Blue Angels

We picked a wonderful weekend to go to Tuscaloosa.  The weather was fabulous, it was Mother’s Day, so it was nice to celebrate that with Lynda and it the Blue Angels were in town for a show.  Todd’s dad is a county sheriff, and they were involved in putting on the show……I don’t know exactly what.  What I do know is that our connection with him enabled us to have the very best experience at a Blue Angels show.  We were able to park in the sheriff’s parking lot right by their hangar at the airport, so we didn’t have to walk a million miles like most of the other thousands who came.  He had a spot with a quilt all ready right at the fence at the tarmac.  It was incredible.  Gotta love knowing the right people!  Bill has always been one of those people.  He knows everybody, and is always ready and willing to help out by pulling a few strings for whatever we need done.  Before we got there, the sky jumpers had already gone, but Bill saved one of the streamer things they jumped with Caeden and Lael.  Lael had a great time running with it in full sail out behind her.  Caeden was more content to sit and wait with the binoculars for the good stuff.  The Blue Angels did not disappoint.  It is truly amazing what those pilots can do!  Our favorite part was when you were sitting there unaware and then two of them distract you over in this direction, while from the opposite direction one comes in silently at mach speed and flies by so fast, you wonder if you imagined it, until of course the sonic boom catches up and your ears assure that it did indeed fly by, and fast!  Awesome show!

Busy weekend

My parents, my sister and her daughter are in town this weekend. Mallory was supposed to play in a tennis tournament here in Huntsville. But, right after they arrived Heather checked the website to see if they needed to go check in and they had canceled it! She drove all the way here from Atlanta to find out that Mallory would not be playing. The weather has been crappy the past couple of days, lots and lots of rain! I told Heather that I would be surprised if she played, but I never thought it would be totally canceled. Caeden was supposed to play ball, Lael had soccer practice and Chace had several games scheduled for Saturday. It was going to be a very full, very busy weekend. But, only Chace’s games went on – somehow they managed to get Liberty’s field ready to play on Saturday. It was nice to be able to visit with the Fam. On Saturday, in between Chace’s games, we went out to Greenbrier BBQ to eat. It is the best BBQ we’ve found in town – ok, it’s not really in town, just a few miles from County Line Rd, although it feels like much farther!!! They have the best hushpuppies I think I have ever eaten, I could make a meal of just them! That night we watched Twilight again. It was just as good the second time around!

Gifts for Baby Trey

I forgot I never posted this after we went to visit our beautiful new nephew!
I was trying to come up with different ideas for a gift for baby Trey. Of course all new babies need diapers, lotions, shampoo, and all the other baby paraphernalia. Not to mention the big stuff if this is the first baby. But, I wanted to do something a little more personal. So, I came up with the idea of making personalized onesies. I found some plain white long sleeved ones at TJ Maxx and snagged them. Looking back, I should have bought all they had!! Anyway, I bought some transfer paper at Hobby Lobby, then set about creating some personalized designs for the onesies. That was the easy part. The hard part was getting it to print correctly, LOL! I actually wasted 6 sheets before I got it right. Oh well, live and learn. Hopefully, I will remember the next time I try this project. I also found a 3-panel accordian style frame thingy at Tuesday Morning. I did buy several of those because they were such a great price. I altered it and personalized it and left some space for pictures. Ta-Da – Unique and personalized Baby Gifts!

Fall Break Fun

I love Fall Break!  There is talk of Madison city getting rid of the week long Fall Break next year or in the years to come.  I sure hope they do not!  I love having big blocks of time where the kids are off from school.  The school my nieces attend in GA has weeks like that sprinkled throughout the school year, Fall Break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, of course, then Winter Break, and then Spring Break as well.  They don’t get inclement weather days, or Teacher Workdays or single days like that, but I would be fine with that.

