Ping Pong

Aiden and I are finally back in Dallas (for 24 hours) after many, many miles of driving.  We left Birmingham April 15th and headed to Austin where Josh is currently working. I usually love traveling, but even this is getting to be a bit taxing and it's not over yet! We did have a very nice time in Austin.  The three of us got to visit with an old friend that Josh and I used to work with at Outback in Lubbock, Fenster.  We also went to Gabe and Meg's for the weekend to see Daniel.

Aiden had fun playing with Daniel 

He also enjoyed rocking with Gabe.

Daniel isn't sure what to think about Josh.  

After visiting and eating a very nice dinner Gabe made we played Just Dance on the Wii.  If you have never played this game, YOU MUST!  It is the most fun game I have ever played.  The pictures below are blurry but it really shows off our dance moves.

Meg and I kicked the boys butts.  I must say the boys have better dance moves but girls are just naturally better at following directions so we scored higher EVER time.  Gabe and Josh thought we were cheating.

We had a very nice time and look forward to going back to Victoria soon.  

My ping pong traveling is about to start up again in just a few minutes.  Josh is flying home in a few minutes (he took off tomorrow) and then we are driving to Broken Bow, OK where we will be having a fun weekend with the WAAP!  

 

Adventures in Birmingham

Josh has settled into his new job, Aiden has settled into his travel bed (thank you Marci and Travis), and I have settled into the fact that I don't have a car, just in time for us to pack up and head back to Texas.  Josh went into work on Monday and they asked him when he would be heading to Austin.  Apparently, there was a miscommunication about where they needed Josh for the majority of his time away from home.  It was bad miscommunication too considering they got us a furnished apartment for a month here in Birmingham!!  We plan to leave on Saturday morning to make our trek back to Texas.  I am sad about packing the car up again, but I am mostly sad about not doing all the fun things I had planned while we were here.  Here are a few things we have done while in Birmingham...

The three of us went to dinner at a little pizza place down the street from our apartment Sunday night.  Aiden slept most of the time, but woke up just long enough for us to take some pictures with him. 

This is at the top of the summit in Birmingham in the apartment complex we are staying.  Within walking distance from our home away from home there is a HUGE outdoor mall and lots of fun shopping.  I have yet to make it over there because I'm a bit intimidated by the enormous hill that I have to push the stroller up to get there.  I will do it before we leave, mark my words!!!  

Aiden with his signature "shocked" look on his face.  

Those pictures are from Monday.  We really wasted the day and I sure wish we would have done more.  The only thing we really accomplished that day was taking BACK the groceries to Wal-mart that we had brought the previous day.  I have never been so embarrassed in my life.  We just couldn't keep them because there was no way we could eat that amount of food in a week and we couldn't take them with us because the car is already soooooo full!!  After Wal-mart the three of us went to the pool for a little bit.  Aiden slept in the shade and Josh and I worked out our tan.  We are now a little darker shade of white!

 

Tuesday we headed to Old Town Helena (The #1 place in Alabama to live--we didn't find out why).  All the shops in this area are old restored houses, they were so cute.  We first stopped at a little Italian ice shop.  It wasn't open but the owner was there so he gave us some anyway.  

Before...

After Aiden got sick all over me.  He didn't notice because he does this all the time but I sure did!!  

He recovered nicely!!!  Aiden is such a happy baby.  I swear he is either eating, sleeping, or smiling.  Occasionally he is fussy at night but we were really blessed with a happy, smiley baby! 

These were some of the shops along the street we walked down.  So cute.  

After Old Town Helena we headed back to Birmingham and went to the Vulcan museum and statue.  Of course they were restoring the statue so we were unable to go up to the observation deck.  It turned out to be okay because we saw some nice views from below. 

Downtown Birmingham is the backdrop.  

We ended our day playing in the grass under the statue.  It was so nice because we were the only people there. 

Sweet Home Alabama

I am already lagging behind on my blogging.  I'll try to do a better job.  We finally made it to Alabama on Saturday.  We left Friday afternoon and stopped off to visit with the Terrys.  We had a nice time with Rusty, Lindsay, and the sweetest little girl, Emily.  I thought I took more pictures there, but these are all I got...

Emily playing in her room.  She was really funny about her new found independence. 

Aiden playing with Lindsay.  He really loved the toys that made sound and had fun lights!  

After dinner and a good night sleep we headed towards Alabama.  We meant to spend the night in Jackson, MS but the trip was so easy and Aiden was being such a trooper we ended up driving all the way to Birmingham.  I really wanted to get pictures entering every state, but I missed Louisiana.

I forgot how big the Mississippi river was.  

Welcome to Mississippi ya'll!!  When we got to Mississippi I wanted a break from driving so we pulled into the town right on the river.  I love looking at old buildings in southern towns.  I was so engrossed in the history of the buildings that I took a wrong turn and ended up in a very sketchy part of town!

Sweet Home Alabama!  I saw this sign SEVERAL times Saturday afternoon.  Once we crossed into Alabama I wanted to stop at the visitors center to pick up some brochures and maps.  I dropped Josh off at the front door to get some of the items and I went to park.  I didn't know but the road led out of the center and onto the highway again.  I finally found my way back after driving back to Mississippi then back to Alabama.  Poor Josh had to wait a while.  Good thing he had some fun articles to look at. :)   

I'll post later about our adventures here in Birmingham

Jumping on the bandwagon

Well, I finally decided I needed to start blogging.  :)  It has been a long time coming and I thought it would be so easy, especially since I had blogged with my students last year.  I must admit that having a personal blog is a bit overwhelming.  As I sit here trying to figure out page layout, pictures, and backgrounds I can't help but think what is so interesting about my life that I would want to blog about it.  I read all of my friends blogs and they seem so insightful and interesting.  I'm going to try my best and keep up.

Aiden is doing so many fun things now that the only way for our families who live so far away to enjoy him is via technology--hence the blog!  With mine and Josh's busy next couple of months we hope that they can keep up with us on here.

Bear with me!