Alabama visit, part 1

Our June turned into quite a busy and exciting month, with three back-to-back travels. Brad and I got back from the DR, unpacked, repacked, and left for Alabama 36 hours later. I had done some packing beforehand, but it was still a pretty tight window. We did it, though! The girls were so good in the car (it's about a 10-hour drive, so with bathroom and gas station stops, it usually takes us closer to 11 hours), and everyone was thrilled to arrive!

Ta-da! We made it!

After arriving, we immediately reloaded the van and headed to get supper at a favorite bbq restaurant. Hallie ate her actual weight in hushpuppies. I was rather proud.

This car is SUCH a favorite.

She didn't need a nap, you know.

We found out that while we were planning to be in Huntsville, our friends who live in AUSTRALIA were not only going to be in the country but were also going to be in town visiting family! We made arrangements to meet up with them at the Cook's science museum (followed by lunch, of course), and we had the best time! These same friends were with us in DC for our magical 2019 fall semester, and they are such dear ones to us. Brad and Matt do very similar work and have collaborated on various projects for at least 5 years now. The rest of us just fell in love with each other while we were all in DC for the guys to be at Dumbarton Oaks. Getting to see them in Alabama was such a treat.

You know these two were pretending to be the Beavers from Narnia.

Our crew! We've added Hallie to our number since DC, and all of the kids have grown SO MUCH.

Hallie had a blast, and they all enjoyed meeting her!

Their teenaged daughters are such great examples for the girls. They are sweet, kind, intelligent, thoughtful, and attentive to the little ones.

We thoroughly wore this baby out.

The girls love all of the old toys that Nana and Poppy have at their house.

When in Alabama, our favorite things to do are to see people we love and eat at restaurants we love. Both of those things collide at E'toile, Huntsville's one and only French patisserie. Our long-time friends own/run/create the culinary magic there, so OF COURSE we always drop in to see them (and eat way more pastries than we should eat).

We snagged a picture with the Chief Pastry Magic Maker. Note: he also sang at our wedding. He's multi-talented.

On our way out, we walked past the kitchen to wave goodbye to everyone (running the patisserie is a family affair, so we are friends with many of those in the kitchen), and the girls were gifted an orange that had only been used for its zest. They were delighted.

After we left L'Etoile (with a box of treats to take home), we headed over to Bridgestreet shopping center to stop by the Brighton store and see another dear friend.

Grabbed a few pictures while we were there

We sort of take over any small shops that we step into...

We ALWAYS have breakfast at the Blue Plate Cafe. So, saying that we had a breakfast there is rather redundant.

Chocolate chip Mickey Mouse pancakes

Y'all, she ate this entire pancake. Plus some of my grits.

Proof.

We have some dear, long-time friends who live ~5 minutes from my parents' house, have a pool, and leave us an open invitation to swim, whether they're there or not. We like it best when they're there, but we did go swim once when they weren't. Thanks, Benefields!

We never have enough time to see everyone we want to or do everything we want to. But, we definitely do our darnedest to squeeze in as much as humanly possible!