hello? is anyone still there?

sorry for the long hiatus. i was celebrating the cook win on american idol!!!!!!

ok, not really. not that i wasn't happy about him winning, believe me, i was overjoyed! i was actually really busy on tuesday and wednesday, and then left on thursday for florida. in fact, i got home last night at about 10 til 12. it was a very long drive (we left at 9 am), but the kids were fantastic on the ride.

we left thursday evening at about 8pm. we drove from our place to sam's town in tunica. we spent the night there (we got there after 12). we were up and on the road by 11, you know, after a nice buffet breakfast. the ride from tunica to the beach took forever! my youngest niece had to pee every single hour. she fell asleep, and then peed in her seat. zack was pretty good, we had to pull over for him once, and he peed on the side of the road...we had left the gas station like 20 minutes before, he had gone there, and then peed for like 5 full minutes. then, when we got to mobile alabama, we hit rain. not just rain, but a torrential downpour. the storm drains were at least an inch or two under water. it was so hard, we had to drive 40 mph to get through it. it slowed us down a lot. we got to the condo after 9pm. i think we had a total of 15 hours just driving (according to hubby's new toy...gps) on a trip that was supposed to be a 12 hour drive.

the first day, we went to the beach. oh, did i tell you my nieces are fair skinned? well, two of them are. did you know that 30 spf is really not enough for fair skinned kids? or their dad? yeah, well, my brother in law was red. like lobster red. my oldest niece burned so badly that she had blisters on her shoulders. blisters covering her shoulders. not just one little blister, these were big, and clustered on the tops of her shoulders. she had close to ten, the biggest was the size of a dime. she's almost 8. the poor thing was miserable. i felt so bad for the kid. i got burned too, but nothing like her. just the tops of my feet and my chest...oh and my shoulders some, and the top part of my arms. it's almost gone already. we went to the dog track that night, the kids had a great time watching the dogs race, and my dad won a hundred dollars on a trifecta (?). we all got to meet the girl my brother met...the night before. she seems like a nice girl. her entire back was one big tattoo. entire back. big tattoo. very smart girl, she's looking for a school to get her master's. she was visiting her brother (he's on the airforce base there). i actually liked her. she reminded me of the redhead from american pie (the movie...you know band camp girl).

we didn't get to the beach the next day. the kids kind of stayed inside and then we took them to the gulfarium. very cool. they had dolphin and sea lion shows, and a show with 2 dolphins and a sea lion. they had gators, and a big sea turtle, and otters, and sharks. the kids had a great time. i had a great time. we ate lunch at fudpuckers. the kids had their picture taken with a baby gator.

(as i'm sure you saw above) they are niece #3, alex, josh, grace, niece #2, niece#1 (her burn didn't show), haley, and zack at the end. they had a great time at lunch. after the day out, the sun was going down, so we took the kids to the pool and grilled some chicken and hot dogs. dinner was great.

monday, we hit the beach again. yes i am a glutton for punishment. i didn't get any redder (is that even a word?) and we had a good time again. we went to this place called rick's crab trap...i had the BEST steak ever. seriously, i don't know what they used on it, but it was awesome. my sister had a crab sandwich. it was a crab on a bun. literally, a crab, deep fried, on a bun. i almost gagged when they brought it out. she actually ate it!!! nasty! how we are related, i will never know.

as we were getting ready tuesday morning, we got a call from my stepmom. alex and haley were supposed to be flying home with her and my brother, but the flight had been cancelled. they still have school, so we made them ride home with us. grace got to stay and fly out today instead. the ride was pretty uneventful. we ate dinner at lambert's cafe (throwed rolls....with molasses...yum!) and got home before midnight.

i am rested and ready to deal with kids. i don't know who i missed more, the kids i watch, or the pig.

i'll update more later...you know, about the flood while we were gone, the nephew back in the hospital, and alex's fish he caught.