Alina's Birthday

We have muddled through one more month of May, managing to stay out of town for the second anniversary of Wallace' death once again but were here for Father's Day. I was thinking about going to see my Dad, having some time with my extended family, not about the kids missing their dad, when we went to church on Sunday. Dumb mistake. I really would have stayed home had I remembered what Sunday it was and how it might affect them. After watching a video tribute to dads, Anya started to tear up and then the flood came. She sobbed into my shirt sleeve almost the entire church service while the big boys squirmed uncomfortably. When I picked up the little kids, they all had Father's Day cards and wanted to take them to the grave. Life is so full of complications, unexpected turns, I can never seem to keep up with it.
Alina had a great 5th birthday. The women of the family took all of the kids to the creek at Unicoi State Park for a day in the creek, hot dogs on the grill and cake. We had a good time and Alina's last words as she fell asleep that night were "Is it still my birthday, mom?"

Destin-Memorial Day weekend

Time flies when your having fun. "Are we there yet?" turned into "Are we having fun yet?" Some of us were. I wasn't sure if I was or not. Cooking and cleaning in a beautiful, tropical place was better than doing it at home, anyway. I was a little tired of sand. And one bathroom with 6 teenagers who suddenly wanted 2 showers a day. The waves were huge, the water blue, no jelly fish or seaweed. Everyone old enough to enjoy the water and actually walk to the beach carrying something. We broke with Destin vacation tradition and had no fish-fry, not a bite of seafood, in fact, all food from the dollar store. Eleven kids, Lori and I, $3 a gallon for gas, put us in the budget vacation category. The beaches were crowded but we had fun chasing folks around the parking lot trying to guess where they had parked and would be leaving from, seeing who could race to the vacant spot first.
Got some more memories made, some more beach pictures..we may even do it again later this summer.