Travel - Our Alabama Life

Disney Family Vacay, Part 2

Posted on August 7, 2015 in Travel, 0 comments

We started day four of our Disney vacation with a character breakfast at Hollywood & Vine, inside Hollywood Studios. We were the first family of the day, so we were the only ones (that day!) to get a group picture with all four characters. They gave us a “First Family” certificate and everything!

Libby posed in every picture we took. For the longest, I couldn’t figure out why her eye was covered in the picture with Jake. Then, I noticed her hand–it’s a hook. So that’s her pirate pose, I guess?!?!

After breakfast, we went straight back to ride Aerosmith’s Rock-N-Roller Coaster, because I didn’t get a fast pass for that. Libby wasn’t quite tall enough to ride, so she and I went to Tower of Terror while everyone else rode RNR. From there, we rode Toy Story because we DID have fast passes. (This is a must for a fast pass–if you don’t get one, the chances of you riding are slim. People RUN as soon as the gates open to get in line for Toy Story!)

Then we met Buzz and Woody. (This is Libby’s Buzz Lightyear pose. To INFINITY and BEYOND! :))

We saw the Little Mermaid show, the new Frozen Sing-A-Long show (WHICH IS HILARIOUS AND JUST PLAIN AWESOME!!). We attempted to see the Lights! Motors! Action! stunt show but the weather was nasty so they cancelled. We did get to see Indiana Jones, but they shortened the show due to the inclement weather as well. Mal got picked to be an extra on the Indiana Jones show and was able to participate in the whole thing!

The characters were still out during all the rain, so we met Mike and Sully. Jase was really confused by all the characters, but Sully really blew his mind. We had been at the parks from open to close all week, so we took full advantage of the rainy weather and headed back to the resort a little early to get some much-needed rest!

Our last day was Kyndall’s actual birthday and she wanted to go to her favorite park–Animal Kingdom. We had reservations for breakfast at Tusker House restaurant, which is also one of our favorites. Libby and her ‘fierce’ pose. For the love.

At breakfast, we met Mickey, Donald, Daisy and Goofy–all in their safari outfits. The breakfasts are really good–they are all buffets so you have your choice of pretty much any breakfast food you could possibly want.

We rode Expedition Everest (about five times, because of rider swaps, fast passes, and short lines!), the Dinosaur ride, and Kali River rapids all early in the day. We watched Festival of the Lion King, which is usually our favorite but good seating is a must at that show and we didn’t have it. We also watched It’s A Bugs Life, which is always super cute.

Along the way, we met Baloo and King Louie, Pocahontas and Tarzan. Tarzan was our favorite. GraGra commented that he must really love his job. He got SO into his character and spent a good bit of time talking to the girls and Jase and even Mallory and Hannah. We had never met Tarzan before, so it’s always exciting to meet a character for the first time.

We finished up our Animal Kingdom time with a safari tour and the animals were really active. We saw baby giraffes, lots of different types of deer, a lion and lioness, and LOTS of crocodiles. Since the park closes early, we dropped the men off back at the resort to rest up for the drive home and we headed to Hollywood Studios to catch the fireworks and Fantasmic.

The Hollywood Studios fireworks show is now Frozen-themed and it was nothing short of amazing. No spoilers, but you have got to see it if you are in Disney anytime soon. Somehow, in all our Disney trips (this was our 5th since the girls have been born) we have always missed the Fantasmic light show. It was really fun, but Jase was done by the time we got there. Every time he would fall asleep the music would get really loud and wake him up, so I spent the majority of the light show trying to calm him down. The girls loved it though, and danced the whole way through!

It’s funny how I love Disney and hate Disney all at the same time. It is non-stop fun but we go, go, go and leave ex-haust-ed. Seriously, I felt like we needed a vacation after that vacation. It was hot and rainy, but we still loved it. The girls had a great time and declared me “best Mommy ever.” They think Justin is pretty great too, but he wasn’t there when they decided this. 🙂

I think this will be our last Disney trip for a while. I want Jase to get to experience it when he gets older, but we have a lot of other things we want to do with the kids and Disney is expensive. Maybe we’ll return in about 5 or 6 years….maybe!