Anyway, we decided to spend a bit of time in Birmingham this week so we drove down on Tuesday.  I had wanted to go to the $1 Movie, but there really wasn’t anything great playing there.  So, we decided to go to the Rave at Patton Creek.  The twins and I saw Beverly Hills Chihuahua It was cute, definitely would have been better had I paid $1 per ticket rather than $7.25.  Chace was adamant about not seeing that movie, so he went on his own into a different theater and saw something else, I forgot the name.

Cori and Chris came over to Mimi’s with their kids for dinner.  That was nice to be able to visit with them.  Caeden and Lael love to play with Dakota anyway, so it was great.  Madyson is going to be Little Bo Peep for Halloween, Mallory wore that costume when she was about her age, and it was the cutest costume ever!

Wednesday the kids and I went to the McWane Center.  The annual passes I bought for the Space & Rocket Center here in Huntsville gets us in free to tons of other science type based museums all over the country.  I was very excited to see the McWane Center on that list, because we love that place.  It is lots of fun!  This time was awesome, it was practically empty – not crowded at all!!!  Last time we came, there were tons of people, you had to wait for lots of thing to do.  Not the case now, we loved it!  I guess that is the bonus of everyone else being in school, and us having a Fall Break!

Back to Tuscaloosa

Traci and Mayson are home from their vacation and they stopped in Tuscaloosa to pick up Rex and to vist.  So, we decided to go down and visit as well.  Todd was supposed to go as well, but at the last minute he got called upon to go on a business trip next week.  The twins had a soccer game on Saturday morning at 8:30, we decided to be packed up and ready to hit the road when it was over.  However, somehow we got our wires crossed and the other team didn’t have their full team there.  I still am not sure what happened.  But, we did not have enough to play so we took off for Ttown.  Todd stayed behind to fly out tomorrow.

When Chace found out we were headed to Tuscaloosa, he was excited because that meant that he could see his friends there again.  He made plans to go hang out at Ashley’s house for a bit Saturday.  Actually he was planning on watching the game with them.  But, apparently they could not wait to see him, and started texting him as soon as we were on the road asking where we were, how long til we arrived, when he was coming etc.  So, I ended up taking him over there at 2:00.  He stayed until just before the UA game started.  Of course, they wanted him to stay and watch the game with them too.  But, I insisted that he come back and spend some time with the family.

We had a wonderful time.  Mayson is so adorable and fun!  She is at the age where everything is just the coolest, most awesome, new thing she has seen yet!  Traci was the hero and had bought some toys to entertain the kids with, bubbles and sidewalk chalk and stuff.  Good thing she was thinking – because all I brought were the kids!  Of course they did have their Big Wheel cycles that we left there to ride down Lynda’s basement driveway.  That is always fun!

Our visit was much too short, as usual.  I want to go back soon though for a UA game.  Tickets are a bit harder to come by these days though!!  Now that Saban is there and UA is winning again the prices are outrageous!

Soccer Cheering Team, Birthday and BBQ

Heather and her family are already here, so today Mom and Dad decided to drive up also.  The twins had a soccer game this morning at 9:45.  Mom and Dad hopped on their motorcycle and took off from Birmingham early enough to make it in time for the game.  It was awesome, the twins had their own cheering section!!

It is also Dad’s birthday next week so after the game Mom, Heather and I went to the grocery store to get the yummies to make his fave cake – Red Velvet.  We also decided to get some BBQ for lunch.  I thought we would try a BBQ place here in Madison that apparently tons of people LOVE.  On the weekends, the drive-thru is absolutely covered up.  I have seen 12-15 cars in line there on a regular basis.  So, I figured it must be good right?  Well, apparently people here in North Alabama don’t know what BBQ is supposed to taste like.  There are so many different variations of BBQ is it unreal!  This is what one of my faveorite magazines, Southern Living, had to say about BBQ and the South:

As long as there’s been a South, we’ve loved barbecue, the one food that defines us most as a region. It suits our Southern sense of comfort, society, and the passage of time–friends and family gathering around glowing embers, drifting smoke scenting the air and seasoning the meats of animals that grazed the grass of our prairies and rooted the mast of our forests.

