Soakin' up the sun.

We just returned on Monday evening from the Barry family vacation in Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, Alabama. This trip is a tradition for Ross's family, however this was my first time being a part of it. Gulf Shores holds many memories for the Barrys. This is the spot where his sister Stacy met her husband Jonathan about 8 years ago and this is the spot that they found out they were pregnant with their first child, Anika! It was fun for me to go to a place that Ross and his family hold so dear to their hearts. In the past, they've always stayed at a resort called Perdido Beach however with our growing family we needed to rent a condo to house all of us. So we stayed in a condo a few miles down the beach from Perdido. We basically spent our days soaking up the sun, reading, and playing in the sand and our evenings just hanging out together. As you can see below, I enjoyed reading "Dear John", a novel by Nicholas Sparks and hanging out with my 4 year old niece, Anika. She is the funniest and sweetest little girl and I love spending time with her! She and I watched "Annie" and "Sound of Music" on the 12 hour drive there and then sang the songs together the entire trip. If you know me, you know that I enjoyed every minute of that!

Ani running from the waves.

Ross made a little chair for us to sit in and let the waves hit us.
(It wasn't too long after this that he buried me from neck to ankles in sand.)

All the "kids". :)
(Ross, me, Stacy, Ani, Jonathan)

Now that Ross's and my "major" summer trips are completed, it's back to everyday life. For Ross that means back to work and for me....well that's yet to be determined. :) There's really not a "typical" day for me this summer as my life seems to be pretty random and unscheduled so far. However, I am LOVING summer vacation! Today I am going to visit a church in Flowermound to get some ideas for our church's vacation Bible School, Crocodile Rock. I'm helping out with the preschoolers and with decorating. We're going to take some pictures of how this church has everything set up and get some ideas from them and I believe they are going to let us have some of their props when they are finished with them, definitely a blessing!

I hope you are all enjoying the week! Much Love!