Beaches

Even though I grew up in the desert, I have had a deep love of the ocean and beach since I was in the 7th grade.   While thinking about this recently, I realized that Brad and I have developed an unofficial "tradition" of visiting the beach while I'm pregnant.  It started with our 4th anniversary trip to San Diego in June 2006 - about a five hour drive from our home in Surprise, AZ.  I was about 16 weeks pregnant.  We'd had it planned for a while, not realizing how SICK I'd still be at four months along, but we still made some good memories on what ended up being our LAST kid free trip for the next FIVE years! 

Our next coastal visit was on the opposite side of the country in Cape Cod, MA.  We moved to Massachusetts in the summer of 2009 for Brad's internship year.  Our first year out of medical school was even more financially challenging than school itself, so we only afforded the trip by CAMPING on the Cape while I was nearly 8 MONTHS pregnant.  Eli was still under two and did not enjoy sleeping in the tent, but overall it was such a fun trip!  I just feel so rejuvenated and alive after listening to the ocean waves and walking barefoot in the sand for a while.  

We've had a few ocean visits in between pregnancies too... after Owen was born, we visited Cape Cod one more time with Brad's family, as well as a brief visit to the New Hampshire coast, the Maine coast, and Cape Ann in Massachusetts. In October of last year (2010) we visited Gulf Shores, Alabama as a family - our first gulf coast experience! 


This time around however, we lucked out and were able to make a quick kid-free getaway to Southern Oregon.  We left the boys with my parents in AZ for a few days and flew out for an interview visit for Brad.  Luckily, the town was only about 2 hours from the coast, so we were able to visit a beautiful beach in Oregon! 

 

Wait a minute Jeanine, what did you mean when you said "this time around?"  Did I miss something?  Why yes, you clever friends, if you have continued reading this far, we did just make our THIRD beach visit while pregnant!  I'm 19 weeks along!  I was about 16 weeks for the Oregon trip - showing quite a bit more than that first beach visit at 16 weeks =).

We are pretty excited to be adding one more little person to our family.  We hope to find out the gender in another week - and NO we are not "hoping" for either gender - just for a healthy baby!  I was SOOOOOOO SICK up until about 17 weeks this time around that I just haven't been motivated to blog about it.  I wanted to wait until I felt better, and could make the announcement with a smile on my face! =)  The month I just spent in AZ with the kids was a wonderful relief - my Mom really stepped in and took good care of us while I slowly climbed out of the "Nausea Hell."  Hopefully I'll find some time soon to catch up and share some pictures from our Spring and Summer.  Anyway, there you have it!  Baby Benson #3 coming soon in February 2012!

Cicada Invasion 2011

 After a Winter of record-breaking snowfall and blizzards, and a Spring of  record-breaking tornadoes, comes a Summer of record-breaking Cicadas!   There is a 13 year variety here which means that these crazy insects  hibernate in the larval stage for 13 years underground, then crawl out  and shed their skins,  reproduce like mad for a few weeks and die - leaving their larvae to  crawl back underground for another 13 years.  We were just lucky enough  to be here during the 13th year of the cycle....

 

In their frantic search for a mate, these pesky critters SCREECH all day long... and since there are HOARDS and HOARDS of them, it's almost deafening to go outside in the afternoons.  Your ears will literally be ringing if you get too close to the trees.  Thankfully these things don't bite, or destroy crops, because there are BILLIONS of them.  They mainly like to stick near the trees in hopes of finding that special someone, but there are so many trying to get a spot that they swarm around everywhere - crash landing on anything in their path (ie. your face, hair, clothing etc).  Heaven forbid one zoom right by your ear, as it sounds like a mini high pitched helicopter!  

 

Owen was TERRIFIED of them at first, but he's getting  a little braver.  Today we played "keep away from the cicadas" and "shoot the cicadas with a hose" out in the backyard.  All went well until one landed right on Owen's ear.  That was the end of that!  Although interesting for a few days, their ever increasing numbers and aggressive crash landings on our persons has me looking forward to their disappearance in a few weeks!  I can definitely say it is a good thing they did not appear our first summer here... at least I've had a little while to adjust to having more/bigger bugs out here. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to moving West.  Anywhere.  Just away from humidity/tornadoes/BUGS!  Photos and video just do not do these things true justice, but at least you get the idea (and forgive the jerkiness of the video - I was literally dodging them and swiping them off me while I was shooting).

