sweet beach trip!

We were so blessed to be able to go to orange beach last week!  Our family of 4 made our hike down to the gulf last Sunday and spent a week enjoying our time away from all the hassles of normal life.  Mike needed a get away greatly.  He has been working so hard, giving everything 110% and being such a dedicated dad...sometimes i truly wonder how he does all he does with never a complaint.  We were praying about having a getaway as a family for months.  Both our hearts were very dry, tired of the day to day life, and we both knew we needed a breath of fresh air (so to say).  We put a number on paper that we wanted to spend on a vacation....I thought...ok God...you know our hearts and how discouraged we've been recently...so I started researching condo's.  I emailed a friend who has a condo in orange beach and asked if her parents condo was open this week.  It has been a different summer for us with scheduling therapy, and having a life with friends and family- but we knew we had this week free of therapy and it worked great with mike's work as well.  So- waited to hear back from the condo in orange beach. The rate he gave us for a week was exactly the number mike had said we could afford for a vacation.  I was amazed how God truly cares about the small things in our lives, and how he really wants us to see his beauty and relax as a family.  We couldn't have been more grateful and excited to get to the beach.   We spent the first 3 days as a family of 4.  Just us going to the beach, napping, swimming, eating seafood, building sand castles, and trying to keep sand out of our condo!  Weds. night my parents came down for a little babysitting and relaxing a little themselves.  Mike and I were able to spend some time together just us on the beach, and had a fun Farris wheel date night!  All in all- we couldn't have been more thankful for our week getaway.  I am so thankful for the time we all had playing, seeing the ocean, and seeing how real our God is.

                                                                        pops and ellie

                                                                           styling ellie

                                                               daddy's little beach bum!

                                    Lu Lu's had a great band and seafood....fun with the kids!

                                                 ellie and graham-- my little crabs! =)

                                                         bedtime- tickle book time.

 ellie's beach tent- no sand- fun play pool!  ellie can't go into the ocean b/c of her g-tube, so we made her her own little beach castle!

                                                        headed to the beach in the wagon!

                                                                 what fun at the beach!

 bi bi and g in the boat...daddy's favorite thing to do at the beach...i think my mom did this more for mike than graham..it was a hoot!

                                                             pops taking g for a ride.

                                                          ellie soaking up some sun

                           graham singing and reading on pops ipad....he couldn't get enough. oh goodness!

                                                                     sweet ellie playing.

                                                         sweet girl...eating so well.....so proud!

                                date night...thanks for our night out just the two of us....so refreshing!

                                                              graham kissing sandwich!

                                                                             so sweet

                                       daddy and his little surfer girl....daddy loved ellie in this swim shirt....

 graham totally warmed up to the water and the pool.  He was jumping in off the side on his own going under water, holding his breath, and loved being thrown up as high as we could throw him!

                                           daddy and graham holding their breath under water......way to go bud!

                                                  me and my little ellie....happy happy happy girl.

                                                             ellie is saying she is so big!

                                           here (my fav) she is saying she  loves you.   i love this one.

 graham and ellie at the beach---it was super windy so the sand was blowing everywhere...best snap shot we could get without getting sand in our eyes.

 homemade peach ice cream--we had to take a picture of this on the potty- this is for sure Alabama style.  But yummy peach ice cream--thank you bi bi and pops for making this yummy treat.

                                                                          sweet ellie- 17 months

                                             last day (so sad) eating lunch bf heading home!

 pops and bi bi- thank you for coming and giving mike and i a little extra rest, and letting us spend some much needed one on one time together.  It was a joy to have you guys there!!!

Even though ellie and i were both sick when we got to the beach, god knew we needed this week of special blessings.  We started off knowing we were all under spiritual attack, God is faithful to always show us his loving kindness and how great he is.  Just to sit on the beach and listen to the ocean waves, and feel the sugar sand on my feet, I just couldn't help but think....god did this just for us all to enjoy and play. Well, we were so thankful, and grateful!  That's it for our orange beach trip for 2011.