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!

Father's Day 2022

We actually took Father's Day pictures the week before Father's Day, as we were going to be on our trip for actual Father's Day. We got some really good ones! This is my third year getting pictures of him with each girl individually, and I'm SO glad we started doing that.

Claire, age 9

Lily, age 6

Brynna, age 5

Hallie, age 20 months

He's the very best of dads. I had no idea when we got married that we'd have a) so many children or b) all girl children, but I had a good idea that he'd be great at it. He has exceeded my expectations, to say the least.

While we were in the Caribbean...

In case you were concerned about the girls while we were away on our Dominican trip, I present evidence that they were in very good hands:

They clearly had no fun at all.

La Republica Dominicana

Years ago, Brad and I decided that when he finished his doctorate, we were going to go on a big trip, just the two of us. He ended up graduating the same year that we celebrated our tenth anniversary, which would have been really fun timing. Except for the whole still-in-the-middle-of-the-pandemic part. We decided to postpone for another year, in hopes that travel would be a bit easier, and it turned out that decision was a good one.

We decided on Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, and Brad's parents very kindly agreed to stay with the girls. Everything was ready to go...until travel day rolled around. Sheesh. I can never travel without drama, you know? Long story short, the line to check bags at 6:00 am ended up being SO LONG that by the time we got to the desk, we had *just* missed TSA's cutoff. We waited for over an hour to rebook, tried to grab a standby flight...and then another...and then we called it. I had started a migraine and just felt like missing one day (and really...only one evening and half of another day) would be better than running through airports all day with a migraine only to arrive with no luggage (because we were going to have to check our carry-on bags, too). So, we went back home where I slept off a migraine, and we got takeout for dinner to pretend that we weren't actually back at home.

Attempting to travel on our first day

The next day, all of our travel went according to plan, and we got settled in at our resort and headed to supper!

Our next few days were absolutely fantastic. We read so much and ate good food and sometimes swam and worked a puzzle...I would say we slept late, but alas. We are too habituated to our usual wake-up times and woke up no later than 6:30 until our last day (when we woke up at 7:00). Don't worry: we just got to breakfast before the crowds did.

We stayed at an all-inclusive resort, which means that we ate so very well. And definitely too much.

We went to the steakhouse twice, as it was SO GOOD.

Second night proof

Patio buffet

View from the patio restaurant

Hibachi!

Also? Fancy coffee at any time of day

We had gorgeous weather and the views were so, so peaceful. Note: we were staying in the adults-only part of the resort. Not because we don't like children, obviously. It was just so very peaceful and quiet, which was kinda what we were going for by not taking all of our children with us, you know?

We went for after-dinner walks every night. It was a necessity, given how much we ate...

The name of our resort...in lights!

We had the BEST few days on our long-awaited trip. We have been able to get away in some capacity every few years, thanks to our parents' willingness to watch the girls for us, and we're always so grateful for the opportunity to remember how much we really like hanging out with each other, just the two of us. Definitely good for our marriage! Maybe not for our waistlines...