For my birthday on the Ides of June, my mom and brothers came all the way down to Mobile from the homestead in Northwest Alabama to see me and have a mini-vacation of sorts. We covered just about as much of the Gulf Coast as one can expect to cover in a long weekend.

On Saturday, we visited New Orleans and walked around in the heat all day eating good food and looking in shops until time to begin my first ever ghost tour with Haunted History Tours. While I am a skeptic through and through, both out of my love for science and a lingering fear of the unknown, most members of my family love a good ghost story and watch Ghost Hunters whenever they can. The brochure claimed that 90 percent of those who take pictures capture paranormal activity, sadly we did not, but you can still see the few pictures I did post on Flickr.

On Sunday, Mom, Jamie, and I took in Dauphin Island. Then Bobby and John joined us for dinner on the Causeway at the Original Oyster House.

On Monday, my birthday, we started the day out by kayaking on the Mobile-Tensaw Delta with the alligators in an area known as Five Rivers. It was hot, we had a ball, and all managed to get various stages of sunburn. You can see the pictures below or on Flickr. After this display of awesome outdoorsman/womanship, we went outlet mall shopping in Foley, then to Gulf Shores for dinner and a walk on the beach. They left out early on Tuesday. I already miss them.

I took the entire week off for a well needed staycation, so since they left John and I have been celebrating birthday time by relaxing and visiting used bookstores and antique shops. He’s given me a number of super fun and amazing birthday gifts, mostly from Etsy, including Wyley the Giant Squid (shown here), a book, a rad laptop decal in the shape of an Octopus we call Takosama, and some lovely vinyl decals in various bird themes for wall decorations. Tomorrow, I head up to Georgia to visit my Dad’s side of the clan for Father’s Day and further celebration of my birthday. Should be fun!