BEACH VACAY 2010

Okay, this is the post I have been dying to get to...more pictures and more fun! A few days of surprises (more on that later), however, caused me to lose focus on the blog for a few days, but I am back on track to catching up!

A few months prior to going, we planned a trip to go to Gulf Shores for a long weekend between Stephen's third and fourth semesters. Well, the trip ended up landing on the weekend after the flood. The original plan was for Stephen to finish finals on Wednesday, go to Elite (where he previously worked) on Thursday, leave Thursday night, and return Monday night. He would, then, have another day at home before school started again the following Wednesday. What a long break, Trevecca! But with his finals being moved back a day due to the flood, he missed out on the trip to Elite. Not too big of a deal.

Remember, I mentioned sub plans in the last post. The plan was for me to miss school on Friday and Monday. I hate missing school and I am adamant about saving my sick/personal days for when the time comes to have a baby. Well, I can tell you I would have used all my days to take this trip. This was much needed for the Hasselbrings. It made it that much sweeter when friends would come up to me and say, "You guys totally deserve this trip." I mention all of that to say, even though the teachers had to report on Thursday and Friday (students didn't because of the flood), Dr. Register (the head of schools) forgave those who took any absences for either of those days. So, I went to the beach with only having to take off Monday instead of Friday as well. This made it even sweeter. I felt like this time God was telling us, "You guys really deserve this trip!"

Thursday night we set out with Stacy and Wes (Stacy is in school with Stephen). As we drove along all of a sudden, we heard this loud noise under the car. An armadillo jumped out onto the road and Wes nailed him. He couldn't avoid it - it happened so fast. We stopped not too long after it happened for gas and to check that everything was still intact. When we got out of the car, it smelled like meat was being cooked on a grill minus the seasonings. There was armadillo guts hanging from the undercarriage of their car. We tried to go through a car wash. Didn't come off. The armadillo accompanied us the entire trip. It didn't fall off until about a month after the trip ended.

Even though our dear friend armadillo didn't have such a good fortune, the rest of us made it safely. We met up with Maci (she is also in school with Stacy and Stephen) and her boyfriend, Chad. I will be honest. I wasn't too optimistic about the trip when it drew closer. Stephen, Maci, and Stacy were the only ones that really knew each other. It could have potentially been a very awkward weekend. Fortunately, it was the exact opposite. It was like we had been friends forever. It was such a great trip. A break from studying and PA school for Stephen. A break from grad school and work for me. Perfect weather. Great food. Lots of laughs!

Now for the pictures...

The First Day on the Beach with Stacy and Maci

Our First Night...

The Second Day on the Beach...
So I probably should explain this next one...

Growing up, Blake and Stephen would joke around and take team photos because they thought it was funny. They would always have a really cheesy smile too....

Everyday on the beach, we played ladder ball. We loved it!

So Stephen is posing with the balls as if he were a 5 year old getting his team photo...

Our game faces...

More fun with the girls... I'll just say - a gust of wind and I would have been on my butt. I didn't have the best balance - never did the cheerleading thing growing up.
The Second Night...



Our last day on the beach was Mother's Day, so Wes, Stephen, and Stacy wrote this in the sand with seashells.

So, this is the pictures we sent to our mothers on Mother's Day...

Our last night, we made the boys go down to the beach for pictures...they loved it!

When we decided, we were going to take pictures that night on the beach - Stacy and I looked through magazines for cute poses. Well, I can assure you, this is not what the magazine had shown. We failed miserably with the pose below. Stephen is smiling, but before and after the picture, he was like "Jill, are you serious? Jill, why are we doing this? Jill, this is dumb!" How romantic...

Failed attempt #2...

Back to Normal...

The Boys after four or five attempts - it was like taking pictures of children....

The girls...

For the record... I cannot do the sexy, serious face! Nope. I look like I am going to kill someone is this picture!

Group Shot...

Stephen and I have only gone on two beach trips together (this one and our honeymoon), but thus far there has been a trend. The trend being - the sun having some kind of beef with us.

In fact, I think I might call it our traditional "sun mishaps."

The last time we went to the beach (our honeymoon) this happened...

I was wearing lip gloss and my lip got fried. Then, I ate something spicy for dinner that night, which I think made it worse. The next morning, my lip was huge.

This time I burned my legs! They killed one night - but it was amazing what 4 Advil and aloe could do!

And Stephen's feet swelled...

As you can see, we avoided the oil spill disaster. I think we went at the perfect time of the year - in between spring breaks and summer breaks - because the beach was not very busy. We asked the locals if this was typical. They said they weren't sure if it was the time of year or how much the oil spills caused people to relocate to another beach. It was unbelievable to see how much the oil spill would kill these coastal towns' economies. Makes you frustrated with the whole situation. Someone told us that when oil hits the coast, the area becomes contaminated for 3 years. 3 years!

Well, I'm already ready to go back...