A day in the life.

Summer is in full swing at Bes's house!

And she is l.o.v.i.n.g it!

Curacao was great but... home sweet home!!

Curacao was amazing! We did alot of relaxing and not a whole lot of picture taking... but here's our week in review. =) Sunday night... departure for airport to be first thing Monday morning... Bes started running a temperature... at one point it was 104... been there and done that and the only time she has ever had a fever like that it was strep. Brad ran her over to Dr. Papaw's house and he checked her throat and said he felt certain it was strep... fabulous. Got first dose of antibiotics in just in time for her to start puking... which continued all night. At this point, I was not too thrilled with the idea of leaving my very sick little girl but a phonecall to the airline led me to the quick realization that we were leaving as scheduled... we couldn't afford the other alternatives! Instead of spending the week playing with her cousins (first half at my mom's, second half with Brad's mother), Grommie and Dee came to Bes where she got their undivided attention. =) We were Curacao bound!! We arrived around 9 pm so we took a quick tour of the Kura Hulanda Lodge and Beach Club and then were shown to our amazing room!

We slept in the next morning and then woke up to this...

Then had a little lunch...

Where Brad and I quickly concluded we were in our own personal

Garden of Eden. =)

Tuesday and Wednesday were mostly spent relaxing by the pool and beach. Wednesday afternoon we decided to go snorkeling in that fabulous crystal clear, blue water... where Brad's decision to forgo the SPF was not a wise one. Nevertheless, that night we went to Jaanchie's, a local restaurant. Now y'all all know that an adventurous eater I am not but... hold on to your hats folks... I ate iguana!! The lighting in the place was all but non existent, which was a good thing because had I been able to actually see what was going in my mouth I probably wouldn't have even tried it!

Our resort was located in Westpunt, which is the farthest "west point" of the island. Not much else is on that part of the island so we decided on our last day to head to our resort's sister property in the city of Willemstad to do a little shopping. Once we got out and about we discovered that May 13 is a national holiday (like our 4th of July) in Curacao and 99.9% of the shops were closed. Brad was pretty miserable from his sunburn anyway so back to the hotel we went. He rested while I headed to the pool to start on book #4 of the trip.

On the floating bridge that separates Otrobanda and Punda.

I settled in to the far chaise and was just getting into my book when I heard some rustling in the trees overhead. Birds are everywhere so I didn't think much about it... until two iguanas fell out of the tree right NEXT TO ME!

And it wasn't two of these little fellas...

It was two of these bad boys! I almost had a heart attack! I was jumping up and down on my lounge chair all out hollering! I got the guts to jump down and sprinted to our room where I had to take a moment to compose myself...

So I then decided I'd try out the other pool on the property. I found a nice little spot with no trees overhead... and continued reading.

Our last day traveling home was quite eventful... our flight left Curacao at 7:30 which made for a ridiculously early morning. Only to have an 8 1/2 hour layover once we got to Miami. We had big plans though... first things first, we got our rental car... a black Camaro, no less... and headed to South Beach. Brad has wanted a tattoo forever so we set out to find Miami Ink. Well, we found it and all the guys from the show no longer work there and the ones that do weren't so nice and were REALLY proud of their skills so we left and went to get a bite to eat. Walking down Washington Ave. Brad recognized that we passed Pauly D from Jersey Shore, of course I missed him so we went back and he had already gone into a barber shop so I only got to see his two body guards. Continue on down and we hear a loud boom and an immediate siren. Brad and I both comment on how that cop was "johnny on the spot" only to look and see that a motorcycle officer had just t-boned a car and he was laid out in the the middle of the road. Seconds later the place was swarming was cops, firetrucks and ambulances and I was standing there in the middle of it all in complete shock and Brad was just loving watching it all unfold. At this point, I was thinking that Columbus had never sounded so good. Once we finally got out of the area and fought the horrible traffic the accident had caused we didn't have enough time to make it to the Everglades for a tour so we returned the rental and headed back to the airport... only to find out that our flight had been delayed for 3 hours and Brad had left his cell phone at the restaurant where we ate lunch. Fabulous.

After waiting... and waiting... and waiting...

We finally were Birmingham bound just after 11 pm!

We got home after 2 am... but the next morning when we woke up we were oh so happy to see this smiling face!!

Curacao was unbelievable... but there is truly no place like home!

School's out for summer!

I can't believe Bes's first year of "school" is over and done with. She has changed SO SO much this past year and has grown from a baby to a sweet little girl. We had such fun things in store for her last day! All the kiddos wore "I love Lucy" shirts in honor of their most precious teacher, Mrs. Lucy Crawford.

Bes's first day, August 2009... and her last day, May 2010.

Such sweet friends.

Rowe, Nash, Campbell and Bes

Bes and Cam loving that they had on matching shirts.

They truly are the best of pals.

After school, the party continued at Nash's house with a party for Mrs. Lucy. Ice Cream sundaes, playing with friends, a visit from The Lady with the Alligator Purse...

and lots of loving on Mrs. Lucy!!

How cute are they!?!

And the moms got to love on Mrs. Lucy too!

It's a twofer!

May 2, 1980... the day of my birth.

May 2, 2006... the day I married my best friend.

May 2 is a BIG day in my world... and

May 2, 2010 did not disappoint!

For starters... I was supposed to have a nice lunch with a few friends on my birthday eve. Little did I know it was a SuRpRiSe party... all for ME!!

And they even made tshirts for the occasion!

These girls are TOO much! Overwhelmed is the word I use to describe the day... overwhelmed by all the love in my heart for these girls (and several more not pictured) and overwhelmed by their (undeserving) love for ME! It is just almost too much for this 30 year old heart to handle! Thank you girls for the best day ever!

Sunday morning I woke up to two of the sweetest cards from my hubby. He's not much of a write-a-whole-bunch-in-the-card kind of a guy and I am SO that kind of girl. More precious words from him have never been written. I love my cards.
I LOVE my Brad.

The celebratin' continued Monday for lunch with my sweet friend Shannon all decked out in her one-of-a-kind-original "Happy Birthday Amy" tshirt!

Just a slight break in the action this week will then be followed by....
drumroll please... our - as in me and Brad minus Bes - vacation to CURACAO!!!
Can. Not. Wait.

Bring on 30!!