That might be a bit over the top, I mean I love meat, I could never be a vegetarian, but I don’t really want to think about these animals roaming around the woods behind my house and then eating them for dinner. 

Anyway, back to the topic – BBQ at this place was weird, different and not good.  When she gave us the container, it didn’t look like the 2 lb. that we had ordered.  She confirmed that is was.  We decided that would not be enough, so we got another container.  Then we asked where the sauce was, she said it’s mixed in the BBQ.  REALLY?!?!? Where???  There was certainly no sauce there that I could see.  So, we got the meat home, and I dump it into a pan to doctor it up with some ‘real’ BBQ sauce.  The stuff that they claim to be sauce was a clear, vinegar base type that just was not good IMHO.  The actual meat was not that great either.  So we have striked that particular place off our list.  There is one great place here, but it’s not in Madison – it’s out in Limestone county, feels like the country, but in reality only about 15-20 minutes away.  It is called Greenbriar Restaurant. This is the real deal, Southern BBQ like I am used to. They also have the best hush puppies I’ve ever eaten.  They bring a basket to the table when they bring your tea, and they just keep filling the basket up when it gets empty.

We always have to find a BBQ restaurant wherever we are.  It took a long time in upstate NY, but we finally did.  It was called Everglades.  Which is very strange considering after we left NY, we were practically living in the Everglades.  In FL, we did find a place, but I cannot remember the name of it.  I don’t think we were in Charlotte long enough to settle on one.  In Tuscaloosa it was Archibald’s, yep – most people erroneously believe it is Dreamland (which is good!), but Archibald’s is better.  Ifound a funny review somebody did about Archibald’s here.  In Birmingham, it has always been Full Moon.

The Gilmers Visit

Yay!  We are so excited the Gilmer’s are here to visit!!  They arrived yesterday.  The girls are out of school for Fall Break so they decided to come visit.  Today we went to the Space Center.  My kids went to school this morning and I will check them out at 11:30 so that they won’t be counted absent.  I went with Heather and them early to the Space Center and bought tickets.  I got the annual passes for us because it worked out nicely with Heather and her family.  We wandered around the Davidson Center museum first checking out everything.  It is really fascinating!

Then we moved on to the older part of the Space Center.  Lots of really cool stuff there too!  There was a rock wall to climb, so the girls wanted to try it out.  Then Heather decided she wanted to do it also.  So I couldn’t be outdone!!  We all got our harnesses on and started climbing.  It was hard, but not as difficult as I thought it would be!  When I got to the top though, I got a bit nervous at the thought of rappelling down.  Heather and I looked at each other at the top and I am sure that my face showed my terror.  Then she takes off, I was like oh man, now I really must do it.  Of course there was no other option, so I lean back and try to remember how to do it.  I’ve done it for real years ago, off of a real mountain!  I even took a class at UA where we had to do it for a grade!  But, that was many years ago when I was young and in better shape!  I did reach the ground safely though, although I did land on my bottom!  Chace roared with laughter when he heard that!

After walking around there for a while, it was time to go get the kids from school.  I got the twins first, and when we go Chace from Liberty, he said that he had just sat down with his tray of food.  So, we ran through the drive-thru at Burger King for him.

Back at the Space Center – we find the Gilmer’s.  Chace wants to head to Space Shot immediately.  But, we are not sure if either of the girls are tall enough.  I know the twins are not.  We walk over and sure enough Mallory is not quite tall enough, and Madeline barely makes it.  So, Chace, Madeline and I climb on.  I’ve never been on it, but Chace has talked about it plenty since he and Todd came to the Space Center last year with TMS.  Here is what the website says about Space Shot:

What does a rocket launch really feel like? Three, two, one, liftoff!