Disney Family Vacay, Part 1

Posted on August 5, 2015 in Travel, 0 comments

Our Disney trip was so much fun and I want to make sure to tell you all about it. There is just so much stuff that I decided to break it up into two separate posts, but each part is still pretty lengthy. So grab a cup of coffee, prop your feet up, and enjoy part 1 of our Disney vacation recap. 🙂

Since the girls’ birthdays are so close together, we normally have one big party for both of them. This year, instead of a party, they asked for a trip to Disney. We invited Gra-Gra, Pops, Mallory and Hannah to go with us, because it’s just more fun that way! Plus, Hannah had never been before!

All the girls (plus Jase!) headed down to Orlando early on Monday morning to squeeze in a little outlet-shopping time. Justin and Pops drove down on Tuesday evening, just in time to rest up before we went into the parks on Wednesday.

Our first park was Magic Kingdom, because it’s just not Disney if you don’t go there first! It was Hannah’s first trip, and I wanted her to see the castle right away. It’s just so magical. By the time we checked into our resort (All-Star Music) and got to Magic Kingdom, it was around 10:30. We had fast passes for Splash Mountain, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, and to see Anna and Elsa. We rode Goofy’s Barnstormer, the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Tomorrowland Speedway and visited the Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor. We also saw Tinkerbelle, Princess Tiana and Naveen, and Princess Merida (from Brave). We took full advantage of the rider swap option (it let the girls ride each ride twice, once with each parent since someone had to sit out with Jase).

We shut down the parks almost every night. The first night, it was midnight by the time we left! Jase was such a trooper!

Thursday was Libby’s birthday and she requested dinner with the princesses, so we spent the day at Magic Kingdom again. We castle-hopped from the Beast’s castle for lunch to Cinderella’s castle for dinner. Libby was so excited to meet all the princesses. They gave each girl a birthday cupcake and sang Happy Birthday to them at dinner–it was quite the show!

We met Ariel in her grotto. (My one complaint about Disney is that they don’t provide good lighting for photos. I think they are more concerned with a ‘realistic environment’ or something like that.)

Enchanted Tales with Belle is so much fun! It’s the story of Belle and the Beast, but each person gets to participate as a character from the story. Libby was Belle’s father, Kyndall was a dancing plate–Justin was even chosen as a castle guard!

We started off day three with breakfast at Chef Mickey’s. It’s a buffet breakfast with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto. (Character meals are the way to go, y’all. Each character comes around to your table while you are eating to sign autographs and take photos. No waiting in long lines to see one character at a time. Definitely sign up for the meal plan and make reservations for the character meals the next time you go to Disney!)

Jase thought the characters were something else. He especially liked Minnie Mouse. I think he just wanted to eat her nose!

After breakfast, we traveled to Epcot. Epcot is my least-favorite Disney park, but it does have Test Track and Soarin’, so you can’t just skip it altogether. The girls really enjoyed searching for hidden Mickey’s throughout the different countries. And the fireworks were amazing, so there’s that.

And if you are still with me after all that, bless you. We’ll take a break now, but be sure to check back on Friday for part 2 of our Disney family vacation!

Lake Adventuring

Posted on July 17, 2015 in Travel, 0 comments

Justin and I have major history with Smith Lake. We spent every warm(ish) weekend there when we were dating, got engaged there, and spent lots more weekends there after we got married. We have been back several times with the girls, but last weekend was our first trip with Jase. (He’s only six months, remember. We break them in early around here!)

We were able to borrow Justin’s granddad’s pontoon boat and y’all, it is like a party on the water! We would ride around, stopping occasionally to let the kids jump in and swim.

We took my parents jet-ski, too. The kids all took turns riding/pretending to drive. I am not really a fan of the jet ski anymore (maybe it’s my old age?!?), so hats off to Justin and my dad for taking turns with the kids all day.

Jase was NOT a fan of the life jacket. I mean, who would be? It was huge and bulky and hot. In spite of all that, he did get a few naps in.

Libby and GraGra did a little suntanning on the back of the boat.

These lifejackets, though uncomfortable, are the best. If, God-forbid, Jase fell in the water, the life jacket would automatically flip him up like this. All safe and sound.

God love him. It doesn’t look like it, but I promise he could breathe.

This girl, y’all. She thinks she’s gangsta 🙂

Jase wasn’t the only one who decided naps were great on the lake…

We were on constant alligator-watch, because Kyndall heard an alligator was found in the lake a few months ago. (Truth, but someone put it there and it was removed before our visit.) We had a picnic lunch at Clear Creek Marina under the pavilion and gorged on watermelon. We visited the spot where Justin and I got engaged and told the girls our story. It was the best kind of day.

