Vacation!

We had planned to go to the gulf for vacation last year. But, remember this?
Well, those plans were scrapped. Luckily we had insurance on our beach house.

We were told it was ok this year. Infact, our son and his family went in April and said all was clear. No trace of oil on the beaches. So we made the trip to Dauphin Island this past week!

The night before, we had the kids over to have a smorgasborg with all our leftovers to clean out the fridge. The Packers were on so we watched (What a game!!) and had a "packing" party, loading up the van.

Allen and I rode down with our daughter and her family.

Jill made a map for the children to follow. The car has sticky tack on the back and we moved it along as we drove. In this photo, it is at Tulsa.


We met up with our son and his family outside of Fort Smith, Arkansas. We had planned to rendezvous at a fast food place, but would you believe as our highway intersected 540, Josh's pulled up right behind us! Great timing!
Here is how Elijah kept himself busy on his ride from Fayetteville.

Running off some energy for the remainder of the trip that day.

Passed a place called "Toad Suck Park". Very odd.

After 14 hours, we made it to Mindy's. She lives in Birmingham so we spent a couple nights at her place. It was time for bed when we arrived, but Saturday was a time to play with cousins and Papa!

We had a picnic lunch.

After naps, we went to the Birmingham Zoo. We have membership at the Sedgwick County Zoo and they reciprocate, so we were able to get discounts.

Look at how close the giraffes are to the lions! Only some chicken wire between them! I would think it would drive the lions bonkers!!

The children enjoyed the train ride around the zoo.



You can hardly see the owl and hawk with their camouflage. They shared a plate of mice - gross!

After the zoo, Mindy took us to a neat restaurant called Newk's. (we got "nuked") I ordered The Debra (since that is my name) - a chicken pesto pizza.

Newks gives out these cool bread sticks and we took some back to Mindy's.

While the kids were being put to bed, Al and I went on a drive with Mindy to see where she works and to see the lights of Birmingham.

More about vacation to come!