SON of a BEACH!!!!

A good friend of ours invited us to go on a 4 day vacation to Gulf Shores, Al. All we had to pay for was gas, food, and fun. How could we say no? There was a slight catch though. We would be traveling with 4 young kids for 8 hours. Before you say "Ooooh....." let me also tell you their ages; 7, 4, 3 and 11 months. WE REALLY WANTED TO GO TO THE BEACH. So, we headed out Saturday at 5am on our fun-filled weekend at the beach.
The trip down really wasn't that bad. The kids slept until around 8:00 when we stopped for some breakfast. The rest of the time they watched movies and stayed pretty much quiet until we got closer to our destination. Then they started getting a little restless and excited. When we finally arrived at The Beach Club, "The Poo Poo" hit the fan, which I knew was inevitable. I had just unloaded the luggage and was parking the van while everyone was waiting for me at the lobby doors. As I came walking up I heard Harlee screaming, like in pain screaming. When I got closer I saw Melissa crying, holding Harlee and trying to console her. Evidently, Harlee had her face and hands against the glass on the 'automatic' entrance door trying to see inside the lobby. Someone walked out the door and it opened on her arm, pinning it between the two door frames. Luckily she didn't break anything. The woman who caused the door to open had gone in the lobby and brought Harlee back two cookies to try and console her. When she asked Harlee if she wanted the cookies I could see a look of complete hatred on her face, as if she were saying ..."I don't want any stinking cookies you meanie". We had to wait for the Beach Club manager to come insure we weren't going to sue anyone before we finally got to the room. We were on the 15th floor, ocean-side, with a magnificent view of the Gulf.

The kids went crazy in the room, actually the adults did too. We were all so excited to get out to the beach. After getting all the luggage in and grabbing a quick bite to eat, we headed out to the water. This was Harlee and Brinlee's first time to the beach so they were both a little overwhelmed with all the sand and water, but they soon started playing and having a blast.

We played on the beach for a few hours and then decided to head to Wal-mart to pick up a few groceries and snacks for the kids. After a long day of riding in the car, getting arms caught in doors, and playing on the beach the kids were exhausted and fell asleep watching Monsters Inc.
We woke up early Sunday to a storm out in the gulf, which produced a beautiful rainbow.

We fed the kids some breakfast, waited for the storm to pass, and then headed to the beach again. We all had a great time and I built a huge sandcastle for the girls to play in.



Monday was a different story though. We got ready for the beach but Brinlee fell asleep, so I decided to stay in the room and let her take a nap while everyone else went out. Melissa came back 20 minutes later to get Harlee's sunglasses because she was complaining about the sunshine. Brinlee had already woke up so we all went down to the water. We played for about 15 minutes but Harlee wanted to go back to the room and Brinlee was fussy because she had sunscreen in her eyes. So Melissa and I took the girls back to the room hoping they would get some rest and want to go back to the beach later. It wasn't too bad since Melissa and I both had sunburns from the day before and wanted to wait until later to go out ourselves. After sitting in the room for a few hours and watching My Little Pony, Melissa was getting stir crazy. We started looking for something we could go do and found a Dolphin cruise that was going out at 6:00. We gathered the troops and headed to Orange Beach to see some dolphins. This was a really cool experience. The dolphins would actually follow the boat and surf in the wake. Here are a few pictures from the boat. (Sorry I don't have the pictures of the dolphins on here yet).




We got up Tuesday morning and started packing to go home. Everyone was sad to leave the beach but also wanted to get back home, especially the kids. Us adults just wanted to get the drive home over with. The older kids acted fairly good on the way home but poor Brinlee was just tired of being strapped in her car seat. We finally made it back to Tennessee and unloaded all the kids and luggage. With just the memory of the beach and the fun we had we faced our daily lives again.

