Sweet Visit to Alabama

Last weekend I went to Huntsville, Alabama.....all by myself. Do you remember "The travel that wasn't" post last May? Well, this weekend, it was. I was supposed to go when Jeff was in Huntsville last May for business for a weekend getaway, but plans were changed. I changed the ticket, then promptly forgot about it until 5 days before I was supposed to go. then we spent 4 days debating whether I should go or not, and finally decided that it would be worth it for me to go. I wouldn't call it my dream vacation, but considering the circumstances (Huntsville isn't really a tourist spot, and I was by myself) I had a pretty good time. Here are some of the things that I did.

On Saturday, I went the Burrit on the Mountain. There I saw the oldest log cabin in Alabama. I also listened to a tour of the site in Spanish. She was being filmed for a TV program broadcast in Spain. So be sure to look for my cameo appearance next time you are watching Spanish TV.Then I went to the Chicken and Egg Festival in Moulton. There was a lot of good country music, and a lot of fried food. I didn't see a lot of eggs around, but I did learn a fair amount about chickens from those who love them.
On Sunday, I went on a walking tour of the Twicken district, or in other words, a few blocks of downtown Huntsville. The houses were beautiful Southern Plantation style. Each house had a little plaque in front saying who built the house and when it was built. Most of them were 100-200 years old.
On Monday I went on a tour of Cathedral Caverns. This cave had a little bit of everything, and a lot of amazing creations. The cave opening was just huge, carved by a river. There were huge boulders scattered everywhere. There was a river running throughout the cave and we caught glimpses of it from time to time. Then there were just rooms the size of my house filled with wall to ceiling cave formations. It was just beautiful.

So that is my Alabama adventure in a nutshell. I am pleased to say that I had beautiful weather (better weather than California), and I missed the tornados.

New Residents to 5717 Katherine St.

We've been invaded!!
Krissy and Chad came for an unexpected visit this weekend. Since it was general conference, they felt that they weren't as responsible for their "shepard" duties in the young adult ward and they came out our way. We didn't have much planned since they called on Thursday and came on Saturday, but we enjoyed going to Gabe and Jayd's baseball games on Saturday, then watching conference on Sunday. Collin is adorably cute and happy, he just wandered around the house babbling. If there was a ball nearby, he had to carry it around. It was fun to have him around.
We have new residents at our home. Two doves have decided that the garage is a perfect place to make a nest. We found them in the garage one day, then found a nest there the next, right on the garage door opener. We think it is a great location, nice and dry, the light from the opener probably adds warmth, and fairly safe from any predators, as long as they don't mind the earthquake like vibrations and being trapped inside occasionally. We have affectionately named them Lucy and Fred. We are fairly confident that there are eggs in the nest and are eagerly awaiting the little chirping noises signifying the birth of little chicks. Maybe we should start thinking of names for them also.

New Dinner Week

This week we tried something new......., okay, lots of new things. We decided to have a New Dinner Week. Allie started it last week when she pulled out a cookbook and wanted to make a new dessert. She also found a dinner that she thought we would like. Since I happened to have the ingredients, we made it. There was another recipe that she wanted to try, and one that I had been meaning to try for a while, so we just made it new dinner week, and made something new every night. Here's our menu:

Sunday: Chicken Parmesan
Monday: Taco Pizza
Tuesday: Biscuits and Gravy
Wednesday: Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup
Thursday: Pizza Braids
Friday: Chili Tots
Saturday: Tomato Chicken Pasta

I was a little worried that no one would eat for a week, but it turned out all right. Everyone was willing to try the dinners. The Biscuits and Gravy wasn't their favorite, but the Pizza Braids were a huge hit. I thought it was really fun to try different things, and I found a few other things that I would still like to try, but didn't have the ingredients at the time. We will just have to do it again sometime.

A DrOpa in

Opa dropped in for a visit this week. He arrived Wednesday night, then left Thursday morning. It was a very quick visit, but we always enjoy having him around. Allie and Gabe enjoyed climbing up him to get on his shoulders. It is starting to get a little difficult for Gabe, he is getting taller and heavier. Allie scrambles up there like a squirrel climbing a tree!

Breaking the Bank to go Sky High

This week was finally the week! A few years ago, I was tired of finding money all over the house. I liked that part, the part I didn't like was the ensuing argument over whose money it was. So I found a piggy bank, and declared that all money found around the house would go into the "loose change". Once it was full, we would go do an activity that we all enjoyed. It has been overflowing for a few months, but I couldn't find an activity. I finally found one. We broke the bank and went off to play.
We went to Sky High. It was a warehouse that had been converted into a trampoline play zone. There was a huge trampoline area about the size of a basketball court with 100x100 ft trampolines. The walls were also trampolines, so you could bounce in nearly every direction. My favorite thing to do was to bounce from wall to wall and play tag. It was like playing tag on the moon.
They also had a foam pit. There were two successive trampolines and a trampoline wall that ended in a huge foam pit. We did flips, dives and wild bombs into the foam pit and it was like landing on a cushion of air. Once I went in bummy first and folded in half. I couldn't get out!
Jayd's favorite place was the dodgeball court, not surprising, the place was populated with teenage boys. They would be placed on teams, then scramble for the 8 balls and throw them while jumping around. It was a little intense for me, but Jayd sure had a great time. Allie, Gabe and I played dodgeball in the kid zone, an area reserved for smaller children.
All in all, it was a great activity to use our "loose change". We had great family time. Now they are all planning when and how we are going to go back!

Where a Kid (and a Mom) can be a Kid.

I apologize in advance that there is likely to be several Disneyland posts this year. This is another one. I took Allie and Gabe to Disneyland on Friday. Maddie and Jayd didn't want to come. We had a fabulous day. Unfettered by the chains of teenage attitudes, we were free to roam, and to just be kids. Allie and Gabe were both selected to do the Jedi training. Their training was intense, they even had to fight Darth Maul. That alone was enough to scare me! But they were successful, then spent the rest of the day "forcing" me around the park wherever they wanted to go. We spent an hour in Toon Town playing with all the gadgets. Then we went on a few rides here and there, and watched the Fantasmic show. It was a great day with my little ones, who aren't really so little anymore.

Opening Day

Yesterday was opening day for baseball. I don't know if this is a big deal in other sports, but baseball around here has a huge festival for "opening day" where they introduce all of the boys, coaches, board members, etc. They have guest speakers, then games for the boys to play. It is quite a big deal. This year promises to be interesting, both Gabe and Jayd are on the Giants team in different age leagues. It has made things very confusing since I can't tell which team the emails are from. To confuse things a little more, they are both #13. But I think that it is fun to have my boys have something in common this season.