Thursday, August 23, 2018

The rest of July: Even More Life Catch-Up

After the beach with my family, we headed back to Madison for Amiee to leave for training in Virginia and Brad for two weeks of study in Washington D.C. I decided to stay in Alabama while Brad was gone, rather than attempt a road trip back home, just the girls and me. We got to spend a couple weeks hanging out with Nana and Poppy, all of the pets, and Alabama friends and family, including my 94-year-old great aunt!


Saying "bye" to Bo before she left for Virginia

These girls love their Bo.

We got Bo this letter board for her to take to Kenya to make her bedroom homey.
Please note Lily in the following pictures.



Pretty sure she's chewing on the board here...

Lily is super fun and adorable and hilarious at this stage...but she's also VERY two. It is quite a lot and can be really exhausting, so please know that our time in Alabama was very, um, to the MAX. These next two pictures sum things up nicely:


Yep. This is very representative FOR SURE.

We had some kind of outing almost every day, mostly because Lily needed an energy outlet. So, we took trips to Target, Petco, Bridgestreet, the dollar movie, and even to ride in the car buggies around Kroger. Thankfully, my girls are still little enough to enjoy simple little trips that are relatively inexpensive.

Breakfast with Nana and Poppy at Blue Plate. And yes, she likes to play with the butter packets.

Sometimes she builds things with them, and sometimes she gives them voices and personalities. I love this about her.

We gave Lily the jelly packets because she couldn't get them open and eat them...

...but she got a hold of a butter packet anyway.

Sigh. There's almost no stopping her.

This is what Brynn did. Good baby.

They watched a lot of movies...

And Claire channeled her inner Brad by finding a play "Keurig" at Target...

...and we visited Target again on Harry Potter's birthday for the photo ops...

...and the free swag! These little backpacks, Hogwarts key chains, scratch-off pictures, and coloring pages were being handed out all over the store.

We went to Petco on an errand for Nana and spent almost an hour watching the fish, lizards, turtles, and birds.

Watching Nemo and Marlin.

It was super exciting!

After Petco, we went back home to wait for Mrs. Romine to come visit! (Did I remember to get a picture with Mrs. Romine? Of course not.)

I took the biggies to see the $1 Paddington 2 movie...

...and paid $13 in snacks. How does that even happen? We split a popcorn and a bottle of water.

One of the girls' favorite parts of visiting Nana and Poppy's house was getting to visit with all of the pets! My parents have 2 cats + 1 dog, and they are caring for Amiee's dog + cat. So much fun with so many pets!

Found Elphie in my sink on more than one occasion.

Elphie and her kitten, Brynn.

Elphie is Lily's spirit animal.

She was so sad when Elphie jumped out of the box.

Winnie was a really good sport to let the girls dress her up.

Both of Amiee's pets really took to Brynn. It was quite sweet.


Mom gathered up a bunch of Amiee's and my dress ups for the girls, which they LOVED.

Guys. This girl!

Again, please enjoy this progression of pictures...


ARE YOU SERIOUS with THESE FACES?

Sweetie baby.

Riding the train at Bridgestreet with Poppy! Not pictured: the carousel with Poppy. Equally as exciting.

Enjoying (seriously- look at Lily's face) Mexican with Nana!

Sweet picture of Claire. And she's wearing a crown made out of sparkly pipe cleaners.

We took a day trip to Anniston, AL to visit my great-aunt Nellie, which was so sweet. The girls had a good time and were quite well behaved, so I left with a happy heart.

We had a fun time in Alabama, and the girls were quite intent on making sure that Brad got to ride the Bridgestreet train when he returned from his time in D.C. Thankfully, we had a few minutes to swing by for a train ride after his return.


Thank you for the fun, Nana and Poppy! We always enjoy getting to spend time with y'all.

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