Vacation!!

We just returned from our annual beach trip with our Birmingham friends. Six years ago we made the BEST friends through residency/spouse organization. We were all in the same situation: new to Birmingham with a husband fresh out of medical school without knowing anyone. Our husbands did Intern year together and we all became very close friends. The other five guys did Anesthesia while Eric went on to Ophthalmology Residency. Six years, 13 kids, and six states later we remain close. The Hughes' live in Bristol, TN. The Simrils live in Greenville, SC. The Stuermann's live in Shreveport, LA. The Bowers live in Valdosta, GA. And, the Sheltons live in Birmingham still!

We've started a tradition of getting a huge beach house and taking a vacation together every year. While the thought of vacationing with 13 kids sounds dreadful, we had a blast. The kids are all 4 and under and get along great. We took turns providing dinner for each other each night. The moms got to go to the spa/lunch one day (mothers day present). The kids all slept great from playing so hard each day.

Caroline still wasn't a huge fan of the sand, but she did enjoy it a little bit. Cole likes whatever Caroline does, so he pretended not to like the sand, too. But he was caught having a good time in it. Cole was even putting his feet in the Ocean (gulf).

Caroline was an acrobat playing in this hammock-thing on our patio.

 

Cole!!

 
 

Our little ray of sunshine

 

Yep, this will be blown up on a canvas. Both looking at the camera and smiling. I may or may not have told them they could have Doritos with their dinner if they smiled!

 

Her favorite thing!

 

I'm in a picture!!! It was even Mother's Day when we took it! 

 
 

Proudest Momma ever of these two sweeties.

 

Getting ready to take some family pictures. Cole wanted NO part of smiling with his coordinating shirt.

 

These are the 8 kids we all got to meet and get to know b/c they were born in Birmingham while we were all there. Love these kids!

 
 

And now there are 13 kids. There will be at least 14 next year as the Bowers are expecting their 3rd baby in late August.

 

I tried to get a picture of them in their sweet little Ladybugs and Elephants shirts.

 

 

Our beautiful family. Three out of Four of us desperately need a haircut. It's happening soon.

 

All in all, what a fantastic vacation. The kids were amazing on our 12 hour drive back home. We watched a ton of movies and giggled a great deal. We were shocked! I whined more than Caroline did. We can't wait to go next year!

 

*Group Picture coming soon!*