Hello rovers. If you have retainers would you please retrieve them and put them on your teeth.
I have now had my braces for 6 days, only about 175 more to go. I knew they were going to hurt, but I may have forgotten just how bad. When I was waiting to have them put on, I overheard a mother telling the front desk staff, “Johnny was hurting so bad from his last adjustment that he had to miss school.” I was thinking, “Yeah right, Johnny’s milking that one… missing school for having his braces adjusted, that’s absurd!” Then I had mine put on and the next day, I wasn’t sure I wanted to get out of bed or leave the house… I felt so bad for little Johnny because surely he has both top and bottom braces! I’ve also come to the harsh realization that I can’t eat things that are crunchy or hard. I feel certain most of what I used to eat was crunchy or hard. I’m adjusting {no pun intended}, but occasionally find myself sucking on crackers and chips until they’re soft enough to swallow. Please don’t feel too sorry for me. My husband reminds me that this is self-inflicted. I remind him it still hurts. 🙂
Our weekend started Friday night at the Orange Beach Scarecrow Festival where the kids got sugared up with roasted marshmallows while I sucked on Lays potato chips, one at a time. The real adventure, however, started Saturday morning. Last week we decided to take a little “getaway” boat exploration to Point Clear for a night, a 37 mile journey that was about as much fun as we can imagine having. The plan was to meet Erika, Chance and Sloane there for a couple days. The weather was perfect, sunny and cool, but just a smidge windy!
John Martin cracks us up because he has a really hard time staying awake on the boat. He can be sitting straight up in my arms and fall completely asleep. We weren’t very far into our journey when I looked over and he was completely sacked out.
The wind really picked up when we hit Mobile Bay, and we were all wishing we had windbreakers or a house boat. JM and Morgan were cuddled on a bean bag chair, while Paige and I huddled down on the bow.
The trip ended up taking considerably less time than we anticipated, and we arrived in Point Clear before our room was ready. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this area, Point Clear is on the eastern shore of Mobile Bay and is just south of Fairhope. Point Clear has a fabulous historic hotel that sits on Mobile Bay called The Grand that is very kid friendly {unless your kids are being loud in the hotel room and then they send the “hall police” to regulate}. Since we arrived early, we opted for a picnic, an acorn hunt, and a little pool time until our room was ready.
When we checked in, I took a picture of the room because I knew it would never look the same, and I was right.
Once we bombarded the room, Justin stayed with the kids and I was able to sneak out alone for a walk down the “boardwalk” that runs south of the hotel but between the bay shore and the homes that are water front. What a treat it was! Huge, old Live Oaks and Spanish Moss surround beautiful old homes.
That evening Erika and Chance {who were staying in Fairhope} picked us up at the hotel, and we headed into Fairhope to join Krista and Michael {our old friends, and new dentist} at Camellia Cafe. The food was delicious and the company was even better! We laughed a lot and enjoyed fresh, local food, seafood, and great conversation! I’m so sad I didn’t get a group picture.
The next morning we started slow with coffee and breakfast, and then strolled around the hotel property to take in all that the hotel had to offer {ducks, trees, winding brick paths, & a playground} before loading back onto the boat for the journey home.
It wasn’t even 24 hours later that we found ourselves back at the marina, loading up for the journey home! It had been almost a year since we got away, just our little family, and like our trip last year to the Grayton State Park cabins, this one was just as memorable! Erika and Chance {& Sloane} came over Sunday morning to see us off. We didn’t get to spend as much time with them as we had hoped because they had passed around a stomach virus last week that we didn’t exactly want. I know they’d like a trip re-do and we’ll gladly go back again for a weekend soon! Sister documented as we untied and took off from the marina.
We “hugged” the shore on our way home and took in the sights from the bay. We were going into the wind which made it even a little more windy, but again, so worth it. What a great little adventure we had! The trip both ways was as enjoyable as our time in Point Clear. On the way home we detoured into the Bon Secour River to see the shrimping boats. Once on the Intracoastal Canal we stopped at Lulu’s for lunch.