We are alive...

Just thought I'd let you know, in spite of the blogging evidence to the contrary, we ARE still alive!  It's been a busy few months with Owen's 2nd birthday, a trip to Utah for Thanksgiving, Eli's 4th birthday, Christmas, and a trip to AZ ... the kids and I are actually still in Tucson for another week.  When all is said and done it will have been close to a month long visit... we drove out here with Brad and waited until we got here to decide how long the boys and I would stay after he drove home. My Dad has been going through quite the health crisis, and both parents really needed my help getting some things straightened out, so here we still are.  They both could use your prayers if you have any extra you could send their way! =)

We've enjoyed the warm weather and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa and other relatives, but we MISS Brad and will be glad to get home.  I brought pictures on disk with me thinking I'd have all this time to blog while I was down here, but it hasn't happened... On top of everything going on I've been sick with one thing after another for close to two months... it's been hard to find the energy to be helpful, much less do anything creative... but I'm finally feeling better, so hopefully I'll catch up a little this week!

Bat Boys

 Halloween was a blast this year.  I didn't get the boys' costumes figured out until the last minute, the craft we made a couple of days before gave me the inspiration: bats!  These actually glowed in the dark after the paint dried.

 

The day before Halloween we went to a "trunk or treat" at church, where everyone lines up their cars in the parking lot, and the kids walk from car to car to get treats.  I ran to Kohls that morning for black sweatshirts, and JoAnn's for the faux leather to make batwings... I literally had a half an hour when we got home to make the wings before we had to leave for the trunk or treat!  I was hoping to come up with arm bands or something to fasten them on, but had to resort to good old fashioned safety pins... the boys were thrilled!

 One little bat missed his afternoon nap, and couldn't keep his eyes open on the ride home.

On Halloween night we went out for a little trick or treating in our neighborhood.  The weather was perfect - just the right amount of chill.  It was nice to meet a few of our neighbors, and see some of the other kids (and adults) in costumes.  One funny lady answered her door wearing a white puffy suit, puffy hat, and green face. She said she was an "Oompaloompa."  Eli has no idea what that is, but he was mesmerized... literally frozen in place staring at her!  He couldn't smile, or say trick or treat... he just looked at me and said, "She's an Oompaloompa!"  Otherwise he was speechless... we all had a good laugh about that. 

 The neighbors across the street had quite the scary display, and we got a picture with them.  The kids kept commenting that their house was "so scary" and yet their feet were so planted to the ground we had to tear them away to move to the next one. 

Peach Tree Farms

Now I've got to work my way backwards a little bit to catch up.  We visited Peach Tree Farms out here with the boys at the beginning of the season.  We went on a Monday night, and had the entire place to ourselves!  We enjoyed a hayride, checking out some farm animals (including a 75 pound catfish), and picking out some pumpkins.  I. LOVE. FALL!

Day 3 in Sweet Home

Note: This is part 3 of our Alabama trip... scroll down to "Sweet Home Alabama" to start from the beginning and work your way up (you will actually have to click on "older posts" at the bottom of the page and it should be the first one) or just click HERE.

Day 3

Our third day in Gulf Shores was the warmest by far, and yet we didn't start the day on the beach. Instead we drove into nearby Fort Morgan and took the ferry to Dauphin Island. Since the ride was across Mobile Bay, the water was very calm. We saw a few interesting ships, and some of the off shore natural gas drilling rigs. We even glimpsed a few dolphins swimming, though they didn't come very close to the ferry. The boys - especially Eli - were in HEAVEN. Eli later said that the ferry ride was his favorite activity of the entire trip.

