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My favorite childhood vacations were the road trips we took to Alabama to visit my mom’s sister’s family in Birmingham. It’s been a while since we’ve done an Alabama trip due to my back to back to back pregnancies and fear of driving long distances with small, screaming children. This year I just had to get up there for a visit, though. I’m so happy we went!! I fell in love with Alabama and our family up there all over again!
Sadie, Jax, and I drove in Ben’s car (I averaged 37mpg) and Ben and McKay flew up. The kids did fabulous during the 10 hour car ride. Jax had one hard hour during his nap time where he just couldn’t relax and fall asleep but other than that they were truly perfect. I was so grateful!
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We stopped at an amazing park along highway 301 (I think that’s the name) in Dothan and the kids loved it. It was such a unique playground. Two pictures below shows a red chair that spins when you’re weight is positioned correctly. Sadie sat down and couldn’t get up because it was spinning too fast. Very clever!
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We stayed with my cousin, Wendy, and her husband, Tony. Wendy and Tony are amazing for so many reasons but I can’t talk about all of them now. They have 13 year old triplets – Hope, Spencer, and Payne. They loved my kids and my kids loved them! They kept them entertained the whole 4 days. Jax keeps telling me he misses his best friends in Alabama.
When the triplets were babies Christy and I went up to help and play with them two summers. We were so attached to the kids. I still think of them as babies. Payne was my baby. Hard to believe they’re teeangers now! They’re amazingly kind, good, and fun teenagers though. Their whole family is a riot to be around! Strong, funny personalities in that family!
Christy and Matt flew in from Utah and my parents flew up, too.
We had us a jolly good time!
Girls night dinner – Alicia, Wendy, and Aunt Judy standing. Christy and my mom are sitting.
McKay was pretty antisocial except for one afternoon he attached himself to my Uncle Ken and proceeded to fall asleep in his arms. It was precious!
My cousin Wendy and I.
We had a family party on Sunday afternoon and this was our group shot. My Aunt Sharon’s family came up from Birmingham, and my cousin Paul’s family came over from Mississippi.
These are girl cousins with their girl daughters. Standing above is my cousin Kelly with her daughter, Aubrielle. Hope, Wendy, Maddy, Christy, Alicia and Sadie are sitting.
Payne, Sadie, Jax, and Hope.
Spencer spent at least an hour teaching Jax how to draw. He was so patient and sweet with him the whole trip! Really touched my heart how much they loved my kids.
Truitt (my cousin Paul’s son), Spencer, and Payne with Jax.
I know I already said this but we had SO MUCH FUN! Hopefully we’ll get up there again next summer 🙂
On the drive home I stopped to visit my other cousin, Carolyn, in Enterprise, Alabama. We were only together a few hours but I’m so happy we were able to visit with her. She has an amazing family, too!
I love ’em all!
