Smokem' Mom!!!

I think I may have a little Danica Patrick on my hands.... Hallie & I rode the go carts while at the beach.

She started out a little nervous, notice her expression and how she is gripping the bar

However, it wasn't long until she was waving to the crowd

Then, she was shouting faster Mom and smokem' Momma!

At the finish line she hopped out squealing "Let's do it again!"

I begged Hunter to race us but he was a little unsure of his driving skills but he did cheer us on from the sidelines!

Just one more quarter, please?

Orange Beach has a kid's paradise called the Track. It has go karts, bumper boats, putt putt golf and a huge game room.

It's a really happening place, even Edward, Bella & Jacob were spotted hanging out there :-)

Hunter & Hallie love it and I am not above a little bribery :-) so they were promised a trip there if they could manage not to fight.

Hunter's favorite games were anything basketball-no surprise there!

Hallie played basketball too...

but her favorite was Spacey Racers 

They won tickets for each game and fed the ticket eater to see their earnings

Hunter decided he was too big for the prizes and gave his tickets to Hallie and do you know what she chose?

Meet Fred the Snake!

Good Morning Sunshine

This is how Hallie wakes up most mornings, she peeks through one eye to survey the day

 This is followed by a scowl, a whine and pleas to go back to sleep

 Until she remembers she's at the beach :-)

We jokingly call Hallie Sunshine in the mornings because she is definitely not-except at the beach-she truly was! If only we could bring the beach home for school mornings!!

The Plan for Day 3

My objective for beach pictures our last day was to get one shot that I could use as a new picture over our mantle. I have read that the best beach pictures are at dawn and dusk due to the sun making such harsh shadows. These were at 2:00 so I tried to work around squinty eyes. Here are my faves

Group shots

We could not have asked for more beautiful weather this trip it didn't rain and it was in the 70's with a breeze. The Lord really blessed us! I took 120 shots to get these few I should do a post of the others where Hunter & Hallie are rolling their eyes, smirking and laughing.

I plan on doing the pictures in sepia tone and I am the world's worst at making decisions but so far I am leaning toward one of these. I don't know if I'm doing one large picture or 3 smaller ones...

 If I do 3 pictures I may do one of the above in the middle and one of these on each side...

 Ha! I am such a procrastinator, I always have such plans but that is what they stay-plans. I have years of beach pictures but have not updated the picture on our wall since Hallie was 3! If they make it on the wall I will do a post to show you but I wouldn't hold my breath :-)

Beach Babes

Beach day 2 was another beautiful day that we spent by the pool for the most part. Later in the day in spite of a few "Awww Mom" the kids agreed to a photo shoot. You may notice there are no family pictures of us-even though I remembered our matching outfits-I forgot the tripod!!

The sun was so bright that we had to be creative so believe it or not these first pics are under our condominium in the shaded parking deck!

 I have always wanted to try pictures under the pier so we headed out....I love how some of these turned out. If I could make a living at taking pictures I would be a happy girl :-) I took so many I will try to just show my faves of the day.

My favorite group shot

My favorite of Hunter. I love his smile in this picture it is so....Hunter. Tim had just said a certain girl's name if I remember correctly :-) This was the smile in between the yells of "Dad stop it!"

My fave of Hallie

My fave of Tim-Gosh I'm a lucky girl!

My fave of Hunter & Hallie

Oh how I love this boy & girl!

A look down the pier

Hunter is becoming a regular model for Mom

It's amazing how loving these two can become with promises of game rooms and putt putt golf

This was our first trip to the pier but won't be our last

Stay tuned for the rest of Beach Trip 2010 (sorry I know you feel like you're sitting through torturous home movies) but I want to remember every minute :-)

Vacation!!!!!

We as a family do not have good luck with vacations. Unfortunately, we remind us of the Griswolds.

Every year Tim looks at me on the drive home and says never again, don't even ask me next year! However, I guess the nightmares of our family vacation fade over time and we try again :-) So we are at the beach and the weather has cooperated (and so have the kids pretty much.....) it has been simply beautiful!  Before I had children I hardly ever took a camera on vacation-boy have things changed!

We arrived late afternoon the first day and the beach was almost deserted Hallie wanted to hunt seashells.

It began with Hallie toting the bucket 

But if you're a parent you know the bucket was soon too heavy

Thank goodness we brought this handsome fella for such emergencies!

How can you doubt God's majesty when you're staring out over that

Even on vacation a girl has to flip!!

Yes, in case you're wondering Hunter did go on vacation with us. There are plenty of pictures of him to follow on Vacation Days 2, 3........