Back to the Beach

Thursday morning we headed back to the beach for the Grey family beach trip to Dauphin Island, Alabama. And, in case you’re wondering, we didn’t really plan our two beach trips back-to-back like that; they just kind of fell that way, but we’re not complaining. In the end, you forget about the three days you worked in between the two trips, so it almost feels like a two-week vacation!

Here are a few pics, starting with Uncle Ryan burying Ryan Hadley in the sand... this little girl is a true beach baby - she loves everything about it from the sand to the waves. At one point she was standing there at the edge of the water saying, "Come on, waves!" Too precious...

And here's Uncle Derek playing with Ryan Hadley and her Dora the Explorer fishing pole.

The real reason we took a family trip was for PawPaw Billy's 80th birthday party, which was Saturday. His real birthday was Thursday though, so we celebrated with a makeshift cake made out of a Pop Tart and a grill match. Classy... :)

Here's a group pic of the Greys, Aunt Kacki and David, and PawPaw Billy and Meme Lou.

A very tired Ryan Hadley fell asleep to one of Grandee's lullabies...

On Friday night before sunset, we decided to take some of those "all white" beach photos, but it was kind of impromptu, so all the boys had on different shorts, and inevitably not all of us were ever looking at the camera at the same time. Here's the best one, but Ryan is squinting. Oh, well...

We did take a good girls' shot, though, so this is Candee's belated Mother's Day gift... :)

Friday night we had a little dance party on the deck... Even Uncle Rusty got down...

By the time Saturday night came around, we were so worn out from the birthday party that just about all of our energy went to the wild goose chase we went on for some raw oysters and ended up over the bridge in Coden, Alabama. Random, but I guess the oysters were good (I don’t eat them; I was more along for the ride) because Neil and Gary slurped them down with enough horseradish to make their heads explode.

We hit the road Sunday morning and surprised my mom and grandmother for a late brunch at Salute in Gulfport. Dad and I worked out this little Mother’s Day surprise late last week, and we pulled it off without a hitch. It was delicious, and the best part about it was that the two guests of honor couldn’t have been happier to see us.

We are worn out yet again, and I’m busy trying to catch up on nearly two weeks’ worth of laundry and dishes tonight. It’s crazy how two back-to-back vacations can leave you almost as tired as you were when you left, but it’s been great! It was so good to get away for a while, and of course it was nice to get a head start on my summer tan, too. I wish every week was a three-day work week and a four-day weekend. :)