• Rocket 140ft straight up in 2.5 seconds.
• 4 G’s of force on launch!
• 2 – 3 seconds of weightlessness out of your seat then a 1 G free fall!

That about sums it up!  Scary, thrilling but FUN!

Back into the older part – because Chace and the twins want to rappel.  I was not so sure about the twins doing it, I didn’t even know if they were big enough.  The guy said they are supposed to be 50 lb.  But, that they looked close enough.  We get the harnesses on everyone and they take off, Lael is climbing fast – and then she makes the mistake of looking down and gets scared.  The guys has to climb up and get her.  Luckily she had only made it about 15 feet up.  Caeden is doing well, he goes about halfway and then decides he has had enough but he doesn’t know how to get down.  We talk him through it and he rappels down.  Chace of course flies to the top of the wall in like 10 seconds.

Oh, the Space Shot for kids – it is supposed to be kind of like the big Space Shot but without the g-forces etc.  The twins climbed on and Mallory grudgingly did too.  The twins were loving it, throwing their hands up, giggly and thoroughly enjoying it.  Mallory had that smile on, like she was having fun, but didn’t want to admit it.

There were other things we saw and did, but this post has gone on way too long already!

Family Visits are the Best

Traci and Mayson came back to visit for a few days. It is so fun having a baby in the house again. Mayson is such a doll, and I guess I can’t really classify her as a baby, she is definitely more toddler than baby! Man, that girl is on the move all the time. She had not been here long at all, and I was scrambling to ‘baby proof’ stuff. Last time they visited, we had our marble chess set out, which in retrospect was not smart! But, of course nearly all of the pieces have been broken already from Chace or the twins. Anyway, we had put all the pieces away in a decorative box that stays on the trunk we use for a coffee table. (It is supposed to hold the dozens of remote controls our TV requires, which is baffling to me and is fodder for an entire post on its own) Mayson found them almost immediately, it was like she had stored that location in her brain the whole time. She reminds me of Lael when she was younger. They are both quite headstrong and know exactly what they want. Stand clear when Mayson has her sights on getting something or doing something! One of her fave things to do here was jump on the trampoline. She wanted to be out there all the time. Unfortunately, it is summer in Alabama – and it is blazing hot 12 more more hours out of the day. One day, we had the water slide set up to help with the heat, but Mayson was more interested in the trampoline. Chace was under it playing with Bailey, and he started talking to Mayson from underneath. She grinned and laughed and kept looking all around then down, but she couldn’t see him. Then he started bouncing the balls from underneath and making them pop up all around her. She thought that was a riot. This is one of the pics I snapped. 

Summertime!

Whoo-hoo…..it is summer! My most favorite time of the year, well maybe except for the weather!! I love it, I just wish it weren’t so blazing hot all the time. Oh well, that’s what I get for living in the South, I suppose. At least we have a pool we can go to anytime we like now. I am loving that……..that was an awesome bonus surprise when we bought this house. A pool in our neighborhood!
This summer is shaping up to be busy and fun. We spent Memorial Day in Birmingham watching my nieces play tennis. I was terribly uncomfortably hot, just sitting there watching them – I can’t imagine how they played! Chasing tennis balls in the heat is not my idea of fun. But, I did enjoy watching them!! Last weekend we went camping at Lake Guntersville State Park. We had so much fun – it was a wonderful place to camp. I think we had the ideal campsite. We were in the primitive area, so away from all the RV’ers with their flat-screen TV’s and anti-gravity pool lounging chairs. Our site was right on the water, and there was a small sandy area, so the kids could build sandcastles and play in the water, and we could watch from the hammock, sweet! Next week we are heading to Baton Rouge. Todd has a business trip, so we are tagging along. Well, actually, he is going to go ahead of us, and we will take the train down a few days later. The train ride in itself will be an adventure, but I am sure there will be plenty to do once we get there also. I just need to google Baton Rouge and see what fun awaits us!