We are currently working on a five-year plan (of fifteen, if we are being realistic) of buying a lake house and a boat. If you know of any houses or boats for sale, that don’t require me to donate a kidney, pass the word 🙂

Orange Beach Vacation Recap

Posted on June 15, 2015 in Travel, 0 comments

If you follow me on social media, you already know our crew spent last week at the beach. My soul was made for the beach, but any day I get to spend unlimited amounts of time with my people is a good day! (Obviously, Jase really enjoyed our beach photo sesh!)

The weather was really nice for our trip–a few rainy mornings but it cleared up by lunchtime every day. The water was also really calm for the gulf, except for our last day. (It got SUPER rough on the last day!)

We drove down on Saturday and traffic was horrendous. Seriously, I’ve never seen it so bad. What normally takes around five hours turned into NINE by the time we reached the beach. Insane traffic. Saturday evening, we got settled in our room, picked up groceries for the week, and had dinner at Bubba’s Seafood. (The crab legs there were the bomb.com!)

On Sunday, Justin went deep-sea fishing with some friends on a charter through Zeke’s Marina. The rest of us ventured on down to the beach for the day. Justin got back around 2:00 with his share of red snapper and we spent all evening on the beach. Jase was set up quite nicely with his tent and two fans–he loved it! For dinner, we picked up cajun steamed shrimp, corn, crab legs, and red potatoes from Lartigues Seafood. {We always pick up food from here at least once on vacation. And we almost always pick up more to bring home with us!}

Almost every day included snorkeling, boogie-boarding, net-fishing, and absorbing as much salt water as possible.

We all spent a good bit of time digging holes in the sand. Don’t ask why, because I don’t have an answer. Apparently, it’s the thing to do at the beach?!?

Some of us worked on our tans…..

…while others caught up on naps.

Several nights were spent crab hunting, and boy oh boy did we catch some crabs! HUGE ones, too!

Jase LOVED the beach, and the ocean, and the pool…..

..And napping in the lazy river 🙂 The lazy river was NOT my friend. I was a nervous wreck–Libby got caught between a float and the side of the pool and couldn’t get her nose/mouth above the water. Luckily, Hannah was there to rescue her within seconds but it was WAY too close for me!

After dinner one night we drove to The Track for go-cart riding. The girls LOVED that they had these mini-carts they could drive all by themselves!

Gra-Gra and the girls built a mighty impressive sand kingdom. And several of us took turns being buried in the sand and made into mermaids, but I missed the photo opportunities on that.

We stayed at the Phoenix West II, which I very much recommend. Dining locations I also recommend:

Sea ‘N’ Suds. Other than the amazing fish sandwich, I love that this is a low-key dining place. You can walk up from the beach in your suit and a cover-up and have lunch or dinner. Really convenient on those days you want to stay longer on the beach.
The Original Oyster House. Great seafood but also has an awesome salad bar.
Doc’s Seafood Shack. The original is better than the new one in Foley, but be prepared to wait if you go there.
Lamberts, because THROWED ROLLS, ya’ll.

On our last day, the waves were really big (thanks to an overnight storm) and the water was the roughest I have ever seen it. The red flag was out, but as always, people were swimming anyways. This happened:

They found the little girl in the room. Her dad had to be rescued by one of the lifeguards–the water was so rough and he was out there for a solid fifteen minutes looking for her and his muscles just gave out. It was seriously one of the scariest things I have ever been through.

Scary moment aside, we had the best trip. Our family is so close and everyone gets along really well–it makes traveling such a fun experience!

Kyndall’s favorite part of vacation was catching fish (as always). Libby’s favorite part was, and I quote, “Spending time with the whole family in the den and the go-carts.” I am so thankful my girls get to make these memories!

The “Big Tree” Hiking Fail

Posted on May 29, 2015 in Travel, 2 comments

Take note of that sling Jase is wrapped in–it’s going to be important later. And those closed eyes are Libby’s new picture thing–she does it in every single picture she takes, unless I fuss. The struggle is real, y’all.

If you aren’t from around these parts (as in, North Alabama), you may have never heard of the Big Tree. We live near the Bankhead National Forest and about three miles in is, you guessed it, a big tree. It takes about eight adults combined to wrap their arms around it. Justin and I hiked out there when we were dating with a group of friends, but as of our most recent hike, we are 0 for 2 in attempting to find the big tree again.

