One of Lael and Mayson’s favorite things at LaLa’s is ‘swimming’ in her bathtub. They usually put too much bubble stuff in and end up with oodles of bubbles!

Lael had been talking the big talk about trying to waterski again on her birthday.  Well, her birthday came and went and she chickened out.  Yes, Lael, the daredevil who will do anything – twice – chickened out.  She tried it at the beginning of the summer and got quite a bit of water up her nose and decided that she would not be trying that again.  Caeden didn’t want to try at all.  Then when Lael chickened out on their birthday, he said, Well, I’ll do it!  He tried and did pretty well that day.  I didn’t get any pictures then because I was in the water with him.  Today he wanted to try again, so he did and did well again.  He was able to get up and ski for just a bit before falling.  I think next summer they will both be zooming around the lake when they will be able to control the skis a bit better.

Here is a group shot of the 5 of them after the successful final jump.

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!

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!

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.