FL Pictures

Traveling Down

At the Donut Hole: Elaina, Joyanne, Abbie, Brie and Kaden

Mom, Brie and Abbie

Aubrie in the Sand

Splashing in the waves

American girls at the Beach

Abbie Grace, 5 1/2 yrs old

Underwater Swimmer

Brie baby in her floaties

Mom, Abbie and Brie

Superstar Abbie

Beautiful Baby Brie with her fishing net

High Flying Acrobat Abbie

I have to tell you, I LOVE going to Destin. This was, perhaps, one of my favorite trips down there ever. We (the kids and I) went down with Becky and her two kiddo's, Kaden and Elaina, and we also took an INCREDIBLE baby sitter, Joyanne. We had the most relaxing week I think I've ever spent at the beach. Well, the time after I took the bar exam was pretty relaxing too but this may have beaten it. We only ate out once with the kids and we did one girls night when we put the kids to bed and Becky and I went to dinner with my sister Brooke. It was a great week. Tons of swimming (pool and ocean) and lots and lots of giggling and laughing. We both said that we really did miss our boys being there but it was okay with us to not cook dinner or worry much about what we were going to eat any other time of the day. We did frozen pizza, mac and cheese, cereal...I mean it was simple and WONDERFUL!! Joyanne was just amazing. She was such a blessing all week. She knew just what to do and when to do it and she never once complained about anything!! She sat in the back of my car with Elaina and Abbie for 12 hours down there and 13 hours back and never once acted like she'd rather ride on the roof of the car than spend one second longer in the back seat (which I would have felt like saying after approximately 10 ot 15 seconds...) Here are some brief highlights:

Kaden swimming in the ocean without a lifejacket.

Abbie swimming in the baby pool with goggles and a nose plug.

Brie swimming in floaties under protest on Monday and transitioning to delight by Wednesday when she realized they come with a great gift: FREEDOM!!

Abbie being so scared to swim in the big pool without her life jacket that she literally nearly scared herself sick.

Hannah Montanta montages and dance parties

Two ladies, one king size bed, one cavernous space in the middle, nuff said...

Really sticky suntan lotion for the Durham's, great stuff for the Simons.

Dolphins off the port bow!!

"Snorkling" by Becky, "Near Drowning" by Tracie

Wave Jumping by the kids

Net fishing

Catching 3 large hermit crabs: one now lives in AR.

Poop in the baby pool (not by any of our children...)

Sleeping on the beach by Tracie...unless a baby is crying, quick check if it's yours, nope. Return to sleeping...

Wine? OKAY!!

Super Spy Kaden

It was a blessing. Thanks Becky for tagging along with us!!

First Day of Kindergarten...

First Morning: Dressed and Ready to Go~

Abbie: THE Crestwood Cougar (can you see her fangs and claws...)

Abbie's Booster Club: Pap, Ni Ni, Paw Paw and Brie

Walking the sidewalk into school with her pink mesh backpack that is as big as she is...

Waiting for her class to be called back. Sitting next to her buddy, Hope

Well, we have officially made it through the first day of Kindergarten. I've been writing back and forth to Phillip today, via email, so I thought I'd use our correspondance to document the day. It goes something like this...

From Phillip to Me: (Preface, he called Abbie as we were walking out the door to school...)

~I'm so glad that I called when I did. I was not sure what time school started for her and all I can say is that the Lord put it in my heart to call and check this morning on Abbie's school time. What time does she get out of school? I've called and ordered some flowers to be delivered to the house for her. Let me know because I want to call her and hear from her how her day went. Love Phill

From Me to Him:

Oh my word, I'm so glad that you called today. It was perfect timing and Abbie was thrilled to talk to you. She did great today...MUCH better than I did. I cried (not big cry but a constant stream of tears that I just could not stop no matter how hard I tried) the whole way there, the whole time I was waiting for her class to be called back to their rooms and the whole way back home. Not to mention I cried for a while after I got home too. Brie was a nice distraction but it about broke my heart leaving her there today. Not because it's a bad place but just because she's growing up and this just feels HUGE and super permanent. No longer my baby, but a real big girl. It's just so bittersweet. Great, and now I'm crying again. Anyway, she was excited and I have a special treat for here when she comes home (Webkinz figure) and she'll be so happy about the flowers.

God certainly had good timing when he prodded you to call today. It made the morning super special.

Lots of love~
Tracie---

Follow up to Phill after Abbie got back from school:

Well, she had a great first day of Kindergarten. She really likes her teacher and she and her buddy, Hope, from MDO got to sit next to each other and she was really exicted about that. They learned some of the rules of the classroom, cafeteria and playground. She also said that she went to the bathroom all by herself and it was, in her words, "fabulous!" Today they colored a picture of Chester the Racoon from the book, The Kissing Hand, which is what you gave to her a couple of years ago for Valentine's Day. They brought home a handprint for mom and dad and a little copied book of pictures about the story that she had colored. She said it was a great day and she can't wait to go back tomorrow. I'm hoping this great attitude keeps up! I think I'll do better tomorrow too. Here's hoping anyway...

All in all, it was a great day. Wish you were here...can't wait for you to see all of this for yourself.

Lots and Lots of Love~
Tracie

Mommy and Abbie Date

Thursday Abbie and I had the treat of having a Mommy and Abbie date afternoon! We had so much fun. Brie went with Nonnie and Abbie and I had an entire afternoon with each other. We started out at Gadwall's and then headed out to get a Manicure at WonderNails in NLR. I highly recommend them, they were so generous and sweet with she and I. We had a gift certificate from one of my "secret sisters" so thanks to whomever is part of that for a wonderful treat for my sweet baby and I. Abbie got polish and the lady was so sweet, she added flowers on four of her nails. Abbie was so excited she could hardly breathe! She had her top lip curled over her top teeth and her smile as big as you can imagine. She was so excited...she later told me it was her favorite part of the day. From there we caught a movie, Ice Age 3 (which was funny) and then we hurried home and had an hour and a half at the pool. We rushed home and grabbed a quick shower. At this point, my little princess was starting to s...l...o...w...d...o...w...n... I was drying my hair when I realized she was sitting in her towel on my bedroom chair, sitting up and sound asleep. It was so cute! That girl was worn out! We had a wonderful day and were both happy to go get Brie and have a delicious dinner at Pap and Nonnie's house but we were all too happy to get home and crash! What blessing to have a day to just hang out and have fun...mother-daughter style!

Underwater Mermaid

This is some quick footage of Abbie underwater. She held her nose for this shot but for most of the afternoon she let go of her nose and just blew bubbles to keep out the water. She did great!!

Brie Baby Gets Dunked!

Brie watched big sister go under so many times today that she just couldn't stand being left out. She requested that I put her face in the water and so I did. She is so funny. She seemed to go in eyes open and mouth open in excitement but when she came up she was all closed up. She never swallowed water so I count it as a success!! Guess that's what you do when you turn two!!

Today Abbie took a HUGE leap forward with her swimming. We took Daddy's underwater challenge and she nailed it!! Her friend Elaina was swimming without her life jacket but Abbie had hers on. She really wanted to swim without it so she could be just like Elaina. Mrs. Becky encouraged her to just try swimming without her jacket right by the steps and once she realized that she could touch the bottom, she was fearless! There's no stopping her now!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!!