After the wedding on Saturday, Travis, Brooklyn, and I stayed in town through Wednesday morning. Uncle Bill and Aunt Gale stayed also, and it was great to visit with them since we rarely see them and won’t be going to Fripp this year :(
Saturday was a late night, but we had plans for Sunday, so there was no time to rest! After church on Sunday morning and lunch (leftover wedding food…yum!), we drove to Tuscaloosa for a going away party for David and Belinda Hartsell. David was the preacher at Northwood almost the entire time we were in Tuscaloosa, but he has had some health problems since then that have caused him to be unable to preach any longer or even take care of himself. So, they are moving back to Auburn to be closer to their family who can help take care of David. We didn’t take any pictures at the party, but it was great to see the Hartsells as well as some of the other members at Northwood that we haven’t seen in a while. It’s hard to believe that we have been gone from Tuscaloosa for 4 years now, but I guess it makes sense when you think about how much has changed since then. Most everyone hadn’t seen Brooklyn in person, so it was fun to introduce her to them. She loved all of the attention, of course!
Rather than just drive down for the party and go straight back to Trussville, we decided to stick around for a little longer in Tuscaloosa. Since graduation, we have only been back to Tuscaloosa for football games and graduation ceremonies. But, summers in t-town are so nice because there are so many less people around!! After the party was over, we drove by Rivermont, our old apartment complex, just to see what it looked like. It looks about the same as it did 4 years ago!
Good ol’ Rivermont!
Next, we headed toward campus and ended up parking by Gorgas and walking around the Quad. It was pretty hot that afternoon, but we almost had the whole Quad to ourselves. Brooklyn fell asleep on the drive to campus, so she slept in her stroller the entire time we were walking. She was exhausted from all of the weekend’s activities!
This was Brooklyn’s first time on campus…at least, outside of the womb! Too bad she won’t remember it :)
After a little while, we were hot and sweaty and decided to eat somewhere before leaving town. We wanted to pick a restaurant that we can’t eat at anywhere else. I suggested either Cypress Inn, Depalma’s (where we had our first date), or Mugshots. Travis wanted to eat at Roly Poly…haha. We eventually decided on Cypress Inn. I love that place! We actually ate there once or twice during the first summer we were dating. A lot has changed since then!
Summer 2006 after lunch at Cypress Inn!
8 years ago…wow!
This time was a little less enjoyable than the previous times we’ve eaten there. I think it might have something to do with a certain 17 month old who refused to sit in her highchair and wanted to feed herself sweet potatoes using my spoon, making a huge mess :) I guess we should just accept that this is the new normal for the next several years and get over it. Or, maybe just not take her out to eat anywhere! We had to take her outside several times because she was making such a scene. I felt bad for the people eating at the tables nearby. Hopefully we didn’t ruin their evening!
At least we had a nice view while we were eating!
Learning to color
Brooklyn liked dipping her cracker in Travis’s spicy gumbo. Guess she’s his daughter!
Making a mess with her sweet potatoes!
We made the best that we could of the evening and headed back to Trussville after supper. Monday was a pretty low key day. We stayed at the house most of the day until we met the Palmers for supper at Jim n Nicks. It was great to have the whole family (minus the honeymooners) together for a meal, and Brooklyn was better behaved this time around which was a nice bonus.
Tuesday afternoon, we went with Mom, Dad, Uncle Bill, and Aunt Gale up to Gadsden to Noccalula Falls. It’s only about 45 minutes from where I grew up, but I’d never been before. It was a neat little day trip.
If you look closely, you will see Brooklyn digging in the dirt…haha
We packed a picnic lunch and ate it on the tables right outside of the park when we got there. After that, it was time to go inside and ride the train!
Choo Choo!
The train stopped at different spots around the park. Brooklyn enjoyed all the sights on the ride!
The first stop that we got off at was the petting zoo area. There were several animals in a big fenced area, a lion in a cage, and then an indoor area with rabbits, guinea pigs, turtles, and other small animals. Brooklyn loves animals, so she was very interested in seeing them up close!
Those animals were not shy at all!
She wasn’t afraid at all!
Checking out the bunny rabbits…
“Look! A turtle!”
Watching the fish swim…
The park also had a lot of old log cabins and buildings from the 1800s (I believe). One small one-room cabin belonged to a family with 11 children…wow!!! After we looked at some of the buildings, we headed over toward the waterfall. It had rained a lot the day before, so I think that’s why the water looked so dirty. Apparently, sometimes they will let visitors go down behind the falls, but not on days where there has been so much rain…so we missed out on that. Oh well!
We ended our time at the park by eating some yummy watermelon. It was so good!
Brooklyn was tired after all that fun, so she took a long nap on the way back to Trussville and ended up sleeping until almost 7 PM! The election watch party for Uncle Gary’s campaign started at 7 PM also, so the 3 of us were a little late getting there. Uncle Bill, Aunt Gale, Mom, and Dad went ahead and headed there without us. By the time we got there around 8 PM, they already had a pretty good idea that Uncle Gary would win. The place was packed with people, and it was so exciting!
Kathleen, Claire, and me
Yay Uncle Gary!!
He gave a great “victory” speech after the results were finally conclusive…
…and Mom, Dad, Uncle Bill, and I got our picture on al.com…haha! We’re famous!!
The party was a great way to end our time in Birmingham!!! We were pretty tired on Wednesday, but I think we’ve recovered from all that excitement by now :) We did enjoy actually staying in town this past weekend (and we’ll actually be here a couple more weekends in a row…it’s shocking, I know.) before we head to the beach for more family fun!
