Beach Vacay

Two weeks ago we joined the Saulters family for a vacation in Destin.  Other than the fact that a viral URI and Norovirus were beginning and ending parentheses to my part of the trip, it was fabulous!  We had a fancy penthouse right on the coast, and as the Saulters family is not shy about sharing hotel or condo rooms meant for far fewer people, we got away with a pretty affordable vacation!  It was a lot of fun seeing the kiddos enjoying the water and the pool, and Stuart and I breezed through a couple of beach reads while working on our tans.

View from our porch

Stu, Vera Kate, and a glimpse of Ariel's fin

Me with my Ziploc of tissues.  I never left home without them!

Of course it wouldn't be a family vacation without the obligatory family picture!  We set out to the beach in our matching duds and one of Sally's friend took the photos for us.  Don't tell, we may have sat on a dune ...

Look at that beard!

About half-way through the week, Stuart and I took a side trip to Mobile for about a day and a half.  We had quite a busy agenda but got to see a lot of wonderful people.  First on the list was Dr Israel and his wife, Cammie.  I worked with him in medical school and still consider him a mentor.  Also they have wonderful taste in food, wine, and vacation spots - so it's always nice to chat with them!  We talked a while over wine and hors d'oeuvres, and afterward had dinner with our friend Tricia and her baby Abby Bette!  Her husband Caleb was in my med school class, and is now a surgical resident, and unfortunately he didn't get to make it home for dinner.  But he came back later that night after Stuart and I had a mini desert-date downtown at a new restaurant called The Noble South (great name!) and we all stayed up until way past our collective bedtimes.  (Don't let me fail to mention that Caleb set me and Stuart up!)

The next morning we drove across the Bay as we used to at least twice a day, and enjoyed the sites of Fairhope.  We strolled down the pier as we did so many times when we were a "young married couple", and then we met some of our old church friends for lunch!  After that we obviously had to get ice cream in downtown Fairhope, then we headed back to Destin to enjoy the rest of the week.

Me and Dr Israel at "Red or White"

Tricia and Abby Bette!!!

Fairhope pier

Gray and Lauren (and Judah) and Mike and Loran at Rosies.

I'll spare you the latter half of the week when I had Norovirus, but suffice it to say we had a wonderful vacation, and it was great to visit our first home and some old friends!