Not only are we failures at locating the big tree, but on this latest hike, with Jase in his sling–I bit the dust. My foot caught on a broken limb. There was no stumbling, no attempt to catch myself. Somehow, on the way down, I was able to twist just enough that I didn’t land on Jase and his head was nestled in the crook of my elbow. My shoulder took the full impact of the fall, but Jase was protected. Other than me being a little sore, we were both ok. Which is nothing short of a miracle–it could’ve been much, much worse! Thank goodness he was in his sling–I probably would have just thrown him. My only thought was “Don’t fall on him!”

Even though we didn’t find the big tree, we did see lots of nature’s gorgeousness. For example, the massive bluff in the photo above. FYI, we started out at the top of that bluff and worked our way down to the bottom–partly on a trail, partly climbing over and around these huge boulders. PS: My mom (the lady in the above picture with my girls, in case you didn’t know) totally cried when I fell. (She’d say she didn’t, but she so did.)

If you happen to know how to direct us to the Big Tree, let me know 🙂

Noccalula Falls

Posted on May 7, 2015 in Travel, 0 comments

I love spontaneous trips. Mini-vacations, if you will. On Saturday, we drove to Gadsden, Alabama, (it’s about a two hour drive for us) to Noccalula Falls State Park. For the grand total of $18, we had an entire day of fun, just the five of us.

Admission to the park gives you unlimited rides on the train. Which is great, because it’s a pretty big park. In addition to the waterfall, there is an animal habitat with a lion, monkeys, reptiles, and several other creatures. It’s just like a miniature zoo. There is also a pioneer village, complete with several homes (and tools and machines) from the early 1800’s.

The girls really enjoyed the “Fat Man Squeeze”–they thought their dad was going to get stuck!! They made quite a few trips through these passages of rocks.

This photo was taken at the train drop off point for the falls, and they were absolutely stunning. From here, we told the girls the legend of Princess Noccalula and then we started the hike down the gorge to the water. (We also had to switch Jase back to the Maya sling–he was NOT a fan of this Ergo carrier!)

The hike down was just as gorgeous as the falls itself. Huge rocks covered us on all sides.

It was definitely a work-out hiking over and across all this while carrying/wearing a baby! It was very close to 1 mile in over rocks like this–we had to be careful where and how we stepped. (Before you think this is only a trip for a “fit family”, I need to tell you that there was a Young at Heart group just behind us. It took them a while, but they made it all the way to the falls and back!)

Being up close to the falls was amazing. We sat and watched the water fall for a while. I only wish we were able to get a better picture!

Noccalula Falls State Park is open March – October from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm. Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for children ages 3 and up. Special group rates are available and can be found on their website.

Smoky Mountain Adventures, Part 2

Posted on April 1, 2015 in Travel, 0 comments

To be honest, I was a little skeptical about Gatlinburg for Spring Break. I have always thought of it as more of a fall/winter destination. I wasn’t quite sure what there would be to do in the Spring, but boy was I wrong. We were go-go-go the entire trip!

After the first days’ petting zoo visit, we decided we hadn’t seen quite enough of nature (haha!), so we went to Ripleys Aquarium of the Smokies. The girls (and the adults, too) breezed right through the first part of the aquarium where they have all the fish. You’ve seen one fish, you’ve seen them all, right? They did enjoy the little tanks that they could climb into from the outside.

How ’bout those fish faces? They also enjoyed riding the moving sidewalk through the shark tank and seeing all the different types (and sizes!) of sharks.

The favorite part though? The part that just made the whole aquarium trip? The PENGUINS!

As if they weren’t cute enough to just look at, they were so funny to actually watch, too. They dove around in the water and waddled up to the glass where the kids were. They all had little blue name bracelets on their wings and would respond to their names when the trainers came out. How cool is that?

Sidenote: I had a moment of star-struck-ness (is that even a word?) when I spotted Jessica Turner as we were walking into the aquarium. Jessica writes at The Mom Creative and is the author of a new book titled The Fringe Hours. I didn’t get to actually fan-girl her the way I wanted because we were outside and it was raining and we both had our kids and I decided to be all responsible and stuff, but it was still pretty neat.

We did the go-cart riding thing, of course. You can’t go on vacation and not do the go-cart thing, after all.