Old Fort Morgan

Tree frog I found in the outhouse of all places!The ferry ride

The reason for the Dauphin Island trip was to tour the Estuarium. We learned a little bit about the various habitats in the region and the importance each plays (river deltas, swamp and marsh lands, fresh and saltwater). The most interesting thing we noted is that the Island itself was literally cut in half by hurricane Katrina. Though the storm itself hit New Orleans, the effects of the storm (winds and waves) were felt along the coast. Apparently, they are working on "fixing" the island... I have no idea how that is done. The kids loved seeing the various marine life in the Estuarium, and so did Brad and I really. I for one am a kid at heart when it comes to the ocean and aquariums... I love it all!

A favorite at the Estuarium was the play boat. Owen was the Captain and Eli the fisherman!

Waiting at the pier for the return ferry was interesting as well. The beach was littered with little crabs. We joked that they must be like the ocean's cockroaches, as they scurried around munching on tiny particles, and scattered like bugs when we got near.

A great view of a pelican flock, as well as some other sea birds.

The boys decided to watch the ocean rush by through the railing while on their bellies... I think they were just too tired to stand anymore!

Double stroller on a budget - also the only thing that will fit in our tiny car when we are traveling with luggage.

There were entire neighborhoods of these elevated beach homes along the coast. Seriously - I want one (though I'm sure hurricane insurance is something else)!

We drove through a nature preserve and saw a lot of swampland and tropical foliage such as this.

The road through the nature preserve ended at this GORGEOUS, natural, secluded beach. There were two little beach homes right there, and then nothing but miles and miles of ocean and sand. The dunes and the sea oats growing on them were gorgeous. This part of the trip was my favorite... my own personal paradise!!! Oh, and we were the ONLY PEOPLE THERE!




The kid in me is obsessed with shell collecting... not that I have any use for them once I get home, but I love looking for them along the beach and picking up ones that strike me. There was no shortage of them here.

My dream home: an Italian villa by the sea. Maybe someday...

Because the beach was a little more secluded with a lot less tourist traffic to till up the sand, we were able to see a lot more of the oil damage. You don't notice it right at first, but as you walk along and realize your footprints are pure white, it is because that is the color the sand is supposed to be. The top layer is stained with oil for miles around. What a job the cleanup effort will continue to be.

The boys enjoyed some good "digging with lizards" in the biggest sandbox they've ever seen.

Some portraits of our lovely selves.

We stayed until sunset again. It was a beautiful end to our final day.

The only reason the kids agreed to leave this beach (aside from the fact we were all starving) was because it suddenly started pouring! The downpour was shortlived, but it was enough to soak what was left of our dry clothes. I had to run back out on the beach to find one of the toy lizards that got left behind... thankfully it was red and I spotted it!


The rain left as abruptly as it started, and the clouds parted enough for us to get one last longing look at the beach at sunset.

A little video of Paradise =).

We took the kids back to the condo and cleaned all the sand, saltwater, and unseen oil traces before hitting the town for one more dinner. This time we tried the Hangout, another open air restaurant with live music right on the water. This one was even cooler looking than Lulu's, but the food was nowhere near as good (in case you are ever down there and trying to decide between the two)! The boys enjoyed dancing with Brad after dinner while I ran across the street for postcards at the giftshop. We had to force ourselves to go to bed that night!

Leaving the next morning was sad for all of us, so we did not get as near of an early start as we had hoped. Thankfully, this is what we saw in our backseat for at least the first four hours of the drive!



As I mentioned we drove home through Alabama instead of Mississippi... it really is a beautiful state (so was Mississippi, but we went through much of it in the dark). There was so much dense vegetation everywhere, and some beautiful autumn foliage. You gotta love the Confederate flags flying here and there (I really do wonder culturally why people still fly that? After all, isn't it a symbol of cessation from the Union and pro-slavery? Or am I missing something?) Anyway, my FAVORITE thing was a GIANT billboard with a little red dancing devil on it that read "Go to church or the Devil will get you!" I laughed out loud, but didn't get a picture.



We rolled in close to 1am. Overall, I think it was the best possible way I could have spent the last few days of my 20's!