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| The birthday girl |
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| Car loaded down and headed to Orange Beach |
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| Weston and James teaming up to build sand castles |
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| Hannah resting on Daddy |
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| Three happy brothers |
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| Awake and ready to play |
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| James with his net |
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| The smiling "Dory Fish" Weston caught in his net |
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| After two summers of trying to catch a fish, it finally happened |
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| Boys riding in a raft in the surf, pulled by someone's daddy |
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| Hanging out in Mimi and Grandy's condo |
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| Hannah's very own cake |
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| The Family Cake |
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| Weston trying to bury himself in the sand |
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| Mommy and the birthday girl dressed for the party |
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| A whole lot of love from big brothers |
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| Touching the icing |
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| Pushing away cake and icing |
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| First (and only) taste |
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| FaceTime call with Mimi, Grandy, and Uncle Brian |
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| Happy Birthday to You |
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| James enjoying his piece of cake |
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| About to go crabbin' |
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| Big brothers |
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| Hannah walking with her Daddy |
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| Beach photo session |
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| Too cute |
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| Smiling for the camera |
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| Happy in her Daddy's arms |
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| James and Connor at Pirate's Adventure Putt-Putt |
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| Jolly James |
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| Hole in One for Weston |
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| There's one in every bunch |
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| Hole in One for Connor |
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| Hole in One for Daddy |
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| Me and my loves |
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| Connor-man on the beach |
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| Hannah taking a good nap on Mommy |
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| Weston with his net again |
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| Best buddies |
We went to Mimi and Grandy's condo at Orange Beach to celebrate Hannah's first birthday. Mimi and Grandy were in Colorado for a whole month, so they couldn't join us. However, they made a FaceTime call to see the birthday girl at her poolside party. Hannah enjoyed staying on the beach with us all day. When she got tired, she napped on Mommy or Daddy. We went for long family walks down the beach with Hannah in the carrier strapped to Mommy. We watched the boys play in the sand or in the water with their nets. Weston was very determined to "catch a Dory fish" this trip, and he finally did! The little fish's gills made it look like it was smiling in the picture.
We got Hannah's mermaid birthday cake from A Specialty Bakery in Gulf Shores. The baker actually used to work at a bakery in Tupelo for a long time. It was neat to make that home-town connection. The cake was very delicious. Hannah didn't care much for foods other than baby food yet, so she didn't even dig into her cake. She took one taste of icing, and that was it. We tried to feed her, but she just pushed it away. That little girl didn't know what she was missing!
One fun memory from the trip was when we went crab hunting at night. This was the first time we had ever done this with the kids. The boys seemed to have a great time! We also made our usual putt-putt outing to the Pirate's Adventure Island. As always, it was hard to come back home. The boys chanted, "Let me live at the beach," on the ride home.
Our little Hannah doll is 1 year old! We love you so much, little girl! Your brothers are absolutely crazy about you. It is a lot of fun being a family of six and watching you all grow. We are abundantly blessed to have each other.
