Slacking

I've really been slacking on this ol' blog.  It's not that I don't have things to write about, it's just the time factor. Brian's in school while we're here in Alabama and my usual time to write blogs (nighttime) he's been on the computer doing schoolwork. And there's the fact that we've been busy. So busy. I hope I don't regret being so busy when we have the craziest month the next month and a half jumping from one place to another. We'll have a sanity check in about a month. 

Also, I've been slacking big time on using my dslr camera. Soo iPhone pictures it is. You win some, you lose some.

Anyway last week like I'd said, we traveled to and from Atlanta two times to drop Laura off at the airport.  Since it's a 4 hr drive roundtrip, I figured I should probably find some things for us to do in Atlanta so they didn't go crazy being in the car so much.

Our first stop was the Georgia Aquarium. I'd heard so much about it and although pretty pricey ($60 just for Brady and I, Layla was free!) it was pretty awesome. The kids loved all of the exhibits.

Watching a divers program.

Brady thought it was pretty cool. Also, he looks about 10 in the picture.

Just climbing in a tube below some penguins.

So many fishies!

Just taking a break to pick her nose before going to see more fishies.

Perhaps the best part (and the part we almost skipped out on because of time) was the dolphin show.

My pictures don't do it justice but it was pretty amazing. I get giddy whenever I see dolphins so the kids and I were "oohing and ahhing" together.

On the return trip from the airport we stopped at the Atlanta Children's Museum. Where they played trains,

rode on tractors, (She always gives me these looks like "Who the hell are you?")

pushed around some groceries,

played in some water, and did lots of other things I didn't document. I had a Groupon and it was a fun place to check out but probably wouldn't have paid full price for it just because again, a little pricey and not that big.

My kids spotted a park (Centennial Olympic Park) so we of course had to play at the playground. Never mind the fact that it was 95 that day and my kids are clearly northern kids. Both were drenched, but nonetheless, had fun.

Otherwise we've been outside as much as possible checking out everything we can.

Loving the park so much that he can't open his eyes

"Look, ma! I swimming!"

Swimming away these hot, hot days.

And taking Starbucks half price frapp breaks too. There's have no coffee in them, I promise. I'm not crazy. At least not THAT crazy.

I mean look at that face! (Hers not mine.) Rotten.

Another huge new to us playground.

We officially leave here in a week and I can't believe how fast its flown by. Pretty sure 2 months never goes by this quickly during deployments.  Call us crazy but we're going to the beach again this weekend. Promise I won't take a million pictures again. We debated and debated about it but we're (most likely) never going to be in this area again, and will be landlocked for probably forever and it's Mother's Day weekend and yada yada yada. 

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! :) 

Girls Beach Weekend!

This weekend was the best. The best.  My friend Laura flew out from Minneapolis into Atlanta and we spent the weekend in Destin, Florida and it was AHH-MAZING!  Looking back at the pictures makes me wish I were still there.  We had a blast.  Laura's one of those friends that I can go months without seeing/talking to and the second we talk or see each other we just pick right back up where we left off.  I've known Laura since kindergarten and she's been there through everything. She's Brady's godmother and we all adore her to pieces.  

The kiddos and I left bright and early Thursday morning to go the Atlanta airport. It's about 2 hours away so we made a day of it and went to the Georgia Aquarium.  I'll post about that later but it was pretty awesome.

Brady and Layla with Auntie Laura

Friday morning we slept in, took the kids to the park, and shortly after Brian got home around 11:30, we headed out.

I was a mess saying goodbye to the kids. A mess. I am ridiculous, I know.  It was the first time I'd left them for a whole weekend and you would have thought I was leaving for months the way I was crying.  Brady kept saying, "Mommy I'm going to miss you so, so much." Broke my heart. But once we got in the car and started playing old cds I was just fine.  The drive from Montgomery to Destin is a weird one. Lots of turns and lots of back roads. Makes for an interesting/ I hope to hell our car doesn't break down here kind of drives.

But we made it! And first order of business was to relax by the pool with a cold beverage!

This was our hotel. We stayed at the Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort. It was a huge resort with shuttle buses so we didn't have to drive the entire time we were there and had everything at our fingertips.

This was our room. Don't worry, the messy beds are from us (I took this Sunday), that's not how we came into the room.

We were staying on the bayside (which oddly was where most of the action was) but hopped over to the ocean so Laura could see the Gulf.

After that we cleaned up a little and headed to Hammerheads for dinner and drinks. This was at Baytowne Wharf. If you are ever in Destin, I highly, highly recommend checking out this area. So much fun!

Where I made the mistake of ordering a ginormous (I had no clue it would be this big!) hurricane drink before we ate dinner.

We walked down the pier to catch a glimpse of the sunset. So pretty!

This post could also be the weekend of Laura + Rachel selfies. Because heaven forbid we actually ask someone to take our picture.

After that we headed to a couple more bars..the lighting in there was beautiful for our selfies. 

And that's about all of the pictures I'll show you from that night! Needless to say we let loose, stayed up until 4 am, and had way too much fun. I haven't had a night like that in years.

The next morning we crawled our way to the beach. Sun...so bright...sand.. so sandy.

It was a tad busier than the other weekend I was there. May have had something to do with the fact that it was 78 degrees and sunny. And perfect.

My view from the table at lunch. We spent most of the day at the beach under an umbrella hungover  re-hydrating and enjoying the ocean and people watching.

Dinner that night was at the marina.

With another gorgeous sunset.

That night we walked back over to Baytowne, got some gelato, watched some live music, and called it a night at 10:30. Mama can't hang 2 nights in a row.

The next morning we awoke bright and early and headed to this delish restaurant for breakfast.  Where (this is going to show how lame I am) I saw a reality celebrity (ok, not really).

Has anyone watched Raising Sextuplets?  It was on the WE Network and I used to watch it a couple years ago. Well anyway, we saw the dad there. Laura had absolutely no clue what I was talking about (as probably the majority of this reading do not either) and sure enough it was definitely him. Along with his pictures popped up his mugshot and a bunch of crazy stories about a ton of dramatics with his now ex-wife. So...no, I did not approach him for a picture.  

After that we headed out to our pool.

Oh you know, just casually sitting by the pool.

We packed up our room and headed back to the beach.

And spent a lot of the morning like this.

And like this. I even swam in the ocean! That's two 30-Before-30 things completed in 1 trip!

Then we headed to the outlet mall, did some shopping, ate a quick dinner, and then hopped back in the car.

Sunset leaving the beach.  It was such a fun, all too quick weekend and just what I needed to re-energize my mommy self!  I think I'm ready now to take that couple's vacation! :)