Sweet Home Alabama

We had such fun visiting Grandpa Mike and Grandma Nona. Michael had Monday and Tuesday off of school for Parent Teacher Conferences, so we decided to take a vacation. We left Friday (Halloween) morning about 4:30am and drove down to Huntsville, AL. The drive was great, it actually went by quite quickly (my kids are awesome!). Grandpa and I made chili and cornbread for dinner and then we headed out trick-or-treating. Michael was an awesome brother. He helped guide his sisters and held their hands. Emma was always the first one to say "thank you." And Sarah would just walk up to each door and yell "trunk-or-treat" and then barge right in when someone opened the door. It was so much fun to see their personalities.

On Saturday got to go see where Grandpa works, inside Redstone Arsenal. The Tennessee River runs along one of the edges of the Arsenal and we played there for a while, skipping rocks and falling into the river.


Then we headed down to the cabin at Smith Lake. We got to spend a few days there and it was a blast. We did a lot of fishing off of their dock. From the early morning . . .


. . . until late at night. One night our sweet Michael fell asleep while he was fishing (the girls were already in bed long before). After we took Michael up to bed Grandpa, Ben and I continued to fish until about 11:30p.



All of us had a great time driving around in "The Mule." The kids especially loved riding in the back.


Out in front of the cabin they have a fire pit. We roasted hot dogs and made Smores. Emma said "it was her best day ever."





If you were wondering how cold it is in Alabama in November . . . apparently it is warm enough to wade to your bellybutton. Emma was very proud that she made it out to the island.

Our last day in Alabama was spent at the Marshall Space Center. It was pretty awesome. [Side note: Grandma and Grandpa got engaged under the space shuttle you see in the background.]


And for all you Space Camp lovers out there . . . this is where you can attend space camp. Maybe in a few years we will come and spend the week with Grandpa and Grandma and Michael can go to Space Camp.


As we were walking along Michael wanted to demonstrate to us how the astronauts sat in their seats during lift-off.

So, Sarah wanted to demonstrate too. That's just what little sisters do.

We had such a wonderful trip to Alabama. And it did feel like home. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma.