Last weekend, we upped our parental status to AWESOME.

So, last weekend is a weekend for the books! We had it planned for a while and I'm so thankful the weather cooperated with us. 

Once upon a time, a loooong time ago, Eric used to do this thing called backpacking. I know. Sounds horrid. Like, they pack all their essentials for the weekend into one bag, hike off into the wilderness, and live there for said amount of time. Stink, stank, stunk. 

Then, we had a baby, Eric thought he needed to go back to school for another degree, life happened, we had another baby and BAM, he hadn't been in over 6 years. Well, this was the weekend of the comeback. The guys were going backpacking and Eric was jumping back in with both feet. AND HE WAS TAKING MY BABY WITH HIM. Yes, this was Levi's first trip out into the wilderness. I gave Eric many "talks" over the last few weeks and I'm sure he took each one of them to heart. Don't let him get hurt. Don't let him drink gross water. Don't let him use a sharp knife. Put a lock on the tent at night. Ultimately, my last words to him were, "You know if something happens to Levi, do not come home." I think I said "I love you", too. Details.

So, here they are - the boys. Cuties! Eager to explore and get dirty.

My boys. 

I tried texting Eric several times that evening. NOTHING. NADA. I knew he was safe, though, because PAUL WAS TEXTING GRETCHEN. Whatev.

I was told the boys cut up all the firewood they needed. Now I know why the dads were ready for the sons to go. Child labor.

I love these boys spending time together. They don't get to see each other that often, but Levi still thinks of Pierce as one of his best buddies. :-)

Mkay, see those little colored things under the rock shelf thingy? Yeah, tents. Tiny. That's where they slept. The same place that wild animals sleep to try and get out of the elements. Awesome. (OH EM GEE.)

I love these men. I'm so thankful that they take time to invest in their sons. Such a great group of godly men. 

SO, while the boys were out getting dirty and becoming one with their knives, I packed up little Maggie May and headed south for the weekend. We had some girlie things to do! Like wear bows and eat chips and salsa.

We were gonna have an all out girl weekend. 

We decided to get the girls toes painted. That idea bombed on us, but at least we got their cute little picture in the cute little chairs!

The girls literally ran off to play for hours. Hours! They'd shut the door to Hope's room and we could hear them giggling and playing pretend. They would come out occasionally with different clothes on or to show us a dance they made up and we would laugh hysterically at them. It was really sweet to watch them play. 

Over four years ago, my bestie moved away and it was not pretty. I was angry at God and pretty much cried "no fair" every day. However, God knows what He is doing. I never could have dreamed that our friendship would grow and flourish like it has.

God continues to bless our friendship as well as the friendships of our children and our husbands. It is just...well, it's a God thing. And, I'm so thankful. 

I would like to note that Eric and Levi both made it home safely and Levi can't wait to go back out into the woods. Gag. Maggie continues to say that hanging out with Hopie was one of the best days ever. So, yeah, we're pretty awesome parents. ;-)

It is ONE degree outside, so I will post about the beach.

In honor of the 1 degree weather this morning, I thought it was only appropriate to do a review of our vacation to Gulf Shores over Fall Break! (I mean, I don't want to be old and complain about the weather, BUT ONE DEGREE? That's ridonkulous.)

If you've been around my blog for a while, you know that we are quite spoiled on our vacations. And by "we", I mean that my mother is spoiled and we get to live in her world for a while. (Love you, Mom!) My parents take us on vacation every year (you guys -- that is a blessing in itself!) and there are a few criteria that the homes must meet. 

• Oceanfront
• 7 bedrooms and bathrooms
• an elevator
• a private pool
• two kitchens
• enough seating for 14 people

IF it has all of those things, then my mother will look at it. If she likes it, it goes to my dad to get final approval. If my dad approves it, then it is a go and there are many grandchildren squealing in delight! 

This year was the first time we have ever returned to a home that we stayed in before. It must have been THAT GOOD! ;-) This was our home away from home for Fall Break. Shabby, it was not.

It was our own little piece of heaven. Note: see the boardwalk on the picture below? That was a new addition since we had stayed there and it was wonderful! It went from our pool right to the beach. 

