The Magic City

After we spent our morning on UM's campus, touring, walking, playing, walking, and eating, we loaded up and headed north to Birmingham.

My first trip to Birmingham was in high school when one of the most influential teachers to so many kids ever, took around 12 of us rural, middle class teenagers to UAB for spring break.  Can you imagine?  Stuck in a 15 passenger van with teenagers for 10 hours?  Yikes!  But, it was that trip, and the one I would take the next year with him that changed the direction of my life!  



And thank goodness my fashion sense changed, too!

We visited UAB to learn more about science.  We visited labs, drove up to NASA in Huntsville...and sitting here trying to remember...guess the academic stuff really made an impression!  Ha!  What did make an impression was the history of the city.  The hot seat of the civil rights movement.  Now, that made an impression.

My mom went with us my senior year and I can remember visiting the Civil Rights Institute and seeing the tears stream down her face.  It was, and is, crazy to me that she lived this time period.  That it was one generation removed from me.  I loved getting to see first hand some of the places that I had learned about like the 16th Street Baptist Church and the bus station where freedom riders would have traveled through.  

So, when we decided to take the kids with us, I knew I wanted to take them to the Civil Rights Institute.  The girls really soaked it up and the boys are still too young to appreciate it, but I'm glad they were exposed to it anyway. 

After that, we took a quick trip to see the Vulcan.  Lizzy and I didn't venture up (I was too cheap to buy more tickets.  I thought it would be free.  Wishful thinking!).  Jeff and Littles went up and came right back down.  He said the view was just as good from the bottom and the kids weren't that excited about having gone up.  It's definitely worth a trip to the park, just don't bother with buying tickets to go up in the statue.  :)  



During this time my old buddy and roommate, Seth, had texted seeing that we were in town.  He and his wife, who lived on my hall and played basketball our freshman year, were staying in Montevallo for the night on their way to the beach.  I was so glad our paths crossed!  We met them for dinner at Milo's, which I had never had, but apparently Seth has to have it every time they are in Birmingham.  His kids are the cutest and I hope we are able to visit them in Nashville this summer!


Don't Seth and I look the same as we did in 1995? :)

Then we headed back to Motown to see if any of Jeff's teammates had shown up for the game.  The kids had fun playing and Jeff was able to watch a bit of the game and hang out with our friend, Morgan.

What a full and FUN day we had!  The kids were so worn out.  Who am I kidding?  Jeff and I were worn out, too!

We enjoyed a little more baseball and play time the next afternoon. I thoroughly enjoyed the warm weather!  We all got some sun on our faces and the outside time was just what the doctor ordered!  


Sweet memories with our little family were made in the place where our family began!

InstaFriday

TGIF party people!  Although, my weekends are not any less busy than my weeks.  'Tis the season!  I'm sure 10 yrs down the road I'll miss it.

Anywho!  I'm linking up with Jeannett over at Life Rearranged.  How was your week?  Are you an Instagrammer?  Follow along via MixMama.

Baby A stayed entertained on our trip to Alabama by playing with Lizzy's hair.  

Coco being silly when we stopped for dinner on the road.

Look at that!  We had SUCH a gorgeous day on campus and I'm so excited for Liz and her college search!

While Liz sat in a physics class, we hung with the littles in the student center.  Baby A charmed (surprise, surprise) the ladies working in the food court and got a hat and a muffin out of it!  Jeff informed them that they had started something as we had two more around the corner!

The gorgeous brick streets add to the charm of this beautiful campus!  I don't see how these two will stand being separated in two years.  :(

Lenny played this character, "the old man with a beard" for a few hours the other night.  She would appear as herself, walk through the house, and reappear as this guy.  She had a whole story going on and actually had Coco believing there was an old man somewhere!  Crazy and I just LOVE her imagination!

Time for some Flea Market Flip!  Have you watched it on HGTV?  I'm intrigued and I do love some antiques!

Her First "Official" College Visit

We are entering an exciting season with Lizzy.  

Her last two years of high school and then college is right around the corner.  How can that be?!

As she wraps up her sophomore year,  we anticipate the busyness of the next two years and their importance.  SAT, more AP classes, a j.o.b., driver's license, prom, etc.  I can feel the wrinkles and gray hairs coming.  But such an awesome time, no?  Don't you remember?

I wanted to take advantage of our little family trip to the University of Montevallo by scheduling an official campus visit for Liz.  

 The sign makes it so official!  We loved it!

Jeff and I had the best experience at UM.  Granted, we were a part of athletic teams, but we had friends who weren't and loved their time there, too.  

 
I loved the smallness of campus and that I could walk to class and know people.  My experience at the much larger Ball State University was not like that at all.  There I felt I was just a number.  Although academically, both schools prepared me well for my career.

Liz started off her day (which was BEAUTIFUL by the way!) sitting in on a physics class.  She then toured the campus with a group and I caught up with them toward the end to see the new dorms.

We walked together to get Jeff and the kids who were playing on the baseball field and headed to the cafeteria for lunch.  The food was still as good as it was way back when and even some of the same ladies were working there!  We finished off our meal with an ice cream cone which was a staple for me every day!

Coco loved the conveyer belt that you placed dirty dished upon.  He was out of his seat taking things up more than he was in his seat eating! 

 

Yeah, no idea about that face.  You don't think he thinks he's cute do you?

 
 Liz liked her visit and Jeff and I loved walking the brick paths together again.  I love this campus.  It is where Jeff and I met and it holds many memories-hard, sweet, and everything in between!    

Seven Year Old Boys

I had warned Coco that I wanted to take his seven year old pictures this past weekend.


I learned that seven year old boys don't like to cooperate that much on formal portraits.  He wouldn't even take his hat or sweatshirt off.  This is what I got.  And, actually, I'm okay with it because it is so him.


We were in Montevallo for Jeff's alumni baseball weekend.  Which really didn't turn out to be much baseball wise, but great family wise.  Jeff didn't mind too much because he really wanted to see Coco on the field of his alma mater.



Silly faces and poses.  Stained knees.  Untied shoes.  My Coco.  

Fortunate, Blessed, Happy

Lenny told me a few weeks ago that Baby A's name means fortunate, blessed, and happy.  I couldn't agree more!

I'll fill you in on where these were taken soon!