Lily turns 8.

We went shopping together before our New York trip to plan for her party.  Lily stumbled across an EMOJI party pack & she was hooked. So emojis it was... it turned out really cute.

On the day before her birthday, we ran out to Party City to complete her party favors & treat bags--- maybe her favorite part of her birthday.

Birthday Decorations in place...

I found this felt banner and party balloon in the Target dollar bin maybe around New Years and knew it had her name written all over it.  Mike ran out after bedtime to pick up this emoji balloon.

Peter loves to draw so his contribution is that he colored and cut out 8 emoji faces for her and put them all around the house.  She had to find them on the morning of her birthday- so sweet.

 Aunt Becky sent Lily some popsicle molds & recipe book.  The perfect gift for her, as she loves sweets, loves concocting things, and is alllllways hungry.

Goo & Pop gave her a big Lego Friends set.  This was also a perfect gift because she and Peter could bond over it (hard to come by these days) and she needed to ask him for a little help.  Then they could pretend together- and oh, blessed self forgetfulness. 

 It has lots of bags so lots of building. 

The day after her birthday, for her "party", I took her and three friends to paint pottery. 

Afterwards, we hit up the Sonic drive thru (our favorite this summer) for Slushes.  

All of them got blue raspberry with pop rocks- I loved that they all agreed and got the same thing.

Back at home, Maw had arrived with Lily's lemon flavored emoji cake. It was so cute and delicious!

Pizza first...

then eight bright candles!

Road Trip to Alabama: Statistics

Miles Traveled: 2100
Places we Lodged: 4
Hotel Waffles Eaten: 7
Fast Food Stops: 18
Times the boys peed in a bottle: 6
Peed in the Car Seat: 2
Loads of laundry at the hotel: 2
Baby Alligators Petted: 1
Rockets Seen: forgot to count
Animated Movies Watched: 4
Cups of GOOD coffee: only 1 :(
How often Mike asked where something was in our luggage: innumerable

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Everyone's Favorite Things:
Peter: NASA
LILY: Kona Ice Stand at NASA, Elizabeth's House, helping with the wedding flowers 
Benjamin: the BEACH
Laura: MLK parsonage visit, the beach, playing paddle ball with Lily
Michael: Saturn V tour

VA to AL: MLK, Gulf Shores, & the Bay

As we read about MLK, Jr on our drive, we realized we'd be driving through Montgomery & when we searched points of interest, his parsonage museum came up just minutes off of our route.  

YES!  We had to go.  

http://www.dexterkingmemorial.org/tours/parsonage-museum/

This was the parsonage for the first church he pastored.

Unknowingly, they gave guided tours and we arrived at a start time.  We were the only guests!  We watched a short video telling about his life, featuring parishioners during the time of his pastorate who still lived in the area.  Then a beautiful older lady walked in to be our guide through the parsonage- she had also been one of his parishioners in 1954. (!!!) 

I didn't know that I liked history so much but I found it to be so intriguing and inspiring.  Blending it with my love of homes made it all the more real.  It was chilling to walk through the home that he lived in as a newlywed, had his first baby, and hear first hand stories about the bus boycotts, meetings of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, phone calls with President Kennedy, and his personal epiphanies about the call on his life to stand up for his black brothers and sisters.  

The kids paid attention so well and were so well behaved.  Peter was most fascinated with the bomb markings on the front porch but they were engaged the whole time.  It all was such a blessing and wonderful experience.  We were pinching ourselves for days & weeks afterwards.

That evening we arrived in Gulf Shores, AL. We were all thrilled to be at the beach and didn't waste any time!

We got some early morning beach time the next day but then it got drizzly.  

So we went for a drive and discovered Gulf State Park.  There was a nature center that we ventured into and discovered they were about to start a program for a local school.  We got to sit in on it and learn all about turtles, snakes, owls, alligators.  It was so interesting, the staff were so engaging.   

 That afternoon and the next morning we enjoyed time on the beach. 

All of our kids love the beach but I think Benny must love it the most.  The sand, the water, it all makes him so happy. He could spend hours perfectly entertained on the sand.  My flip flop is his boat. 

 Thankful that we got that beach time in so early in the "season".

Next, our final stop was the Alabama bay.  I got to play florist and wedding staff.  

Lily got to help me!

 picking out the roses...

 a big comfy, cozy bed...

 we arranged flowers late into the night and had so much fun catching up and chatting

there was time the next day to hit up a splash pad

and then late night snuggles for this one 

 We had a more direct drive home with just one stop back over to stay with will and emily.  I got to look at these beauties the whole way back.  

We are so enjoying the chance to travel more now that the kids are older.  

I hope they will have fond memories of it as well. 

VA to AL: Tour of Interstate 65

We stayed two nights in each location, four stops total.  Our final destination & reason for this trip was taking place near Mobile, AL.  We couldn't be that close to the Gulf without stopping to see its beaches & beauty.  At this point, we were half way through the trip and it was our day to drive to Gulf Shores, AL.  

We'd planned to make the drive to get to the beach asap.  But decided to be spontaneous along the way instead.  It turned out to be my favorite day!   

Our first stop was a coffee shop off the interstate in Mooresville, AL.  I hadn't had good coffee in days (hello, La Quinta Inn) and the latte hit the spot.  My only regret is that we didn't stay to explore the town. http://www.mooresvilleal.com/

We then stopped off at Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, situated in the marshlands of the Tennessee River.  

 It had a nice little indoor nature center and then peaceful walking paths.  

 From the indoor observation deck, we could see lots of beautiful egrets enjoying the cool morning.

Back at the nature center, the kids recorded their observations and data.

 Then on the road again.  We got a little more pavement under our tires, and again, unscripted, we stopped off in Montgomery, AL to explore the Civil Rights Trail.

We were geeking out on the drive and reading wikipedia about MLK, Jr.  

more to come...

VA to AL: Huntsville

We travelled a crooked interstate path thru TN & AL to Huntsville.

Our destination was the US Space and Rocket Center.

http://www.rocketcenter.com/admission

(I was so excited that we got in free due to our partner membership at SMV!)

We stayed the whole day, 9:30-5pm.

Then dinner at IHOP, almost equally as exciting!