The Beach!

Well, we're back from the beach. We had a great time relaxing and enjoying God's beautiful creation. And most importantly, we survived the plane ride. Lily actually did great. On the way there, she almost gave me a nervous breakdown as she kicked the man's chair in front of her during take off. (He made it very obvious though that he could feel it but thankfully never said anything). After that, Missa and I passed her back and forth, tried to keep her interested in the Elmo DVD and stuffed her full of crackers. She'll do ANYTHING for a graham cracker. Once we arrived in Mobile, my parents, who left the day before, picked us up at the airport and we comically packed into the minivan (it was a rental; not the gold mini for those who are wondering). You've never seen so much stuff. I guess I learned my packing motto from my parents: better to have brought it and never used it than to wish you'd have brought it. Our beach house wasn't available for a few hours so we had some time to kill. We stopped in Foley, AL at Lambert's Cafe for lunch. Lambert's is the home of the "Throwed Rolls". It was like Cracker Barrel on Steroids. Tons of people inside and out waiting for a table. The place was huge and they really did throw the rolls across the room. Here's Missa catching one:



Lily got a big kick out of it.

Uncomfortably stuffed of comfort food, we packed back into the minivan and drove to our final destination. It was a nice change being in a beach house rather than a hotel because it was so quiet and private. The only people on the beach were our neighbors, and they didn't come close to utilizing the beach as well as we did. Another Jeffrey (my maiden name) motto: be on the beach from sun up to sun down. And we were most of the time. I must say this trip was a little different than other beach trips now that I have a toddler. There wasn't quite as much time to just veg out by the ocean and read my heart out. Don't get me wrong, everyone was great to help out so I could have free time, but there were still those moments of self-sacrifice that come with motherhood. And I just had to let go and ask the Lord to make me more selfless.

Once we were on the beach, we were all glad that we had brought so much stuff. There was never a dull moment with the rafts, innertubes, frisbees, boogieboards, footballs, baseballs, tennisballs, bocceballs, and even golf. It was a blast just playing like little kids and laughing hysterically at one another. Here's Josh and I riding a wave:

James and Dad playing catch

Here's the view from our deck:


and of the house from the ocean:

Lily loved the water, but she didn't care for the sand. She was happy to sit in one of our laps under the umbrella and eat some crackers.


The highlight of her trip was the little pool we set up on the covered deck.



the view from the upstairs deck at sunset:



In the evenings, we'd either go out and eat fresh seafood (yum!) or stay in and cook our own meal. This place called the Shrimp Basket had all you can eat shrimp, so of course, we ate their twice! Then we'd come back to the house and watch movies and play games. The favorite game this trip was Balderdash. That's the game where everyone comes up with their own definition of the word and you try and guess the correct one. Man, we laughed so hard.

Oh, and remember Josh's foot fetish? Well, here's yet another example: Josh taking a pic of his feet

and then one of mine and Missa's feet

Does this call for an intervention?

(One more, because I couldn't end on pictures of feet.