Beach for a Day!

We headed to Jacksonville, FL last week to be fingerprinted for Asher’s adoption. We didn’t even attempt to get a sitter for all the girls, and just decided to make a day of it. At the last minute, I threw their bathing suits and 2 towels in a bag at the off chance we could go to the beach. When it only took us 20 min to get printed, and after realizing the Atlantic Ocean was just 11 miles away….we surprised the girls and headed to the waves!

The were THRILLED! We stayed about an hour and a half and they had a ball. The older girls played in the amazing waves, and the littles dug in the sand. The Atlantic ocean is perfect because it’s shallow for about 50 yards off shore. We headed to dinner then drove back home. Our girlies are such good travelers, it was an easy trip and we have beach pictures to prove it!

 

Family Vacation 2010

This summer we were VERY blessed to be able to make a trip to Orlando, FL and go to SeaWorld AND Disney!! And when I say blessed, I mean this trip was a gift from the Lord! I won’t go into details, but we got free SeaWorld passes, only paid for 1 ticket to Disney (5 free) and our condo was also….FREE.

We constantly reminded the girls about this…we never want to take any credit when it all goes to the Lord. We could not afford a vacation like this with 4 (almost 5) kiddos, but the Lord blessed our socks off with this one!

Day 1 we headed to SeaWorld with the Hemphills! Chris flew in from TX and the girls had a BLAST! I HIGHLY recommend SeaWorld…it was as much, if not more fun, than Disney (sorry Mickey!).  We stayed in the park for 13 hours and Annalyse NEVER missed a beat. She never slept in the stroller, and was still bouncing at the 10pm fireworks! Where the HECK does she get her energy?!?!

This was the view I got most of the day!!!

The next day, we took a day off and stayed at the resort. We all slept in and played the afternoon at the pools (there were 9!). One had a water slide that the older girls loved. I think they must have gone down it 100 times each!

Finally, Friday, we headed to DISNEY WORLD! Again, we stayed for 14 hours and Annalyse never wilted. Ashley was amazed at Cinderella and Ally was in awe of all the REAL princesses! Avery loved the rides and Annalyse, my fearless 3 year old, rode Splash Mountain!

All About Ally

It has been an eventful month for my Ally-girl! At the end of May, she graduated from Kindergarten! Her class did the “Animal Band” and she was the old grey mare :) She played the base and was the cutest mare I’ve ever seen! Her teacher, Mrs. Howard, had only wonderful things to say about her and she had a great first year of school, overall.

The whole family at K-5 Graduation!

Then, on June 17th….Ally turned 6!!! She was so excited to be 6…actually, Ally gets excited about just about everyhting! She had a crown and princess party and had about 6 friends for a swim party.

Ally, I cannot believe my baby girl is 6 years old! You are such an amazing little girl and we love you so much. You are always asking questions and love to talk about the Lord all the time. You are such a big helper with your little sisters and you love Avery very much. Your family is who you are happiest with, and you LOVE just being at home, all together. Your heart is so tender and you like it best when everybody is happy.  I cannot wait to see you grow up even more and I look forward to seeing how the Lord uses you for the Kingdom!

Few of your favorite things:

Silly Bandz, sucking your thumb, make up of any kids, your “weal tierra” that Nammy gave you, best friends Madeline and Daly, and swimming with your sisters!

WE LOVE YOU ALLY SHAY!!!

Annalyse Drew, 3 year old pics