a day and night at the beach

Matt is presenting at a conference on Pensacola Beach tomorrow (Monday) so we decided to take advantage of a (partial) paid trip and spend the weekend at the beach.

Tyler settles in at the hotel and practices his new smile.

It was a little foggy Saturday morning so before hitting the sugar sand beach we explored Fort Pickens (again.) As you can see...this really is Tyler's new smile. Bless his heart!

we toured the fort at a child's pace (running)

soon after we began, we were done

finally - BEACH TIME

(it was a humid 85 degrees, sometimes foggy but no one complained)

our slice of beachly heaven

(our hotel, the Hampton Inn, is behind us)

We spent hours on the beach and had a blast.

I'm pretty sure The Gulf of Mexico is my favorite body of water that touches the United States.

(sorry Mom and the Pacific)

playing after dinner at Crabs

uh-oh someone missed a spot with the sunscreen (she's humoring me with a sad face even though she insists it doesn't hurt (yet))

The restaurant had a balloon guy so of course T and L needed balloons.

a parrot

a rabbit (said rabbit popped 30 seconds after the picture was taken...the smile on her face disappeared 30.2 seconds after the pic was taken.)

After the rabbit popped we left the restaurant. Lauren was in tears. I'm thinking this was a sign, and not a good sign.

In the middle of the night Matt woke up sick. We're pretty sure food poisoning sick. He was up all night and into the morning. I had to make a tough decision. The original plan was for me to drive home with the kids on Sunday (they have school on Monday) and Matt would catch a ride with a co-worker after his presentation. After his hospital ordeal last year every time he throws up I think it's a life and death situation. So after hanging out for a few hours this morning we decided he seemed to be on the mend. I decided we could leave him in Florida. We also let his co-worker know that he was on-call if Matt needed anything...food, water, a ride to the nearest ICU.

So I drove the kids and I home...a 6 hour drive with one stop for lunch and obnoxious traffic. (I'm pretty sure everyone in metro Atlanta went to the Florida panhandle for Spring Break and we ALL drove home this afternoon.)

****I hate to make a long post longer and I know the future Tyler will KILL me, but I need to insert a story here. Right when we hit the GA border the traffic was stop and go. When we were 15 miles (stop and go, remember?) before the next exit Tyler said he needed to go tee tee "really, really, really, really bad." I told him I'd stop as soon as I could. Well he shook, held, squirmed and eventually cried (bless his heart!) and begged me to pull over (on the I-85) so he could go in the grass. Finally we made it to the exit and we ran into the nearest gas station. He went into the single user Men's room while I stood out the door. After awhile I heard him say, "Momma, something happened in here." Through the door and within ear shot of other Gentlemen waiting for the Men's room, he said, "I accidentally went poo poo on the floor. I thought it was only a toot." OMGosh! Thank goodness it was a single user Men's room because I'm not sure what I would have done in a bathroom full of urinating males. I walked right in and did what any good Mom would do. (scoop and flush using almost an entire roll of toilet paper) And then we got the heck out of dodge.****

We finally made it home safe and sound. I got the kids fed and tucked into bed but as I was typing this post the power went out. (another sign?) After scrambling in the pitch black to find the flashlight and light some candles I called Matt on my cell to check on him. He wasn't feeling much better. He still can't keep any liquids down. He said he'll try to make it through the night and if he's still sick tomorrow he'll go to the hospital (what? WHAT!)

After that phone call the power was finally restored and luckily, my entire post was saved (hopefully a positive sign?)

I really don't believe in signs but all I know is Matt better get himself healthy real quick. Because I for sure can't handle another life and death hospital stint. Especially one that takes place in a Pensacola hospital. (do they even have hospital's down there?) I'll keep you posted.