Today we took a bit of a road trip. I mentioned earlier this week that we would be spending today at the beach.

Although we live near a beach, I will admit, it’s not the coolest beach in the world. For one, about a mile off our coast is gazillions of islands. While this makes for fun outings, if you don’t mind spending lots of money (I’ve only done it once in my whole life!) it does tame down the beach a bit. In other words, no waves.

We also have this thing called gaming on our coast. It’s not my cup o’tea, being the hard core, prudish Baptist-y type. All convictions about the evil of gambling aside, I think the casinos are ugly, and flashy, and neon-y and, well, just plain tacky.

So, we drove to a nearby state and spent the day on another part of our Gulf Coast.

And we had a great time, all injuries aside. 3/5 of us are sunburned and 3/5 of us are jellyfish stung. 2/5 of us, unfortunately got both. That would be Josh and Shiloh. Yee-ouch! Rebekah is unaffected! Yay for babies without stings or burns.

Although that sounds tragic, we really did have a great time. Rebekah took to the ocean quite well. And you never know about babies and waves…it can really freak some of them out. (Of course, Rebekah has been in a wave pool twice this summer, and maybe that helped.)

We spent about four hours at the beach in Gulf Shores, Alabama, with my parents, my brother and sister, and their families.

We played in the water, played in the sand, and got sand in our clothes, food, and towels (thank you babies!).

Afterwards, we ate at a really yummy, and completely NOT fat-free restaurant.

I’m thinking, restaurants that specialize in country foods, are really not the best place for dieters.

But, this restaurant, Lambert’s, is so cool. The highlight, of course, is that they throw the rolls around the place and you have to catch them to get one. They are also big practical jokers, these Lambert’s people. You are likely to think your server is squirting you with mustard, dumping drinks or plates of food on you, or serving you up some unfortunate rodent (I’m not kidding!!)

It’s so popular, that you are likely to have an hour wait for a table. Which, when you have six tired and cranky kiddos, who have spent the day at the beach, doesn’t sound so great. But look here…they have a train!!

Which kept the entire crew highly amused! So amused we didn’t even get around to playing the giant checker games they had on the sidewalks!

Anyway, today was a great day, even though my skin is feeling a bit tight. Yes, that’s right, I lucked out on the jellyfish. Landon was the other casualty there. And yes, I promise, I use sunscreen on my family. I made everyone lather up twice. And we are a bit of the outdoorsy type. I don’t think Shiloh has ever been sunburned before! I don’t know what the deal is. I hear things about sunscreen conspiracies. Maybe there’s something there and the stuff really doesn’t work. Sheesh.

Oh and looky! I have posted every day for a week! Maybe I can be a blogger again soon!