Beach Day #2 Featuring Louis Dean Followed By Beach Day #3.....

I am so happy to tell y'all that Louis Dean had a great Beach Day!

Tuesday morning Amber fixed an old fashioned breakfast of eggs, biscuits and gravy to get us all off to a good start! We sat around the table in a big 10 member family group with our coffee and food and made plans for the day. Then just as everyone had slathered on sunscreen and put on swimsuits and packed bags of snacks, food, drinks, toys, and towels and headed to the beach - rain, thunder and lightning stopped us all in our tracks and we went on to Plan B..... TV, crafts, a trip to the Dollar General,  visiting and enjoying our time together. Soon enough, the weather cleared up and, once again, we all headed out!

Louis Dean not only went down with us - he stayed until the very end!

I think he was excited!

Blue skies, white sand and salt water.....what's not to like?

As he sat there gazing out on the scene, he said, "Now THAT'S a LOT of water!"

The next thing I knew, he was knee deep in it!

He started gathering up the large pieces of broken seashells and plans on making a wind chime out of them. He had such a good time that when we were ready to leave, the others went on and we sat a little bit longer because he wasn't ready to go.

We cleaned up and went out for a late dinner at The Hang Out!

The food was wonderful - we had the Shrimp Basket - and the service great.

However, I think all that sun, sand and surf tired him out!

As we left, there was a game he got interested in and he really did enjoy everything about that day.

We arrived back at the beach house, put the kids to bed and sat out on the balcony with our wine before bed. Mike and his dad were a little more adventurous! They went back to the beach with a bucket and a net and a flashlight to do some crabbing.

This was the first sand crab they caught and it was only a few yards from the beach house!

He is in the bottom of Trystan's red sand pail.

Louis Dean was looking at him and accidentally turned the bucket over.....

the crab gladly escaped!

The mighty duo of father and son returned to the beach and came back with a bucket full of crabs!

They did the catch and release and it was a lot of fun!

After a really late bedtime on Monday night (3:00 Tuesday morning!), we were in bed sound asleep before midnight on Tuesday.

I'm really glad Louis Dean had such a good day because he didn't have a good night OR a good Wednesday. He spent this entire day in bed. Perhaps it was the water here or the late night or the food or too much sun - or a combination thereof - at any rate he missed out on every bit of the action today!

Everyone else went on to the beach early this afternoon and I lingered here with Louis Dean making sure he was comfortable and had his medicine and a bagel with peanut butter and some watered down Gatorade. It was after 3:00 when I went on down to the beach. I savoured every minute as this was my last time to sit on the sand and feel the sun and watch the waves.

The highlight of the afternoon was when Mike caught a Blue Crab!

He was beautiful!

Another catch and release but it was a lot of fun!

The quads have had a great time! 

They have played hard and laughed and enjoyed every new experience. 

The parents have worked so very hard on behalf of both their children and their parents.....Louis Dean and me and Jim and Lynn. It has been a vacation to remember and treasure. Our very first time for us to all be together and I must say that we all get along so well. That's not surprising when you think of how we have totally embraced this Quad Journey together. It truly does take a village and we ARE that village!

The kids have been making shell necklaces from a set of napkin rings their Aunt Summer gave us.

The fishing line gave way and I thought the loose shells would work perfectly to string up since there are holes in each one.

This is Harrison's! He was a bit more persistent in his threading of the shells!

Dinner tonight is a FEAST!!!

Amber and Mike are in the kitchen cooking Parmesan Crusted Chicken, mashed potatoes and steamed green beans! It is smelling so GOOD in here!

My contribution is the garlic bread!

And the Jalapeno Roll Ups!

Jalapeno Popper Rollups

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Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

6 mins

Total time

26 mins

Jalapeno Popper Rollups are a wildly popular spin on the classic! You can make them ahead of time. They are also just right for packing in lunches, tailgating, or as an on the go snack!

Author: Amy

Recipe type: Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine: American

Serves: 24

Ingredients

• 4 tortilla shells
• 4-5 jalapenos
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1-2 c. grated cheese (cheddar, pepper jack, Colby jack)
• 1 c. diced bacon

Instructions

1. My family can't handle spice very well so I've learned a trick for taking some of the heat out of the jalapenos. Remove seeds and membranes from jalapenos. I recommend wearing gloves to do this job! Bring a pan of water to a boil. Drop seeded jalapenos into the boiling water. Continue boiling for 3-5 minutes depending on how much heat you want jalapenos to have. I boil for the full 6 minutes. Drain and set aside until cool.
2. Dice peppers.
3. In a mixing bowl stir cream cheese until smooth. Add diced jalapenos, diced bacon, and grated cheese. Stir until combined
4. Lay tortillas out. Divide cream cheese mixture into fourths and spoon onto tortilla shells. If you have too much cream cheese mixture you can always make another roll-up. If you don't feel like you have enough mixture you can always make less roll-ups. I usually end up with four though.
5. Spread cream cheese mixture to edges of tortillas.
6. Roll up jelly roll style.
7. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
8. Refrigerate for 3 hours or overnight.
9. Trim the ends off roll-ups cut roll-ups in slices. I usually get 6 slices not counting the ends.
10. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two days.

Harrison pronounced them 'PRETTY GOOD!!!'

As I am writing this journal entry, Harrison - who is an avid reader at barely 5 years of age - asks me to put this message in here for his Aunt Summer:

"We are at the beach and we are going to catch crabs tonight! 

We have had lots of fun and we saw a school of flying fish while we were in the water!"

In news from home......

all is well with Mother and she is still loving her new home.

Lonnie and Lanita are having a good week!

Lonnie's son and his family had a beach vacation this week just like we did.

They did a great photo shoot on the beach with a complete group and then by sibling families and even one with the children!!

Facebook

This is Lonnie's youngest son, Bryan, and his lovely wife, Ashley.

Sister Deanie and her granddaughter, Andie, are in San Antonio this week.

Andie starts school soon and this was their last trip of the summer together.

These two are so bonded together. Andie is as good for Deanie as Deanie is for Andie!

No matter where we all are - my siblings and I keep a Facebook messenger thread going all the time.

We like to keep up with each other.

Andie and Deanie!!

It is with a happy heart that I am 

signing out on this last post from Gulf Shores, Alabama!

It's been a GREAT trip!!