At the beach. Day one!

Finally, I have beach pics!  And for anyone who has driven down to Gulf Shores, you know that this tunnel is the first sign that you are getting close!!

The traffic was horrible.  But the girls were so excited to almost be there that they were about to burst.

JinJin was already facetiming us by the time we were stopped at the first farmer's market.  She was cracking me up at first...

This is how she initially facetimed me... only a sliver of her sunglasses were showing. Old people and technology.  Don't mix!
(and I speak from personal experience!!)

So, this is our first stop.  It was for our fresh tomatoes, flowers, and peaches.  We always make this stop on the way down.

Mary Allison posted this picture on her instagram with the caption, "James Who?"  Get it?!

You know... cause it's a giant peach!  Duh.

Excuse that quote.  It was on my phone, and it fell naturally in the middle of these uploaded pics... sooooo.... It's good though, isn't it?!

After Todd sent me a mushy little text, MA did this, and I sent this pic back to him!  We sorta like talking all lovey dovey in front of her to make her gag and all.  We do that exact same thing to our girls.  Is that wrong?!  haha

We weren't there for more than 15 minutes, and they were already begging to go to the pool.  We let them head down to the pool with their sitters, and Mary Allison and I went to get the groceries for the week. (Oreos, Doritos, Pizza Rolls, and cereal.)  We knew Todd would redo the whole grocery trip when he arrived anyway.

Would you look at Ellie Sue's neon toes?!  She is so cute sporting that new hairdo too!!

Gabs is trying to copy her big sister's pose here.

Back in December, when I came down to the beach to recover from my hysterectomy, we took this picture with Ellie Sue wishing she could go to the beach, but it was just too cold!  She was headed down to the indoor pool... in her Uggs!

Fast forward five months... and in the same swimsuit...

Miss Prissy is now going to be able to swim her little heart out!

with shorter hair and new footwear...

And I am just going to throw it out there that we have been seeing the "11" of the hour ALL DAY LONG!!  I am now just in a habit of screenshotting it or, as in this case, taking a pic of the time on the oven.  I love it that I "feel" Jake here at the beach.  He loved it here!!  We still have a few of his things at the condo.  A Shrek frisbee, a diaper, and a cup he used to use.  I LOVE having those.

Swimming.  At last!!

Did I mention we brought new sitters this year? !  I met these girls only recently.  But after a week with them, let me tell you... I have GOOD intuition!!  They have been great.  They, not only help me with the  girls' baths and lunch, but they also go the extra mile to play hide and seek, ride up to the front of the resort for ice cream every day, and go up and down from the condo for every little thing... like, "I want my turtle float!"  or "I need my fringey, tie-dye cover up."  (Bet you can guess who that one comes from!)

So this is Alex.  And the blond is Sarah.  They just graduated from high school, and I'm telling you.. I hit the motherload with them.  My girls love them already!

Oh... AND they write their names in the sand,

make them into sand mermaids, and take them crab hunting.  

Pretty much perfect sitters.

We'll be saying bye bye to Todd and Mary Allison tomorrow.  They're heading back home.  Tomorrow is MA's birthday, and she wants to truck it on down to Baton Rouge and turn 19 with her college buds.  Todd is going to work a week, then come back in a week when our usual beachy friends, Paula and Johnnye, and Linda Lou and Emma Lou and the whole crew will be down here.

We'll be down here holding down the fort.  Making memories.

MO