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We had an amazing week!

 Justin had a birthday.  Here is his climbing wall cake (with Nate's Lego men climbing the wall).

We took off on Justin's Birthday/Mother's Day to head to the Gulf Coast.  We made this trip once before, and it was so much fun.  We were able to stay an extra night (for three nights total), and it was so nice.

We found a nice grocery store, where we can pick up perishables.  Then off to find the little house we rented.  This works out so well for us.  We can prepare most of our meals that way, and we have some room to spread out.  We took games and movies with us in case of rain or a needed rest, but this particular home had several options there already.

 The kids played Headbandz, Guess Who, Scrabble, Life, and we taught some of the kids Hearts.

We slipped over to the beach at dusk.  It was cool and windy, so we tried to have the kids only get in ankle deep.  They decided that meant not to go further than ankle deep...by sitting in the water.  We made our way back to the house, where we found out just how big the mosquitoes were.

The next morning we drove over to Fort Morgan to tour the fort and museum, since it was still a little cool to be in the water.

 Looking out over the bay

 

 Up on top, where cannons were once mounted

 

 Heading into the fort

In what would be our seats at church.  Ellie was quite distressed that we missed our regular services because we were away.

Up the high, steep stairs.  Thankfully they found a different way down.

We had our lunch and then headed to the beach.

 We played in the water,

 built sand castles, and the kids used a body board.  Justin saw a couple of rays and then a couple of sharks, so when they did not scatter after a time,

 

we opted to head to the community pool.  I made a run to a local shop for aloe gel, a different sun screen, hydro-cortisone, and Benadryl...sunburns and bug bites!

On the next day, we spent the morning playing games.  We took the beach umbrella and chairs this time!

The kids had a great time looking for unique shells to show us and splashing in the water. And burying each other...

That evening we went to a local restaurant, which was fun.  Katie knocked over her water, so the waiter cleaned it up quickly.  When she asked for more, he returned with a kiddie cup, with a lid and bendy straw.  She took it well.

 We ran by the beach for a final set of pictures.

That evening we began the clean up.

We packed up all except a change of clothes on Wednesday morning, and then headed to the pool for a quick swim before we started the drive home.

While our vacation was over, our great week wasn't finished yet!

 Thursday, Justin went to work, but I took the kids on a four mile hike, with a picnic lunch.

Then, on Friday, we headed to a puppet show at the library: Shakespeare's Tempest.