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Smore Family Time

Ahh...the Great Outdoors. What better way to test the bonds of family than to throw your parents, your wife, two young kids, and a dog into a 22 ft camper and take away all of life's comforts for three days of national park sightseeing. I must admit the girls really enjoyed playing around in Papaw and Mamaw's "small house", going down to the playground, playing in the creek, and driving around at dusk to look for deer. For the adults it is an opportunity to escape the daily stress of reality, sit around the campfire and talk, and enjoy some bonding time over funny stories and smores. (I love smores!)
Melissa and I also brought Belle along to finally introduce her to the family. This would be the deciding factor on whether or not she would be a permanent addition to our clan. If the girls liked her and weren't scared of her, we would keep her. If not, we would have to find her a good home. Well the girls absolutely went crazy over Belle. Harlee was a little timid at first since Belle is almost as tall as her, but she finally gave in to the "Big Sweetie" (that's what I call her).

If you really want to have a good "Family Time" experience GO CAMPING!!!!

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The Story of Belle - Our New Family Member

Harlee has been begging for a pet for about a year now, I guess the fish we got her when she turned 2 are just not as impressive anymore. Melissa and I have been debating the pet issue for some time now and had decided to get her a cat for her 4th birthday, even though Melissa and cats DO NOT get along. (When she was younger a cat jumped out of a tree to escape her dog and landed on her head, the cat was just freaked by the dog but scratched her pretty good. So now she HATES THEM.) We travel a lot and aren't always at home throughout the day, so we felt getting a cat would be the more appropriate choice since cats pretty much fend for themselves when they are left alone. Plus we don't have a fenced in backyard for a dog, and we tried getting a puppy a few months ago but Melissa couldn't handle the house breaking period. Anyways, after much deliberation, we decided to pay the local Rutherford County Pet Adoption Shelter a visit and see what animals they had.

Melissa had to go by herself since I was at work. She asked for assistance in selecting a cat for Harlee. Specifically, we needed an older cat that was already de-clawed and very kid-friendly. The guy helping her said he had the sweetest cat for us, one that loves to lay in your lap and be petted. When Melissa went to reach for the cat it hissed at her and tried to climb up his shoulder. I'm sure the cat sensed her anxiety, and the feeling from her was mutual. So she decided to just see what kind of dogs they had. After looking over the prospects, she stopped at a female golden retriever named Belle that seemed very timid. The attendant opened the cage and Belle stopped right at Melissa's feet and raised her paw as if to say, "Nice to meet you". Melissa sat down and Belle put her head right in Melissa's lap. She seemed to be a very sweet and well-mannered dog so Melissa decided to take her outside and see how she reacted to being on a leash. When they opened the door Belle stayed right by Melissa's side and never tried to take the lead. After playing with her for about 40 minutes Melissa asked the guy about Belle's history and why such an older dog was at the shelter. The guy told her that Belle came from a family who had lost their home in foreclosure and had to move into an apartment complex that didn't allow pets. So they had to give Belle up. They had her since she was 6 weeks old and she grew up with their two young daughters. Melissa decided it was time to leave and told the guy she would talk to me and see what I thought about adopting Belle. He told us we needed to make a decision soon because her three months were up and she was scheduled to be euthanized. Well this just broke Melissa's heart. When she called me and told me Belle's story she was in tears. Now initially I was trying to be realistic about caring for a large dog and didn't immediately give in to the sympathy I had for Belle. We talked about it and called our family to see what they said. After all, Harlee is somewhat timid around big dogs and Brinlee is still just 10 months old. Melissa's mother told her she would take Belle if it didn't work out with us since she lives out in the country and has plenty of room for her. That was it. We decided to rescue Belle and give her a good home. So we went to Walmart and picked up some go food, feeding bowls, shampoo, collar, and a leash to welcome Belle to her new home. Melissa is going to pick her up today, just a few hours before her scheduled end.

I always say that God puts you in situations that tests your faith and character. I'm not saying that Belle is a 'God send' but it just seemed coincidence that Melissa happened to walk in that shelter the day before she was supposed to be put to sleep. With all this story having a happy ending I just want to say one more thing:

WELCOME HOME BELLE, WELCOME HOME

I know this picture is not very good but it's the only one I had of Belle and I had to do a screenshot to get it. I am sure there will be many more pictures of her with our family to come.

