Our Midsummer Night's Dream...or Trip. Whatev...

So first of all, there are a couple of things you should know.  1.) Midsummer is a real event which happens at the end of the day (i.e. midnight after) June 21st which is when we recognize the summer solstice.  In pagan tradition, a little bit of magic and a whole lot of revelry is possible at this time.  2.) If your summer--like most of ours--is primarily controlled by the school calendar, "mid" summer is usually around the middle of June these days...that is if you even have a summer at all once you are through with All-Stars/Travel Ball, etc.

Neither of the aforementioned dates are when we took a trip down to the beach.  So sue me.  I thought it was a catchy blog title.

The Morris family joined the Jones and Stewart families for a long weekend at the beach in sunny Orange Beach, AL.  We had to fight for the sun.  It was trying to evade us.  In fact, the kiddos got cabin fever STAT:

 In fact, you'll notice in most of these pictures there is not a lot of warm light.  Nevertheless, Whit said to CC, "C'mon.  We're going..."

I'm gonna be really honest with you in the spirit of full disclosure.  We grown ups got to having a blast pretty quickly!  Rain?  What rain?

(Oh, by the way, I look like a big, fat cow in a lot of these pictures. I have to be a bridesmaid in about 6 months, so watch me shrink!)

Try to keep up.  There were 6 adults and 5 kids all piled into a 3 bedroom condo.  It was great fun!  Remember me mentioning that li'l bit of midsummer magic?  Magically all the kids got along great.  I can't think of a single spat that had to be controlled!

Caroline and Anna were so cute together!  They sat over on this empty chaise for what seemed like forever.  They played together and looked like a preview of 20-somethings who would be hanging with her bestie!

Then, there were times when the kids would get restless, as kids normally do.  We had our very own Daddy-Daycare!  Mark may have had as much fun--if not more--playing with the kiddos!

He had them all lined up like they were at beach summer camp or something!  Shortly after this, the sun came out, so I'm gonna hush now and let y'all enjoy the scenery:

Night time was a fun time, too! One night we went into Gulf Shores to the Hangout and hang-out we did! 

There is something mid-summery magical about the laughs someone can share with her girlfriends! We were being very silly! 

 

Alas, when the sun really went down, the grownups had a spade tournament and the kids had movie night:

No beach trip would be complete without the requisite trip to the dunes for an attempt at family pictures.  Here are the results of our photo shoot on our way out of town.  They are not as bad as I thought they would be...

And, maybe I'm biased, but I really think my kids are future heartbreakers!  Need more proof?

Well, that's a wrap for this Midsummer Night's Trip.  It took us about 6.5 hours to travel home when it usually only takes 4 hours!  I think everyone in the world was at the Gulf this past weekend. You weren't?  Well, I hope you could enjoy yourselves through this little story!

'Til then, folks, Bye!

Happy Birthday Jonathan!

Wow!  You know what they say about people whom you've known for a long time getting older?  It's just a sign that you're getting older, too!  Case-in-point: Jonathan is now 24!  He was barely 14 when I first met him. 

The birthday boy young man and our beloved Maw Maw

Happy birthday to a wonderful young man.  When I dream about and pray for Caroline's soul mate floating around out there, he has qualities very reminiscent of Jonathan: family oriented, loyal and loving to everyone he knows, strong minded yet well raised, funny, handsome, driven, hopelessly optimistic.  I am so proud to call you my brother-in-law.

Jonathan and his niece

So on Wednesday night we all gathered at Mimi and Rocky's for some birthday fun.

 

 

Mimi made a delicious lasagna that everyone loved, along with a great Caesar salad and yummy rolls!

It wouldn't be a birthday without presents.  As has been mentioned on this blog before, Jonathan has a new house.  So gift cards were the hot item this year.  Hopefully once he starts stocking his house without too much damage to his wallet, he'll appreciate those gift cards' importance!

Laura Jean brought the cake -- a Dairy Queen ice cream cake.  I haven't had one of those in a long time!  It was great.

The kids really loved it, too!  What am I saying?  The adults gobbled it up just as easily.

Once the kids got all sugared up, it was time to play! R and C sure do love Uncle Johnny and Aunt La-Jean!

Pajamas came on and R and C got to spend the night with Rocky and Mimi! From what I hear as of writing this post, they were treated to pancakes for breakfast. 

Right now, I'm in Montgomery working for Mom.  I sure do miss my babies, but I'll see them tonight!

Until then,

Sunday Funday!

Wait...what?  It's Thursday?  Yes, I know this post is a wee bit late.  What are you going to do?  Not read it?

First of all, here's a big ol' shout out to Papa Joe.  On Saturday night the Morris gang went to Pell City and had dinner with him.  We were joined by Uncle Doc, Aunt Barbara, and Aunt Barbara's sweet twin sister.  Unfortunately, both my cameras were rocking dead batteries, so I have no pictures.  Boo!

On Sunday, I went to church and it was the first time in a long time I had no kids with me.  I'd love to say that the Homily ("Sermon" in Protestant-speak) was amazing, but honestly, they are probably always that good because God is great and our priest is wonderful.  I just got to LISTEN for a change.  It's inspiring how changed you immediately feel when your heart is filled with God.  I'm just sayin...

*Side note, all of the pictures in this post were taken on my iPhone, so I'm sorry about the less-than-stellar quality.  Camera batteries were still dead on Sunday...*

After church, I went home, picked up the family, and hinted on Twitter as to where we were headed by posting this picture:

Pool Day!  We ate a not-so-healthy lunch in the car.  So why, oh why, do both my kids feel the need to have a "snack" within the first 10 minutes?  That's just how they roll!

Rob is proudly showing off his snack.  In case the chocolate smears don't give it away, Caroline didn't have anything left to show off! 

So, neither Morris kid is at all afraid of the water!  For Rob, that's actually a misleading statement.  He loves the water in a cautious way.  Sort of like how some people love exotic pets.  He still knows the water can overtake him at any moment.   As a parent, I applaud his caution.  I can relax just a little bit.  Caroline is Hell on Heels, I'm telling you!  We put the swimmies on her and she took off! She immediately started kicking and propelling herself out into the center of the pool.  Then she decided she wanted to jump off the side of the pool and it didn't matter if there was anyone to catch her or not.  Bobby was A...Nervous...Wreck witnessing all of this!

This is how Bobby preferred Caroline to be...safely in his arms clinging to the stairs.  Sorry.  She disagreed.  So onto the family shot below.  Right in the heart of the action: 

Unfortunately, Bobby's scowl the dark and ominous clouds were here to stay.  We eventually saw lightening and high-tailed it out of the water.  Onto the 2nd half of our Sunday Funday...Aunt Kristy and Uncle Jason's house for some Doss-Williams-Morris family time!

Josh and Rob doing what they do best...dancing on the line between play and harm.  Don't they both look so innocent?  Yeah, don't let them fool you!

My sweet little Pool-Rat!

I said "Sunday FUNday", Jason!  Geez...

Oops!  Kristy will kill me for this one.  I caught her with food in her mouth.  And good food it was, too!  We had great spaghetti, a huge crisp salad, and dessert!  Rob made sure we had dessert.  Look at this last shot below.  Can you tell my sweet li'l 4-year-old loves cake?

 

It's been a great, albeit busy, week, so stay tuned for another fun event coming soon.  Until then,