back to life...back to reality

And just like that - it was over.

We had a great week at the beach. What did we do, you say? Here's a brief recap of some highlights.

We ate at Lambert's. Caught some throwed rolls. Waited in 150 degree heat for what seemed like an eternity while Griffin made werewolf noises the whole time.

We accumulated a nice shell collection. Daddy and Keith and Zack got some really nice ones from a sandbar and we all collected a few each day. Now they have a new home in an old jar in our guest bathroom. Picture to come later.

We watched as Grandaddy lost his glasses by a massive wave, then realized that he really is blind without them. They were new glasses. $400 glasses. We learned that when on vacation, if you are pretty much legally blind and without glasses...your trip isn't that fun. We watched Grandadddy and Gigi spend a whole day in Robertsdale waiting on some random place to make Grandaddy new glasses.

We ate lots and lots of popcorn shrimp. Daddy ate lots of raw oysters. We puked in our mouth a little each time Daddy ate them. We oooohed and aahhhed at The Original Oyster house when we realized that Daddy found not one, but 2 pearls in his oyster. The waitress verified that they are real, and that it is VERY rare to find 2 pearls in 1 oyster. We just laughed, bc hey - that's how we roll. Those pearls are in Mama's makeup bag just WAITING to be turned into a lovely little pendant. (at least 1 of them, anyway)

We dressed up like cows to get free food at Chick-fil-a. Seriously. Thursday was customer appreciation day, and if you came in dressed as a cow, you ate FREE. So we got black construction paper, scissors, and safety pins. We made spots and pinned them on our clothes, and our family of 10 (w/Uncle Chris' bunch) ate a TON of yummy Chick-fil-a for FREE!

We got really tan. And we heart it.

We laughed. A LOT.

We came in from the beach to watch the Michael Jackson memorial. At least I did. So did Shawn. And Chris and Amy. And Gigi. Who had the kids? I guess it was Grandaddy. Poor, blind Grandaddy. I loved every minute of the memorial. Paris Jackson...I love you. And Prince Michael I. And blanket. Your spontaneous words touched my heart, and hopefully quieted numerous haters. Who better to speak of your father's true character than you? Beautiful and touching. I am impressed and touched by you. And Jennifer Hudson...please come to my house and sing. I am begging you. You sang my FAVORITE MJ song. (besides Dirty Diana, but I don't think that would have been appropriate). You were radiant, and you are amazing. Mairah Carey, you are a hot mess, but at least you were conservative...for you. Brooke Shields...perfection. Your quote from The Little Prince wasn't lost on me. Spot on, my lady. You were a great friend. Al Sharpton, I even loved you. "Wasn't nothing strange about yo' Daddy...what yo' Daddy went through was strange." Yes. If by "what yo' Daddy went through" you mean Joe Jackson, the Mommy Dearest of fathers...I agree wholeheartedly. One last MJ note, and this is priceless...as soon as the service started and the 14k casket was being wheeled in to the choir singing, Gigi informs us all, "Well I think that is REALLY sacrilegious." I quickly informed her that they weren't singing about MJ as "The King" but that it was indeed a spiritual entitled "Soon and Very Soon." It was beautiful. The greatest entertainer of all time indeed. We mourned Michael Jackson, then went back down and busted some awesome cannonballs in his memory.

We rode go-carts, and Grandaddy almost killed a poor teenage worker. Seriously. And this was WITH his new glasses. If ONLY we had this on video...we would be rich.

The kids with Daddy, Grandaddy, and Uncle Chris went to a Mobile Bay Bears Game, Bass Pro Shop, and Ryan's Steakhouse. All 3 are yucky to me...all 3 were gold to them. To each his own. I was with Gigi and Duke at the Outlets.

We took our traditional beach pictures, and watched a wedding on the beach. Nice.

Lots and lots of other stuff. I'll probably remember/post it later. I'll leave you with this...Griffin just came in here and informed me that he didn't clean his room as I told him to, because he has decided that he needs his space. His exact words were, "I didn't clean it, Momtee. Yeah. I didn't. I just need my space, alright?"

"Soon and very soon..." HELP ME LORD.