Beach Vacation--August

We drove to Orange Beach in August to spend some time at the beach. We took Jack to Galveston last Thanksgiving, but they had a freak cold front and we couldn't spend any time playing at the beach. We were so excited to take him this summer! He loved it! Like most kids, he liked the pool just as much. The kid loved jumping in the water and we let him do it without his puddle jumper. It was probably his favorite part of the trip. We have some great videos of this. On the way home we spent a night in Memphis and discovered a fun playground along the Mississippi River.

Riding the Ferry 

"Want a bite of cheese, Chase?" 

We're going on a crab hunt!

Beale Street in Memphis

Vegas

I avoided traveling overnight for work for a year. I have a work meeting that occurs twice a year and after missing both meetings last year it was necessary to go this fall. Ty decided to join me and it was so nice to spend time together! We traveled to our hometown to leave Jack with our parents. He stayed one night with Ty's parents and one night with mine. He had a great time!

We attended a medical school alumni event hosted at the House of Blues.

It was a little dark in there, so we had to use the flash and it made us squint.

I spent the next day at a meeting. Ty hit up the slots and attended a couple of lectures. We had the evening to explore the strip.

I ended up having some sort of allergic reaction and my eye swelled up!

By the time we landed in Oklahoma the next afternoon it had finally completely vanished. 

The swollen eye didn't stop me from enjoying dinner and a frozen hot chocolate at Serendipty.

We flew home the next day and my mom met us in the city with Jack. 

He was so happy to see his daddy!

I was not looking forward to leaving Jack, but I think I had such horrible ideas of it that it turned out not to be as bad as I was expecting. That being said we aren't ready to leave him again anytime soon! 

Valentine's Celebration

Ty was around a lot more in January due to his Radiology schedule, which got us itching to take a trip. We decided that a big trip wasn't feasible time wise and money wise, so we started looking at an overnight trip or a weekend trip somewhere close. We have been wanting to go to a Thunder game and decided this was the perfect overnight trip. The only game that worked with Ty's schedule happened to be on Valentine's Day.

I got up early and bought Ty donuts and sausage rolls for breakfast before we left for the city.

We had dinner at my favorite mexican restaurant in Bricktown and then headed to the game. The restaurant served heart shaped sopapillas in honor of the day.

I worked for the New Orleans Hornets in college while they were displaced to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina. My old boss and a couple of the people I interned with are now working for the OKC Thunder. Kasey and Jason had it arranged to say Welcome Baby K... on the jumbotron! I was so excited to see it up there on the big screen!


The next morning we walked around the OKC bombing memorial. It was a tragic day for our state and the memorial is a beautiful tribute to those that lost their lives.

The inscription that circles the Survivor Tree reads: The spirit of this city and this nation will not be defeated; our deeply rooted faith sustains us.

We ended our trip with cupcakes. There is a really fun cupcake bakery/candy store in the area called Pinkitzel.

They sell really cute gifts and I drooled over this party bunting.

My strawberry cupcake was really, really yummy!

It was really nice to get away even if it was only for one night. We had a great time together!

vacay, part two

Ty's parents got us all a couple of condos right on the beach. It was the perfect location.

Crab hunting or in my case crab running. I'm not about to touch those things. They are creepy.


relaxing in the shade


This stick kept Nathan entertained for a long time. Oh boys! :)


Our niece & nephews' favorite part--the pool!




The guys went on a fishing trip and then cooked it all up for dinner. It was delish!




While the girls were at the outlet mall, Ty and his brother-in-law, Jesse rented mopeds and had quite the adventure.


Ty & I loved our steamed lunch at Dauphin Island so much that we got it again at Orange Beach. We brought it back to the condo to share with Ty's parents.




Watching Tangled with Lucas




before dinner our last night there


We had plans to take pictures on the beach, but it rained off and on that evening.






There was a school of fish swimming by the rocks in the above picture. It reminded me of snorkeling and made us wish we would have brought our snorkels!


We are so thankful for Ty's parents organizing this trip. It was so much fun!


Read more about home cleaning at Reader's Digest.ca