As soon as we arrived, my kids could not wait to check out the beach. 

I managed to snag a few pictures of the main floor before all 14 of us arrived and started unloading enough food, clothing and beach supplies for the entire military forces.

 

The bunk beds were a hot commodity. 

Enough seating for 14 :-)

Here's a better picture of the boardwalk right off our pool patio. LOVE.

Maggie was pretty timid when we first got near the ocean. I remember her being that way last year, too. She would kind of feel out the waves, right near her feet.

However, it didn't take long for her to request her swimmies and join in with the big kids!

She adored the sand. I adored watching her.

Levi? He was all, "Give me a boogie board and watch out, waves!"

He has always loved the water. 

 And the sand...

This picture can pretty much sum up a Miller vacation! Love it!

This was our first time to be at the beach during the Fall. I really loved it. I do wish the water in our pool had been a tad warmer, but the kids didn't seem to mind. It was really nice to sit out in the sun and not be dripping in sweat!

The breeze was just perfect. It cooled you off, but didn't make it too chilly.

Most of our days were spent at the beach or in the pool.

It was like our own private beach.

We also spent some time away from the house doing fun things. Maggie fell in love with the kiddie swings at a small amusement park. She was literally the ONLY child on them. She kept asking to go again and again. The ride operator just let her keep going without swiping her ticket. After about 30 minutes, I wanted to CUT HIM.

Bumper boats and go karts were a must, too! My kids could not get enough. Mags in the little harness next to Eric...I die!

The gals spent one day doing some retail therapy and I was able to visit my happy place.

And, this? I just don't know. Don't even ask...

We celebrated my parent's anniversary with some salted caramel brownies. Their 43rd anniversary. That's pretty impressive.

And, little Emmy girl celebrated her 7th birthday with a beach themed cake. 

I'm kind of thinking at this point, this post is a little sing-songy. A little "oh look how sweet" we all are. And that is not us at all! We are loud, borderlining on obnoxious at times. We are messy (hence my mom following behind all of us wiping off the counters, picking up wet towels and swim suits, and throwing away trash) and we are really quite funny. I will insert a funny story here.

My brother and Jenny wanted to take Griffin and Emmy deep sea fishing one day. All were invited, but only Daniel and my dad chose to go along. Later in the day, I texted my brother to see how it was going. They were planning on catching some fish to fry up the next day for dinner. Yum! More than S-E-V-E-R-A-L hours later, I got a text from him. It was a picture of someone I didn't know YAKING OFF THE SIDE OF THE BOAT. He sent me a picture of a dude throwing up! He said that more than half of the boat was sea sick!! I asked how dad was doing and he said, "looks green". Oh my word. That was awful! Luckily, none of our family tossed their cookies...so that was good news. We all kept talking about it all evening. At dinner, dad, still feeling the effects of the boat, shouted "CAN WE ALL JUST STOP TALKING ABOUT IT?" Somehow, though, it didn't get dropped and everyone would finish their sentence with a gaging sound, like they were going to hurl AT THE DINNER TABLE. (Sorry to be so graphic. That's just us.) Needless to say, that became our big inside joke for the week. Oh, and they only ended up catching 3 small fish. Yes, there were jokes about getting two loaves of bread to feed all 14 of us... (ba dum bum) 

We spent most evenings at the house and took turns cooking dinner, but did dine out two different nights. Lambert's, Home of the Throwed Rolls is one of our favorites and a must to eat at. We also enjoy the atmosphere at LuLu's (that's Jimmy Buffett's sister for all you Parrot Heads!).

I think one of my favorite memories of our beach vacations will always be seeing my dad sit at the edge of the water, just kind of taking it all in. I choose to think that he is enjoying God's creation instead of escaping the madhouse behind him! Ha!

His happy place :-)

I also love making memories with my mom. Usually, before any of the kids were awake, I would sneak out onto her balcony and we would enjoy some quiet time drinking coffee (or chai tea for me!) and talking about the kids or my grandparents. Such sweet time.

And, oh how I love watching these two...

And, these six.

Until next time.