We're here!

I have an important announcement to make.... There are no more bugs on the I-65 corridor, south of Birmingham. Why? Because they're all on my car! Alan commented that it must be bug mating season or something - we have never seen the bugs so rampant! It literally sounded like heavy rain drops constantly hitting the car - and I do mean constant! We stopped at a gas station to wash the windshield, and there was a long line not for gas but for the windshield cleaners :) Here are some pictures that don't even do justice - the windshield pictures are after I had already cleaned it multiple times.

Alan scrubbed for quite a long time and still couldn't get it all! We're going to a car wash tomorrow...

I didn't really mean to go off on a tangent about bugs, but it was one of the major highlights of our drive down to the beach today. We finally made it, after turning a 3.5-4 hour trip into a 6+ hour trip :) I think we stopped at least 10 times! We were all glad to finally get here in Gulf Shores. We're staying here just one night (we couldn't have a beach trip and not come to some of our favorite places) but we're actually staying in Sandestin the rest of the week. Why would we do this? It's all about the free Marriott points! We have tons of Marriott points from all of Alan's travels (same with airline miles, but even more of those because we never use them). We love Gulf Shores the best, but Sandestin has a nicer Marriott.

To get ready for the trip, I HAD to make peanut butter balls - it's a tradition! Mom, remind me when this started... I'm pretty sure we've done it as long as I can remember, and I can't go on a trip without them even though that's the ONLY time I ever make them ;)

Carter's getting in on the tradition too!

Packing last night was very hectic. This is only about half the stuff we were bringing!

Packed to the gills!

Our goal was to make it to Foley in time for lunch and shopping... We love eating lunch at Lambert's (home of the "throwed rolls" - they literally do throw the rolls across the room to you)! We got here for a late lunch, around 1:00, and then it was naptime, so we didn't do any shopping :(

We also had to hit our favorite dinner place - The Original Oyster House. Carter was so excited about the beach and wanted to eat by the water - he said that many times :) We didn't want to break it to him that the restaurant was just on a bayou, and that water wasn't the actual "beach" :) We had to eat early to get back to the room in time to watch the AU game (which we're still watching), and we were still a little full from lunch :( I left way too many shrimp and oysters on my plate and I'm still depressed! ;) By the way - for all of you who go to Gulf Shores and know this restaurant, we picked the right time of year! We didn't wait for a seat at all! Normally there's a 2 hour wait or more...

After dinner, Alan and Carter went swimming even though it was quite chilly! Swimming is one of Carter's alltime favorite things and he didn't want to get out! He LOVES jumping in, trying to swim, etc.

My best attempt at getting a picture of the boys in their matching Auburn outfits... I think I'm just going to have to take them somewhere to get their picture made - no one cooperates for Mommy!

Carter's having a hard time going to sleep since we're all in the same room (he normally takes a long time to go to sleep anyway, but this is much worse)... He rested on our bed for a while, watching movies on his portable DVD player.

Tomorrow we're planning to do some shopping here at the outlet mall in Foley, maybe see some of other favorite sights around here before going to the Naval Air Museum on the way to Sandestin. As much as I love this area, I'm very ready to be settled in, and actually visit the beach (we haven't even seen sand yet!). Until tomorrow... WAR EAGLE (hoping they pull out the win against LSU although things aren't looking so great right now)!!!