beach

We just got home from spending a week at the beach with my parents, my sister, brother-in-law, and nephew. It's the first time we have all been on a family vacation together that I can remember. We had a great time and ate a lot of delicious seafood. Mamie was really sick for most of the trip (even though you can't tell from these pictures), and only got to go out to the beach in the mornings because of the medication she was taking. She was pretty pitiful, but was happy as long as she had sand to play in. My pediatrician thinks she has Lyme disease, which totally freaked me out. She had a tick on Mother's day, and at the beach she had fever that would not go away, a horrible rash that kept getting progressively worse, swollen lymph nodes, achey legs and arms, runny nose, no appetite, etc. Her doctor even gave me his cell # and called me to check on her a couple of times, which made me feel like it was even more serious. After a couple of days on the medication, her symptoms started to improve a lot. She still has a rash, but it is so much better. She will have to be on strong antibiotics for a couple more weeks. We just took her out in the mornings with a hat and a ton of sunscreen and tried to keep her under an umbrella.

Hanging out with aunt sissy while we waited to eat.

CJ and Pop at dinner the first night

At dinner the first night--the night I thought Lilly had been abducted and freaked out. I tore open stalls in the women's and men's rooms looking for her. I was a total psycho. Screaming in the restaurant, almost knocking down an elderly couple on the stairs... Jon was running around outside looking for her, my mom and Dylan were looking, the manager and servers were looking everywhere and the manager was about to make an announcement and lock down the restaurant when we found her--at the table in my sister's lap. Too crazy to even believe. I stayed scared for about three days after that and didn't take my eyes off of her. It is the worst feeling I have ever felt in my life.

Dylan, Lilly, and Mamie

Happy in the sand

We went to the Track one night after Mamie started feeling better. We all rode Go-carts and the girls rode rides. Lilly was such a sweet big sister--there were a few kiddie rides that they stood in line for, and when they got to the front of the line, the person working told Mamie that she wasn't big enough to ride them. Lilly wouldn't go on anything that Mamie couldn't ride on--she rode all the "baby" rides with Mamie because she didn't want Mamie to be left out.

Oh, and at dinner before going to the Track, Jon gave me a fried oyster from his plate and I bit into it and about broke my tooth. I thought it was a piece of shell, but when I spit it out, it was a pearl! Pretty crazy.

Uncle Tim's delicious seafood stew at Stinky's

The best family shot I got with my camera. Of course, Mamie isn't looking, and the lighting is a little weird, but at least we're all in it!

The girls LOVE their cousin Dylan. They would follow him anywhere.

My sweet sister

Deb, Dylan, and Tim

Me and my sister and mom

The boys

This is what happens when you tell 2 little girls NOT to get sandy or wet while we take family pictures on the beach. They both ended up going home in just their underwear.

Lilly took this picture of us one night at dinner. Jon is busy telling her not to drop the camera in case you are wondering. Pretty funny angle--we look like giants and my arm looks bigger than Jon's. Oh well :)

I made these crab dresses for the girls. That's how Mamie felt :(

Not the best picture, but it is the first time I have ever gotten Mamie to put her head through one of those things.

At Seaside after dinner at Bud and Alley's on our last night. Mamie carried that gold purse with her everywhere.

Oh, and the last crazy story for our very eventful beach vacation--I watched a guy do a back flip in the waves and land on his head in the sand. His brother dragged him out of the water, I sent Jon to help him and I called 911. He couldn't move half of his body and was in agonizing pain and could hardly breathe. All the fire/rescue people finally arrived and took him to the hospital and we found out the next day that he broke 4 vertebrae in his neck and had to be flown on a helicopter to Pensecola for surgery. We were all so relieved that he wasn't paralyzed. His parents were there and his mom was crying--it was so scary. Also, did you know that when you call 911 on the beach, they keep asking for an ADDRESS!? I was telling them what neighborhood we were in on the beach, and what road we were off of, and a restaurant right next door and they kept asking me for an address. Really? Just remeber that if you are ever attacked by a shark or hurt on the beach, you need to know the county you are in and the address. Seriously. What in the world?

graduation

Lilly had her preschool graduation last Thursday night before we left for the beach. I can't believe my little girl will be in kindergarten next year. She is so excited about it--she asks every day when it is time for school to start. Mamie and I aren't going to know what to do next year when Lilly is gone to school every day :(

Lilly and her teacher, Ms. Gloria

sad day

There have been a lot of tears in the Carman house today. Scole lived 13 happy years and 3 days. He will be missed so much. I couldn't have asked for a better dog for my two little girls to grow up with. He was sweet, gentle, loving, and smart. He was up for every feeding, diaper change, or crying spell when they were babies. He slept by their cribs and then their beds at night. He endured being dressed up, dragged around, and climbed on. Every morning the first thing Lilly would do was find Scole and sit and talk to him and love on him.

He loved swimming so much, sometimes he would jump in the fountain in front of Jon's parents' house and swim a few laps. When the girls were little we could make him run wild by blowing Jon's duck calls. He loved chasing birds, going canoeing, the beach and playing in the snow. He was the best dog. I swear he understood every word we said. Other people agreed with me--Scole definitely knew English :)

I'm going to miss his toenails clicking around on the wood floors, the sound of him drinking his water, his smell, and never coming home to an empty house. I'm sorry I complained about you drooling on the floor when you drank and all the shedding, Scole--you were worth it. We love you so much and will miss you terribly.