Today's Blog is Brought to You by Bread!

I don't know if in all of my 37 years, if I've ever eaten as much bread as #3 has eaten in his short 6 years.  The kid woke up saying "today is the roll day".  He has talked about it non-stop.  I had no idea that a restaurant from last year's vacation would have such a lasting place in this kid's heart. 

We did the usual beach and pool...though the beach lasted about 15 minutes and the pool lasted about four hours.  We got ready and headed to Lambert's.  It's a crowded place, but look at this kid's face.....

.....you can't not look at that face and smile.  I mean, bread makes him smile. 








We had a fabulous time and we got out of there and headed to the store......BAD CHOICE.

See, when #3 goes to a store, he has to look down every aisle....twice....before he can find anything.  #2 finds stuff and then at the last minute decides that he doesn't want it any more.  And #1 tries to make sure he spends to the penny what he has.
Me:  Everybody will receive $20 to spend.
.....I don't know if I just had a lapse in judgement or a stroke when I said that.  It's almost like I saw the words come out of my mouth and I couldn't grab them fast enough.  The words are taunting me.  We spent 30 minutes in a store and we came out with a starfish for #1 and a monkey with wiggly hair on it for #3.  What does a monkey have to do with Gulf Shores, you ask?  It keeps #3 from having a meltdown. 

After looking in every stuffed animal bin for something that #2 would like.....
#2:  I think I want a jellyfish...to remind me of how I got stung.
Me:  But there are no jellyfish in here.
#2:  I know.....guess we'll have to go somewhere else. 

#1 trying to spend all of his money...
#1:  Okay, I've got $10.99 on this and $5.99 on this one.
Me:  Great!  You're done!
#1:  No.....I have $3.02 left to spend.
Me:  You don't have to spend that money.
#1:  But it's what you gave me.
Me:  Yes, but you don't have to spend it.
#1:  Well that just wouldn't be right.

#3 trying to find SOMETHING.....
#3:  How much is this monkey?
Me:  It has nothing to do with the beach.
#3:  But I want a monkey.
Me:  Okay, fine.  It's $9.99.
#3:  How about this cow?
Me:  A COW!?!?!?  Hubby, I should have never given them spending money....it will never happen again!!!!

I'm pretty sure this will happen again....since it happened again this year.


We Aunt A to take pictures of our family tonight.  I am SO EXCITED!!!!  We did a superhero theme.  Yes, silly....yes, us.  I can't wait to look at them!  It was a time trying to get the #s to cooperate, but I'm pretty sure that we got some good ones.....and if we didn't, well, we all got shirts out of the deal.

So we headed to the pool after pictures.  Can I just get on my soapbox a minute?
Friends...teach your children respect.  I mean things like "thank you" and "please" and "I'm sorry".  It goes a long way and you don't look like you raised disrespectful hooligans...which seriously is a reflection on you.  See, we were playing with our #s and their cousins in the pool and have a great time....lots of laughing......lots of splashing....lots of "one more time"s as they were playing with the football.  Then a group of five teenagers came in the pool.....more like tried to take over.  So we nicely moved over to the shallow end so the boys could play their game in the deep end since our kiddos are little.   At one point, the ball hit me in the head....and they were so rude trying to find it and then smarted off when one of ours said "not even an I'm sorry" for hitting her.  Then the Dude denied it, smarted off....and it was just crazy.  We are losing the art of being nice.  This not only happens in the pool on vacation, but also on Facebook, to people's faces, behind other's backs, pretty much anywhere.  An "I'm sorry" and a "thank you" can go a long way.  The problem is, is that it has to start with the ones they look up to.....their parents, teachers, older friends, etc.  I was more upset that I had to teach #2 (who wanted so badly to play with them) that we don't need to act like that towards each other and that one day, that behavior is gonna get them in a lot of trouble....whether it's now or not, it will come back to bite them in the butt.  So....just teach your kiddos.  If I can teach that to my high schools all the way to by Kindergarteners, then surely, as parents, we can teach our own kiddos. 
(off soapbox)

So now we are sitting here...completely exhausted.  I thought it was almost midnight and come to find out, it isn't even 10pm yet.  Sometimes, it's exhausting in our life by numbers!