Please overlook the quality of these photos but seriously, check out Libby’s face. Awesomeness.

We also caught a showing at the Dixie Stampede, which turned out way better than I actually expected. I’m a very picky eater and I just knew I wasn’t going to like the food, but I did. They had chicken, pork loin, corn on the cob, creamy vegetable soup, rolls, and garlic potatoes. And it was all good. The girls were the chicken chasing queens of the night–they were invited into the arena, in front of thousands of people, to herd a few chickens. They did great, once Libby got past the fear of getting dust on her shoes!

We did dinners at the chalet and drove through Cade’s Cove and went shopping at the outlets, but our favorite part of the whole vacation? Spending time with our people.

Smoky Mountain Adventures, Part 1

Posted on March 31, 2015 in Travel, 0 comments

For Spring Break, our family took a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. I mean, our WHOLE family took a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Our 5, my parents 5, my grandparents, and my aunt and cousin. Whew, what a crew!

We all stayed in a chalet on the mountain. Libby wanted to buy it, so we could all live together, all the time 🙂

We didn’t have a pool, but we did have a hot tub, which is the next best thing!

On our first day, we went to the Smoky Mountain Deer Farm. It was a short drive from downtown Pigeon Forge, but well worth it. The farm had camels, goats, kangaroos (including a baby in it’s mother’s pouch!), reindeer, horses of all kinds, and more. All the animal interaction was right up Kyndall’s alley.

Libby, not so much….

And Jase and I weren’t quite sure what to do about that big animal trying to sniff us!

I think the reindeer were the coolest. We were all shocked at how velvety soft their antlers really were.

This girl was pretty cool too. I’m not sure if you can see it, but she has a baby kangaroo in her pouch. If you look super close at her belly area, you can barely see the baby’s tiny little feet. (Fun fact: We were educated on the birth process of kangaroo (kangaroos?) while we were here and it is pretty amazing. If you don’t know, you should look it up!)

We kept coming back to the camel–they were just so friendly. Or hungry. Who knows what a camel is really thinking, right?

We followed our petting zoo experience with lunch at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co and a stroll around downtown Gatlinburg.

The next few days of vacation were a whirlwind of fun that I’ll share with you later. (I think this post has enough pictures to get you through for quite a while!)

Cave Touring With My Big Girl

Posted on March 17, 2015 in Family, Travel, 0 comments

Last week, Justin and I were both able to go with Kyndall on a field trip to Cathedral Caverns State Park. I always love field trips with my girls because its another chance for one-on-one time with them. It was probably one of the neatest field trips we have been on so far.

At Cathedral Caverns, we traveled 1.5 miles back into this massive cave, ending up an entire football field below ground level. There were rock formations in the shapes of former presidents, animals, even church bells.

After the cave tour, Kyndall was able to pan for special rocks. She said this was her favorite part 🙂

We are all ready to go spelunking now, because while interesting, just walking through a cave wasn’t quite the adrenaline rush the West family goes for. But it was a very fun day. We even followed it up with our traditional lunch at Rosie’s with the Johnson family.

These are the best days, ya’ll.

Third Grade Field Trip (AKA Pumpkin Patch Visit #3)

Posted on November 7, 2014 in Family, Travel, 0 comments

Earlier in the week, Justin and I went to Gullion Farms with Kyndall’s third grade class. She insisted we both go because Libby got us both on her field trip, and this was only fair 🙂

There were big slide races–Kyndall won every time. She used her hands to push herself down faster, which was HILARIOUS.

She shared a swing with her teacher–they even both jumped out at the same time at the end.

She got corn in places no one wants corn.

We all took turns milking Ellie the cow. Poor thing–she is seven months pregnant too, so we could be twins 🙂 PS: Kyndall was too busy milking to look at the camera.

Kyndall really enjoyed all the animals–donkeys, horses, goats, chickens, rabbits, and this little guy (ha!).

They were even able to help gather eggs from the henhouse!

Gullion Farms is a “true” farm experience. Kyndall loved it, even though she’s been around farming her whole life. It was really funny watching the kids that had never been to a farm though–they just thought everything was gross. You mean, bacon comes from that cute little pig? My Big Bacon from Jacks Restaurant is from Ellie the cow? What is that SMELL??

We had a great day, just the three of us. I’m really loving these one-on-one “dates” with my girls 🙂