One Amazing Week (Lots of Pics)

2 Thursdays ago we checked Aylin out of school early and headed off for a surprise vacation that lasted over her Fall Break.

She was SOOOOO excited when we reached our destination:

Just kidding, although we did pick up doughnuts to have for breakfast the next 2 mornings :)

When we got to the condo they had both fallen asleep, so it wasn't until the next morning that she really knew where we were.  As soon as she woke up we had to walk out our back porch door and to the little "boardwalk" to go see the BEACH!  The girl has begged to go back to Fort Morgan for the last 3 years and she was incredibly happy to be back. 

Day 1, Friday, on the Fort Morgan beach consisted of us and maybe 2 other families 30 yards on either side of us.  (That is why we like it so much)  This day we were set up behind a sand bar, so the waves weren't too big.  However, I noticed that one of our beach flags was purple (dangerous sea life) and found out from one of the other families that on Thursday they were on the sand bar and a young Black Tip Shark came up to feed!  I was SOOO jealous that I missed it by one day!

Our little crab friend who was very CRABBY that we were invading his area:

 Around lunch time we cleaned up and headed out to the Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shores!  It was delicious!  I do not have any pics because it was rather hot and with no stroller our hands were pretty full.  Hilton was in awe of the big souvenir shop with a shark on the front (just like Aylin was when she was 2), Hilton really loved the pirate ship on the back, he kept looking for Jake :)

On our last trip to the beach I hired a photographer to take pictures of Aylin one evening.  That was not an option this trip, but I needed a picture of the boys' 1st beach trip to blow up on a canvas like I did for Aylin so I attempted to take them on my own.  

And this is the picture I plan on blowing up on a canvas to go next to Aylin's 1st beach trip picture:

Day 2: another morning at the beach and then an afternoon Dolphin tour, we saw a lot of them and Aylin loved it.  The boys, however were too tired and I did not get to take any pics :(

 This is the only pic we got on the dolphin tour.

Day 3: We went to worship services where Kyle Butt was delivering a lesson and then on the way to lunch Aylin threw up all over the car.  We stopped and cleaned everything up and took her to an urgent care clinic where they gave her a shot of antibiotics in her bottom!  We didn't do much else this day.

Day 4: We spent the WHOLE morning at the beach and really enjoyed our last day there.  We caught and played with a crab, too.  (We let him go unharmed) 

 

 We went to the train museum!

Day 5: We went back to the train museum on our way home to watch then model train show.

 Then stopped and toured the naval battleship, submarine, and aviation museum.

 and travelled back home:

It was a much needed, wonderful vacation!

We had our 6th annual trip to Cedar Hills Farm with my family to the pumpkin patch.  Everyone came out to Aylin's soccer game (she loves having people come watch her games) and then we went to the farm :) We started this the year Payton and Aylin were born, but this was the first time we went early in the season and it was much better.  The lines were not long and this was the first time we actually saw some pumpkins still on the vine!  

I forgot my real camera so all the pics are just cell phone pics and Weston slept most of the time so he didn't get in many pics :(  

The bigs with the Pumpkin Princess:

 Hilton loved the petting and feeding of the animals; he wouldn't feed any of them but thought it was hilarious when they ate out of my hand.

 Both my kids love the pony rides :)

Riding the tractor train:

 I think we do these every year, but next year there won't be enough holes when Ryder and Weston are trying to get into the pics :)

 Baby Pig!

We love the slide and the zip line - lol

Group shots:

 Kiki and Paw Paw paid for the girls to get their faces painted :)

 Kiki always has to have a pic with al the grand kids :) This one didn't turn out half bad :)

We love this family event :)  

Loving Lou and Life

We had to say goodbye to our Louie last Friday morning.  Long story short, he developed a tumor at the base of his brain and the complications from that were just too much to overcome.  We don't know much about his life other than we rescued him 1 year ago from Nashville.  He was a very good, BIG boy and loved riding shot gun in the van with me :) Lou Lou, as the kids called him, will be truly missed and I am so glad we were able to give him a year of love instead of him dying in the shelter. After losing 3 fur babies over the last year and half, I think we may take a little break and while we probably WILL do rescue again, we might lean more towards a puppy. Here are some pictures we took this last week.  

But some good news from that sad Friday was that Hilton hit the 1 year mark for being seizure free!! We are incredibly thankful for this! We still have to carry his medicine around with us until he is 5, but the odds of him having any more febrile seizures are very slim.

 In other news, Hilton has fully adjusted to Aylin being at school and is starting to really enjoy helping me to cook and unload the dishwasher!  

 Of course he really likes to play more than anything :)

 Weston is doing great and sleeping sooooo much better now!

I finally dusted off my sewing machine and appliquéd the kids some matching fall outfits :)

 We had to replace the carpet and pad in our master bedroom.  After having 3 big dogs on their death beds each lose control of their bladder, you would have had to replace it right away too.  It wasn't suppose to happen until later this fall, but they had an opening and we took it…I love walking into my bedroom and not smelling urine!