Late spring snow fall

We opened the pool just in time for a snow fall!  Crazy spring weather!  Luckily it didn't last very long. 

2 days later the boys were swimming with friends!

Bring on Swim season.  We are ready!

Anna + Keagan

We all attended Anna and Keagan's wedding on April 17th, our niece and new nephew.  She was the most beautiful bride!  Anna and Keagan have been dating since high school and make the cutest couple!  The wedding ceremony was absolutely beautiful and we all had so much fun at the reception!  

They got married at our family church, St. Mary's Catholic Church.

Anna, with her parents, siblings and their spouses.  

Anna and Grampa.

He was such a good sport all day and hung around at the reception well into the night!

This was the 3rd grandchild to marry.

Our whole crazy family who were able to attend!

Jaxon was loving his cousins and the distraction they provided from all of the Ring Bearer duties!

My siblings and I.

Rehearsal dinner fun.

We stopped in to visit my mom's grave.  The budding trees were so pretty.  

After the wedding festivities were complete, we visited with Grandma Bonnie on our way back home.  It was so good to see her in person!  It had been some time since the boys and I had seen her.  We shared all of our spring activity stories with her and she, Nick and Sam made predictions for the Cardinal's baseball season.  

 

Spring Break!

Spring break 2021 took us on a road trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama!   3 boys, 2 parents, 1 dog and 12 hours of drive time and we were on the beach! 

Ruby was a perfect car traveler.  She was so happy to be so close to her boys riding in the car.  Everything was a new adventure for her from potty stops at gas stations and rest stops to an overnight stop at a hotel.

Our first stop in Alabama was at the visitors center to see this rocket!  Holy cow!  It's a Saturn 1 B rocket from 1979.  

Ruby, resting on her travel bed at the hotel.  She was well behaved, except for the 4:30 barking spell when thankfully Eric volunteered to take her outside! 

Our first day on the beach!  We are always so happy to have sand under our feet and the ocean in our view!  We rented a house right on the beach for the week.  We were all pleasantly surprised at how nice and clean the beach was.  It wasn't crowded and everyone we encountered was very friendly.  The shore was perfect for super long walks and the sand was sparkling white and squeaked when you walked on it!  I had to research that: the sand is made of quarts that filtered down through the Appalachian mountain chain thousands of years ago. 

Ruby liked to dig in the cool sand and relax under the umbrella while her boys played nearby.  

Burying your brother in the sand is the best!

They did an outstanding job and actually had to help dig him out too!

Our only excursion was a deep sea fishing trip!

We chartered a boat with Captain Bobby and first mate Billy who made sure we all had a chance to real in a catch.  We fished for Spanish Mackerel, which was in season, so we were able to catch and keep 16 fish.  We grilled fish later that night and had a fish fry the following night!  

After we caught the Mackerel, our captain took us out further into the ocean to fish for bottom feeders.  These weren't in season so we released them back into the ocean after reeling them in and getting a few pictures!  

This was our first time on a deep sea fishing adventure, but I'm sure it won't be our last!  It was a really fun afternoon!  

Billy cleaned the fish for us (thankfully!!!)!  Check out those hungry pelicans waiting for the scraps!  The dock was all under construction.  This area was hit by hurricane Sally in October 2020.  The hurricane wreaked havoc on the area and destroyed the previous dock.  A lot of the homes on the beach near where we were staying were still under construction with repairs from hurricane Sally.  

Breakfast on the last day.  Ruby is in position for anything that Nick might drop from his plate!

We left for home on Friday.  It was a long drive back home with a few extra stops!  

Ben had asked for a new Xbox gaming system for his birthday.  They weren't available in our area, but Ben found a Best Buy in Birmingham that was getting a shipment while we were there.  So we reserved one ahead of time and picked it up on our way home!  

  

Traveling with Ruby was a delight for all of us!  I hope she can come with us again.