a break

it was well over a week ago, but since we hit the ground running,
it feels like an eternity ago.

i was going to get my hard drive situation cleared up before i posted, but...
photoshop won't let me edit,
much less save anything new on the hard drive.
mama's computer is officially maxed out.
but the days are turning into weeks, so here are several pix.
mostly unedited.
oi.



on saturday, after the girls finished theater auditions {the second round},
we hit the road.  minus daddy.
*sigh*
ironically, he's been working crazy hours here at home.
as his office is in transition, changing their physical address, merging with other offices.
a huge project.
so leaving with us is out of the question.

the girls and i met up with granny and the fam in louisiana.
then loaded up our 2 cars to complete the trip.
orange beach.
less beach, more pool.



a lovely, relaxing week.
lazy river.
breakfast on the patio.
complete with panera bagels we picked up on our way there.
hazelnut cream cheese.
mmmmmmmm...
lazy river.



reading the help.
lazy river.
fun card games.
and the lazy river.

i made one trip to the hotel's gym, for good measure.
but swimming in the lazy river was much more fun.
and can be quite the workout when going against the current. ;)



the girls had a blast on the slide.
but we had to share with the adults, too.
right, uncle b? ;)

we ventured out very little.
to eat...
lambert's cafe and the hangout {next door to the beach}.
and shop...
gracie picked a feather for her hair, t-shirt, and a fashion designer notebook.
nator picked a small space shuttle, t-shirt, and an owl bank.

we also found a great sale on books at books a million.
nator spent some time gasping to the point of nearly depleting the room of oxygen.
too cute.  so fun to see kids excited about reading.



hubs flew in on friday to join us.



2 full days with everyone there.
before we hit the road for the long trek all the way home.
which, thankfully, didn't feel as long as we thought it would.
road trips induce great conversation.



there's video, too...
but the hard drive is not ready for that download.
soon.

all of the memory capturing, uploading, burning of dvd's, dumping of old files, etc... is stressful.  am i the only one who worries about that chore?
mine may have something to do with having lost a whole year of our lives in pix and videos,
due to a hard drive crash years ago.
since then, i have issues with deleting pictures.
even though they are now saved on dvd's.

confession:  i currently have 3,779 pictures in my iphone.  non of which i shared in this post... because of the can't-upload-to-hard-drive-issue.

just call me h-mama, the bagel-eating-lazy-river-riding-beach-lovin'-picture-hoarder.
*hangs head in shame*