Travels Well-21 months

We survived the Great Winter Escape of 2013. Yes, it was postponed a day, but we tacked an extra day onto the end, which ended up being excellent as our last full day had the best weather of our whole trip. Unfortunately, Rick's birthday, my Dad's birthday, and Annie's 21 month birthday all slipped by while we were on vacation. You do not rush to find a computer and bang out a blog whilst on vacation. I am pretty sure that's illegal. Here's a post about what you DO do (heh, do-do) on vacation:

You pick tart little oranges from Big Daddy's tree. Then you throw them into the ocean because they FLOAT.

You drink beer (or your parents drink it and give you the bottle) 

And eat huge gobs of ice cream....

...and have birthday cake for breakfast.

You explore...

....and dump sand into a metal bowl of standing water despite your mother's protests against this act (stagnant water really grosses me out).

You go to the beach in sweet ass goggles because the wind is blowing so hard that you need them to protect your eyes. But you will be so excited about the beach that you don't care about the goggles, even when they fog completely over. You open your mouth very wide as you stand in front of the ocean, and try to breathe in everything, including all the blowing sand. None of this will bother you. You make your grandfather's day by proving to be a total "beach baby".

You chase seagulls all over the beach while yelling "go AWAY!", because being bossy is just what we do.

You meet all your fabulous blog followers.
More on this: yes, Annie is actually famous in Orange Beach. I thought my mother was just trying to flatter me by telling me that all her friends love hearing about Annie and reading the blog. Well, turns out, she wasn't lying. Mom and Dad threw a party on Sunday as a sort of "meet and greet" with Annie as the guest of honor. She was photographed within an inch of her life by all and she loved every minute of it. As a result, I am also a bit of a celebrity and was referred to fairly regularly as "the one with the blog". I will try not to let this new found fame go to my head. Expect pop-ups and sponsors any day now.

We are back to reality now and it stinks. I miss slow mornings on the deck eating bacon and endless cups of coffee. I miss seeing my parents with their granddaughter. Annie misses eating goldfish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But now that we have seen how wonderful it is down there with Annie, I am sure we will be back soon. I think her followers will demand it.