We had a great time on our vacation to Orange Beach, AL.  We drove all the way to Mobile, AL the first day which is about 12 hours and stayed at a really nice hotel.  It had suites, so we had our own bedrooms.  My SIL had Marriott bonus points, so in the end we paid about $30 each for 2 rooms each with 2 suites.  We did some shopping at Sam’s the next morning then headed to Orange Beach and checked into our condo.  We decided where everyone was sleeping and put our luggage in our rooms and went to the beach.  The next day (Monday) was a beach day.  We shopped for souvenirs that night also.  Tuesday I was a little burned so I sat under a canopy we had put up and enjoyed the beach.  That night we went to Lulu’s in Gulf Shores, AL.  I had the half and half basket with fish and shrimp.  It was good.  Wednesday we went to Pensacola, FL to the Naval museum and saw the Blue Angels practice, that was awesome!!  Then we got some autographs and went through the museum.  Afterwards we went to the Pensacola Lighthouse.  Josh was so excited.  He has been wanting to see a lighthouse for a long time.  He loved it.  That afternoon we had a thunderstorm, so we watched it on our balcony…it was beautiful!!  Thursday we had another beach day.  We were out all day and then we had a dolphin tour that evening.  It was amazing to see them jumping out of the water.  We could actually see the dolphins in the water every morning just from our balcony, but to see them up close was really neat.  We also saw Stingrays and some dolphins swam up to the coastline Thursday morning.  It had to be something with the storm I assume.  Friday, the kids all went back to the beach and I got packed.  We left at noon and got home at 3:30AM…we drove straight through.  I was with Karl’s 3 sisters Kara, Karla and Kayla and their kids.  We each have one boy, so there were us four girls and the four boys.  It was fun.  My camera broke down there, but my SIL’s took pictures.  I grabbed a couple from my SIL’s facebook to share.  I think you can click on the pictures to see them better if you want.  I go back to work tomorrow.  It has been a great summer!!  I will share more pictures as I get them.

Josh had fun on his birthday. We started off with appetizers, we had potato skins. Then he had a cheeseburger and fries for his meal and he had a Cookie Monster Wow for dessert. We were at Cheddars. I also had a cheeseburger and fries and Karl had BBQ ribs. It was very good!!
Josh and I went swimming yesterday with my sister-in-law and nephew and I got a lot of sun finally. We were going to go back on Friday, but I am a little burned, I need to stay home and let my skin heal so I will be fine for vacation.
I called all of the parents of the pre-schoolers on Tuesday to let them know when school is starting and I have my newsletter partly written and my school supply list ready for them. I gave it to them at the end of the year, but they have lost it. I will start school right away on Monday when we get back from vacation. I am excited to see the kids. The kids actually start that Wednesday, the teachers have some training days and work days in the classroom. My classroom is pretty much ready to go, I have worked some in it already.
Today I am meeting a parent from the pre-school. She has some things at her church that the pre-school might be able to use. I am excited to get to go through that. I will be packing tomorrow for the trip and doing laundry. Have a great day!!

Happy 11th Birthday Joshua!!! We are going to take him out to dinner later this evening.
I am washing rugs today and got most of the house cleaned last night getting ready to leave for our trip on Saturday. Tomorrow Josh and I are going to try and go swimming if the weather will behave.