A Southern Halloween (and vacation)

We went and visited our very good friends, The Nagel's in Alabama at the end of October for a week. We had decided we were going to drive down, which would be an 18 hour trip, with a stop in KY to visit Uncle Mike and Aunt Sue. 3 days before we were due to leave, John and I both had the thought of flying and found some decent airfare, which put us both at ease and we were able to enjoy our vacation that much more. We missed our connection in Atlanta, but got on a flight 2 hours later. Our luggage ended up in Gulfport, MS, but was delivered to us later in the evening of the day we got there. We were in Alabama for Halloween and had fun dressing up Aubrey as a bumblebee. Lilah was Glinda the Good Witch, Eli was the Scarecrow and Jenn was the Wicked Witch. We had a lot of fun trick or treating with Lilah and Eli's friends and some of Jenn's family. Aubrey didn't like putting the candy in her bucket, but once she got the hang of it, she was the first one at the door with her bucket in had. We had trouble with the words "trick or treat" but she was definitely polite using Please and Thank You.

During our trip we visited Gulf Shores to see "The Big Pool" as Aubrey calls it and the beautiful white sand beach. It was quite windy that day and jellyfish were everywhere, so there was no swimming. Aubrey didn't like the sand between her toes, but was ok once we put the shoes back on her feet. We had lunch at The Hangout, a cool place for families to play during the day, and adults to hang out at night with live music and dancing. We were only there during the day, but it was a very nice place.

We also visited Fairhope and walked up and down the streets, going in and out of the little stores. It was a very nice afternoon with a great lunch at the Honeybaked Ham Company.

On our way to the airport on Saturday morning, Aubrey got sick in the car and we had to pull off the road into a truck stop to get her cleaned up. Thankfully she didn't cry and didn't fight me while cleaning her up, rushing to get back ont the road. Although I feel bad that Rich had to deal with that smell while driving back home, I am glad it happened in the car and not in the airplane. YUCK! 

We want to thank Jenn, Rich, Lilah and Eli for opening up their home to us and making us feel very much at home. We had a wonderful time with all of you and we hope to do it again soon!

Photo Session for Family and Aubrey's 2nd Birthday

On a beautiful fall day in late October, we had our pictures taken at Dodge Park with Toni of Toni Denise Photography. Toni is also a friend and fellow softball player. We played in the leaves, watched the ducks and geese swim in the small lake, walked the path and played on the playground. Aubrey had a small meltdown about halfway thru, but a snack and juice and the promise to head over to the playground seemed to cure it. We had a great time and thank Toni for being so patient and kind during our session. She took over 400 pictures and came up with about 150 that came out really, really nice. We are thrilled.