This blog has become all baby all the time, and I forgot to post about our recent beach vacation. It’s better late than never, huh?

We headed out early in the morning, and after a boring drive through west Georgia and Alabama (because there is absolutely nothing past Atlanta on I-85), we met up with my parents, one of my brothers, and my sister and her family in Montgomery. From there, we had another leg of close to two hours to get to the beach house. By the time we arrived in Elberta, we were ready to get to the house and settle in. It’s too bad Google maps and Mapquest give crappy directions. We circled around the neighborhood, first turning left onto the listed street where there was absolutely no beach in sight, and then turning right where there was a beach but all the houses were rundown and looked like they were going to cave in. Finally, we got a hold of the woman renting the house and found our way to the house that was definitely on the water and looked just like it did in the picture. It was quite a fun adventure, though!

The first night, we relaxed, and Joe taught Randy and my nephews how to play poker. Oriona joined in once she, Ryan and Harrison arrived from Florida. My nephews did quite well, and Randy was surprised to find out just how good I was at poker. I cleaned him out every time he thought I was bluffing. 🙂

The rest of the trip was spent doing whatever we wanted. All of us kids went to see the midnight showing of Harry Potter on Tuesday night and, unfortunately, since we got home around 3 a.m., we were all too tired to get up at 6 a.m. to head out with my parents in Pensacola. I was bummed that we missed it because my parents said the show was really neat. We also spent time at Orange Beach, which was a lot of fun. I was amazed at how shallow the water was both there and at the bay, which is where our house was located. Oh, and there was plenty of canoeing and kayaking on the bay. One morning, Joe, Randy, Ryan and Jim, my brother-in-law, canoed to the other side and back. Harrison got to go out in the canoe several times, too!

On Wednesday night, all the siblings and our spouses went out. We ate at this really good Mexican place, got ice cream and then went to Florabama to listen to a band. The band was much better than we expected. And, of course, My feet started swelling while we were gone and haven’t let up since. I’m sure the sunburn I got didn’t help. So, I spent all day Thursday at home with my feet propped up since they were too painful to walk on.

Saturday night was by far the best night. We went to the Elberta Social Club. Joe and I had been dying to go ever since we saw it, and when we found out that Saturday night was Karaoke Night, we got Randy, Ryan and Ori to come with us. It was just as redneck as we expected, and it was a blast. Ori and I had so much fun watching the guys on stage singing. I tried to get up the courage to sing with Joe (because, as Joe said, what do we care about what people in Elberta, Alabama think about us), but I wasn’t able to. Oh well. I still had a blast. Jim was sad that they had to leave Saturday morning because he really wanted to go too!

We’re already planning our next family vacation next year to Wilmington, N.C., which is my sister’s neck of the woods. I haven’t been to Wilmington since my 15-year-old niece was born, so I’m really excited. And what’s even more exciting? Little Lucy will be here!