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Fireworks and Water Don't Mix

So I decide, against my better judgement, to fight the weather and the crowds in downtown Nashville, TN and take my family to see the 4th of July Celebration 'Let Freedom Sing' at Riverfront Park. I brought along my wife, two daughters, mother-in-law (Wanda) and sister-in-law (Kim). Wanda was really the deciding factor since she had never seen the 3rd largest fireworks show in the nation, plus Wynonna Judd was the headliner and she is a big fan. As we left the house I checked the weather forecast, a 10% chance of thunderstorms seemed like good odds so we headed out for family fun.
If you have never been in Nashville during the 4th, try to imagine squeezing 100,000 people into an outside space built to hold 25,000. It is a ridiculous situation to put yourself into, but the people are extremely friendly and everyone is excited, joyous, and overly patriotic. Even though the gates don't officially open until 12:00 noon, some people were there at 4:00 am to get center stage seats. We arrived around 1:30 and the place was already packed.

From 4th of July

After we found a place to lay out the blanket and set up our seats we had a picnic. Although the humidity and heat were kind of high, we stilled kept the 'fun' we were about to have in mind and decided to go for a walk around downtown. We stopped at the 'Family Fun Zone' so Harlee could jump on the big blow-up thingy.

From 4th of July

While we were waiting for Kim to get her $6 lemonade, the vendor told us there was an 80% chance of thunderstorms being reported by the event staff. I told my Wanda, "...what does she know, she's just a lemonade vendor". Well, later on after we had returned to our seats I found it unappetizing to be eating my own words. The rain did come and we sat under umbrellas trying to keep the girls dry while our butts got soaked in our fold-out chairs. And that was just a precursor to how the night would end. The MC for the event warned us about the coming storm. At least we weren't the only idiots that didn't listen, we HAD to stay and see Wynonna after all. Wynonna did show up, but for only 4 songs, then her management decided it wasn't safe for her to be on stage due to the coming storm. The event staff made the choice to light the fuses a little early since there were so many people still waiting it out.

After much debate between the adults, we chose to head back to my office building before the storm came and hopefully make it there to see most of the fireworks. WE DIDN'T MAKE IT. As soon as we got into the crowd of people the bottom fell out. I threw Melissa and Wanda the umbrellas to keep the girls dry, threw three chairs over my shoulder, grabbed the roll-behind cooler, and started pushing the double stroller through the crowd. (Did you pick up on how much I was carrying? Just stressing the situation). For some reason the people in the crowd weren't as friendly to a man hauling this load in a torrential downpour as they stared in disbelief. Maybe it was because they were all transfixed on the amazing fireworks show going on during the storm. Maybe they couldn't believe what they were seeing. Or maybe I was just reaping the wrath of Karma from insulting the poor lemonade vendor.

I finally made it the 4 blocks to the parking garage. Standing there soaking wet in complete disgust, I hear the booming sound of the spectacular fireworks show I had waited ALL DAY to see and now didn't even have a view of. Once my family had caught up with me, we headed to the top of the garage and managed to see the final 20 seconds of the finale as the rain slowly STOPPED. In retrospect, we should have just stood strong and watched the show instead of leaving and trying to beat the storm. I had the safety of my family in mind and thought I was making the mature decision.

As we returned home, after an hour and a half of traffic and driving, I jumped in the shower and turned on the DC and NYC Fireworks I had recorded while we were gone. It wasn't nearly as impressive, but we still all sat in front of the TV and enjoyed a family 4th of July experience.

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Do You Talk AT Your Kids?

Harlee, my 3-year-old, loves to interrupt an adult conversation with some profound statement about the grass being green or a new dance move she learned. I try to let her voice her thoughts freely, while at the same time expressing the rudeness of disrupting someone who is speaking. Brinlee is just now entering the speech-growth stage of life, mostly using her voice to say "da-da", followed by a fat-cheeked raspberry. I have made every attempt to use a calming voice while conversing with my daughters, but also speaking to them in an intelligent manner. I can have a very "grown-up" discussion with Harlee, even though some dialogue needs defining.
I ran across an article on Yahoo! News about talking to your children that claims the interaction between child and parent is just as important to speech development as the adults input alone. Basically, Talk TO Your Child, Not AT Them.

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