Did you hear the headlines in Bham??

I never saw it in the paper or anything, but I know it must have hit the news....b/c at the Birmingham Zoo yesterday morning, it was 2,579 degrees. I must have momentarily blacked out when Reese asked me yesterday morning to take her and John to the zoo---b/c a serious lack of judgement occurred when I said yes.

But, we packed up and went. I took the wagon for the kids to ride in, which was my only good judgement call of the day.

John liked looking at the macaws.

Reese told me about all the animals like she was my own personal zoo tour guide. I was a little scared of how much she liked the snakes---but I am choosing not to think about that too much.

She LOVED wearing this hard hat in the Australia/kangaroo area. Guess she gets that honestly. : )

Then, we went to the water area.

John enjoyed the water area,

and ate more raisins than I care to admit,

and dreamed of more carosel rides. (We had already riden twice.)

Reese played in the bubbles and played with a little girl that she met there.

After that, we rode the train one last time and headed home.

At the exit, was a girl giving away cups of COLD ice tea. I think I actually heard angels singing the halleujah chorus. You better believe I loaded those kids up in the car darn quick and went and got me a cup. Pure heaven.

2nd Annual Girls' Beach Trip

Finally remembered to upload my pics from the beach. Such a fun trip!!

We left Thursday afternoon and didn't get to the condo until about 11p or so. The girls had slept for awhile in the car, so they were a mix of delirious and wired when we got there. They immediately got out dress up clothes, jewelry and tea party sets and began to play while Lori and I unloaded.

Our crazy girls...

Despite going to bed about 2am---Reese was up about 7a ready to go to the beach. So, we went down and walked around for a bit in our jammies...

The next day, the girls played great together on the beach. The water had made what Reese called a "river" that was perfect (though very dirty!) for playing. The girls borrowed someone's board and pulled each other up and down the "river".

That night, we went to Lulu's for dinner. Of course, my little tomboy did not mind at all getting very sandy and making "sand angels", as she called them.

The next night we went to the Wharf, and after dinner took in a ferris wheel ride. Reese saw it when we drove into the Wharf before dinner and begged for a ride. It was her first time on a ferris wheel. Now, any of you who really know me, know that I am PETRIFIED of heights. So, my friends, the fact that I did this with Reese is pure love.

I love the look of wonder on Reese's face in this pic...

The next day, it was back to the beach. Reese didn't really love the beach. I think it was so bright and hot for her. So, she spent much of her time in her chair eating.


On our way home, Lori had the brilliant idea to stop by Claire's in Foley and get the girls a little bit of jewelry. It was a great way to keep the girls from being disappointed and whiny about leaving the beach. When they got out of the car, they both ran straight to the store window and started dreaming of all the jewelry they were going to get!!

Well worth the $20 we spent in there!!

Girls' Beach Trip 2009

My friend, Lori, and I took our little girls to the beach last weekend---for our 2nd Annual Girls' Beach Trip. I still haven't looked at the pictures yet, but I uploaded a little bit of video from one of our dinners out. This is at Ginny Lane at the Wharf in Gulf Shores. We went there last year and I think it is our favorite place down there to go with the girls. No wait time...eat outside...great food and wine...live music...and afterwards, we bought the girls some sparkly lip gloss, went on a ferris wheel ride and got Dippin' Dots. Now, I don't think we could ask for a better night than that!!

Amen!!

In response to President Obama stating that the United States is not a Judeo-Christian nation.



May God bring us back to a nation humbled before Him.

Passing along a prayer request

See my friend Heather's blog and the prayer request she posts there. My heart always aches for kid's hurting.

http://heatherswannerphotography.typepad.com/heather_swanner_photograp/2009/06/gabe.html