Keith got here from Dallas a few days before they left for the bay. Both Addie & Zach love it when Mr. Keith comes. It was absolutely precious to hear Addison say, "Mr. Keith!"

The guys left Thursday afternoon and I drove over on Friday afternoon. I did some shopping along the way and got to the bay around six or so. The guys had already left around 5:30 for their first 'all night' fishing trip. I believe they went 100 miles out. It took them four hours to get where they were going, which was an oil rig. Justin took some pictures as well.

Here's one of a beautiful sunset.

And here is one of a TON of catfish swimming around the pier at the house. crazy!

Friday night while the guys were out fishing I read all night which was wonderful. Saturday, Dixie (John's dog) and I hung out. Here she is waiting for her daddy to come home.While the guys were away I went over to the gulf side to lay on the beach and take a few pics.

When I got back the guys were back as well. They had a successful trip. Unfortunately they didn't catch any tuna which is what they really wanted. They did catch a big Grouper, some other kind of fish and a bunch of Red Snapper.

Justin was trying to push the big Grouper in line with the others for the picture and got his foot/shoe stuck in its mouth. It was very comical. Thanks for the laugh Justin!

Justin took some pictures while they were out on the boat all night. Apparently they caught the same shark three times. The reason that they know it was the same shark was because it had hook holes from the two previous times. What a dumb shark!My hot hubby.

The always fabulous Mr. Art.

That night we had a yummy dinner. I made a delicious appetizer (Capt. Rodney's Cheese Bake). Justin made a wonderful appetizer as well. It was blackened red snapper. He did it in the skillet with a bunch of butter and blacken seasoning and it was so good. Then for dinner we had corn on the cob, party potatoes and grilled fish. After dinner, John was smart and went to bed (I mean the guys HAD been up all night). The rest of us played a couple games of Liar's Dice.

Here are the guys toasting a shot of tequila.

I think I must have said something very witty....

I left on Sunday and the guys went back out fishing late in the afternoon. I believe they caught their limit of snapper again. They headed back to Gulfport Monday afternoon. I know they had a fantastic time and I'd bet a lot of money that they will do this again next year. A BIG thank you to Linda & Martin for watching Zachary & Addison so we could have a fun and relaxing weekend.

Splash Pad

A few weeks ago the kids and I met Sarah & Sophie at the splash pad. When we got there Sophie & Addie were checking each other out. Sophie is wondering why Addie isn't wearing shoes and Addie is wondering why Sophie has hers on.

Zachary showing off his new Mario Kart swim trunks.

Zachary makes friends so easily.Addie & Sophie playing together.
It was so sweet...Addie gave Sophie a hug...
...but then she hugged a pole.

Looks like Zach is so happy he's dancing.

Sophie being silly.

My beautiful family

I know I just put this picture of Zachary in my last post but I played around with the black and white on two other pictures. I think they turned out great!

Hatten/Sullivan Family visits us at the beach

We went to the bay last weekend and it was jam packed with activities. Here we are waiting for the car ferry to take us over to Fort Morgan (where the houses are in Gulf Shores). The first thing the kids want to do when they get there is go play in the sand.
Addie was pushing the button on the little boat that plays "Row Row Row Your Boat" and would then sing and play along on the piano.

One of the big highlights of the weekend was the delivery of our new jet ski! Zachary lovingly named it Blue Lightening. We had so much fun on it. Jason and I took it out on Sunday and we got to see a bunch of dolphins swimming around. We turned it off and just sat there and watched them. One came up out of the water just five feet from us. Took my breath away!

Everyone had their turn on it....

Zachary displaying his mad skills.Even Grandmama went for a ride! Zachary is much more comfortable swimming out in the bay than he was last summer. He was always a little nervous jumping off the pier. Now he gets a running start...

He's even doing hand stands now!Grandmama came out to watch!Zachary with his swimming coach - Pop
Later in the day on Sunday the Hatten/Sullivan family came to visit with us.

Bless her heart, Lexie slept through the entire visit.

Pop & Addie and Lizzie & Sarah

Alex & SarahDespite Zachary's pleading John did not want to get in the water.
Until Martin talked him in to it.

Kids attacking Martin....

TaylorSarah

Zachary showing off his moves. While Jason took Linda out on the jet ski I had Zachary model for me.

He is just as sweet as he is beautiful!