Orange Beach, Gulfport, and New Orleans!

You've probably noticed the beach ticker I've had at the top of my blog for the past few months. It's been counting down to my annual beach trip with my friend Heather! It's something that she and I look forward to every single summer. Of course, once it's come and gone, it's always a little sad, but we're just going to go ahead and start counting down to next year's trip! (Click here, here, and here to see my posts from each trip!)

Here are a few pics from our week of heaven!

This picture was taken at Cobalt--a fabulous restaurant in Orange Beach. The atmosphere was perfect there! In the area? You should definitely go and have their shrimp and grits! YUMM!!!!!

...view from the balcony taken the first morning we were there. Drinking coffee on this balcony is one of my favorite things to do while I'm there! Heather and I enjoyed having it to ourselves for a few days, but we were excited when Heather's husband Tom and little boy Thomas Brodie joined us on Thursday!
I think he loves the beach already!

I left Orange Beach on Thursday, and drove to Gulfport to get a visit in with Heather, Trey, and Jones. Rob had a tennis tournament on the MS coast, so he, Kristen, and Henry were also staying at Heather's for a few nights.

On Friday, Heather, Kristen, and I took the boys to the New Orleans Zoo. To say that H&J had fun is a total understatement! They loved everything about it!

Can't you tell?
The boys also enjoyed playing in the sand at the beach there in Gulfport! I can't wait for Kristen's little girl (whose name will be Noelle Adams Fyke!) to be born in the fall, but what in the world am I going to do with a girl?! :)
I just love, LOVE my boys!

Wordless Wednesday...

In just a few short days, I'll be relaxing with my friend Heather, sipping something cold and fruity, and enjoying THIS view...

Sweet summertime.

Why did I have to come home?

Well....the beach trip I look forward to EVERY YEAR has officially come to an end. Sad. Fear not, though, for I have captured quite a few pics that will help me remember the fun that was had.

I'm assuming, of course, that you want to see these pictures, so here you go!

Girl trip to Orange Beach 2010.

(me, HEGS, Laura Courtenay, and Candi Cockroft)

Lovely view from the balcony. The weather was beautiful...

GTHOM. That's right.
Our first outing...

...and the next night (do I look a LITTLE more tan?)...
and here you have cute, pregnant Heather in her element. (She may quite possibly kill me for this one. Haha).


I'm already ready for NEXT YEAR'S beach trip!!

Here's to the start of summer 2010...one of the many reasons why I love being a teacher!

700

(This is my 700th blog post. WOW.)

ANYWAY...
No more school for me!

If you need me next week, you'll find me here:

HAPPY SUMMER!

Beach...

I mentioned a while back that we had some family pictures taken at the beach last month. Well, a few weeks ago, I received the ones I ordered, only to find out that I'd been accidentally given pictures of ANOTHER FAMILY! Ha! I finally got pictures of MY family recently, and wanted to share my favorite one with you! Also, if you're looking for a beach photographer, click here. I highly recommend this one!

note: this is a scanned copy. The quality of the actual picture is much better! :)

HEAVEN ON EARTH!

I'm home! I spent the past week at 2 different beaches and loved every second of it!

My week in paradise began with my friend Heather and me heading to Orange Beach. There, Heather and I did nothing but RELAX. It was exactly what we both needed after completing another year of teaching! Heather's parents graciously allowed us to stay in their condo and I could not be more grateful to them!

Alright Heather, is it too soon to start the countdown for our beach trip for NEXT year??

On Thursday, I left Orange Beach and drove a couple of hours to Seaside, Florida, where I met my family for a few days. "The Truman Show" was filmed in this picturesque town, and the town was just as beautiful was it was in the movie! We stayed in a fantastic cottage, which was walking distance to the beach, shopping, restaurants, etc. It was unlike anywhere I've ever been before!


Pictures of the cottage where we stayed:
As much as I didn't want to leave the life of luxury on the beach, I was glad to be home to see Max, who had been staying with a friend of mine. I'm going to spend my day cleaning, grocery shopping, and running about another zillion errands. Jealous anyone? ;)

"I'm dreaming of a white...."

BEACH.

a little piece of HEAVEN.

Ahh...this is where I've spent the past 5 days of my life...

....and THIS is what I did the WHOLE time I was there...

I'm a little disappointed because I made the CUTEST scrapbook page of my beach pictures using this site, but my computer has been completely ridiculous tonight, so I never really got it to do what I wanted. Maybe next time.

Here we go....

Heather was visiting her parents in Jackson for Memorial Day weekend, so I woke up Monday morning and drove to her parents' house and we left from there. Here we are about to leave Jackson and head for the beach!!

Now, before you jump to any conclusions about the next picture, I must throw in a little comment here. I have always been generally good at finding my way somewhere. I love Mapquest, I can read an atlas, and can follow written directions fairly well. I have very rarely gotten lost. So, when Heather's dad typed out perfect directions from his house to their condo, I thought it would be a piece of cake to get there. Plus, it was me AND Heather, and 2 heads are better than 1 right?

The weather was perfect for driving and the traffic was surprisingly good. We thought we were making good time and could possibly even have a couple of good hours on the beach once we got there. We're driving along, apparently not paying as much attention as we thought, when we both decide we need to use the restroom. I see a sign that says "Louisiana rest stop ahead." So I said (TOTALLY without realizing that it said 'LOUSIANA!'): "OK, there's a rest stop right up here, so we can stop. It was Heather that came to her senses first and said "UMMM...WHY are we in LOUSIANA?!"

I was the driver and I take complete responsibility of this stupid mistake. I will say that this was the first time I had driven from Jackson to the beach, so I guess I just assumed we were supposed to be going that way. Still....I shouldn't make excuses, I know. Heather started laughing immediately, but it took a good hour for me to find the humor. I was tired of driving. I wanted to be at the beach. I DIDN'T HAVE 60 EXTRA DOLLARS TO FILL MY GAS TANK. And did I mention I was ready to be at the beach?

Oh, and if you're at all geographically knowledgeable, you're probably able to figure out just HOW lost we got and HOW much time we lost. Needless to say, Heather and I have taken a lot of heat for our carelessness!! But hey--we were able to say that within a 7 hour period, we'd been to Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, AND Florida. Is that impressive or just plain idiotic? :)

Here's cute HEGS attempting to read an atlas and navigate our way to the beach!

We finally finally made it (nearly 2 1/2 hours AFTER the time we thought we'd be there!). Thankfully, we were able to swipe a couple of those handy carts at the condo, because CHECK OUT THE LUGGAGE! I can't believe Heather and I packed so much for a beach trip. Wow.
Although our first day was a bit hectic because of all of the extra driving we did, every other day was PERFECT. The weather could not have been any better. I truly felt like a queen. I had my own king sized bed, slept as late as I wanted, went jogging on the beach, laid out on the beautiful beach for as long as I wanted, ate fabulous seafood, sipped on frozen margaritas, etc. etc. IT WAS PERFECT.

Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Later in the week, Heather's husband Tom, his sister Jodie (L in the picture), her husband Bob, and their precious little girl Abigail, joined in on the fun!

Note: I have made fun of Heather for always putting her hand on her hip in pictures. I like to call it the "Heather pose." She claims that it makes her arm look smaller and guess what? I think she's right. You may notice that I'm doing the "Heather pose" in a couple of pictures and I think my arm does look slightly smaller! Thanks for the tip HEGS! And readers--you should give it a try!

Thanks again Heather, for such a perfect end of the school year-beginning of the summer celebration!!! Let's go ahead and start the countdown for next year's trip!