Birthday in Hannibal

For my birthday this year, we took a little family day trip to Hannibal, Mo - hometown of Mark Twain.  We got to ride on the "Mark Twain" riverboat and soak up the gorgeous fall scenery!

We played for a while at the park while waiting for the boat, and Eli and Owen thought they were in HEAVEN to get an up close view of a real train going by!

The views from the river were stunning... and the weather was perfect!  I can't say enough how much I LOVE THE FALL!

Owen cried most of the boat ride unfortunately... best we can figure is that he was just overtired.  Both boys were fighting over sitting on Dad's lap by the end. 

We had a really nice captain to saved the day by letting Eli and Owen have turns "steering" the boat once it was docked. 

Oh, the views in Hannibal!  It wound up being such a beautiful place!  We've been meaning to visit for a while, and I'm glad it ended up being this time of year.

What's even better than a playground?  A LEAF FIGHT at sunset!

Spring in Kentucky

Back in May we bought a 2005 Honda Odyssey (my new LOVE by the way) and took a short road trip to Kentucky to put it to the test. Our first stop was Louisville.  We arrived in the late afternoon and took a walk along the Ohio River.  The kids also had fun playing on a huge riverside playground - the equipment was built to mimic the shapes of the nearby bridges. 

We had dinner at a fun restaurant right on the riverbank.  There was live music, and a beautiful sunset to boot!  The water was really high (remember all the Midwest flooding last spring?) so the beach was just muddy... but the boys had fun throwing sticks and rocks into the water.  

 

The next day we spent the morning at Churchill Downs - home of the Kentucky Derby!  It wasn't a derby day, but there were some exciting races going on.  We all got a kick out of choosing our favorite horse and cheering it on.  We didn't place any bets, but I think we could have won some money just based on the boys choosing horses by the colors the jockeys were wearing =).

Photo op with "Churchill Charlie."  You can't see well in this picture, but I definitely had on my pearls and my wide brim hat for the occasion!  We got a nice rooftop view of the races after our meet and greet with him.  I felt bad for whomever was inside that horse, because it was HOT and HUMID that day!

When we couldn't stand the heat anymore, we packed up and drove to Lexington, KY.  We had a beautiful afternoon walk around the botanical gardens before crashing at our hotel. 

Eli and Owen re-enacting the horse races. 

 
The BEST sight of the day =).

The next morning we saw some of the scenic Lexington countryside and horse farms on our way to the Kentucky Horse Park.

 At the horse park, in addition to suffering heat stroke, we got an up close experience with some retired race horses, as well as a neat horse show with all sorts of different breeds.

Retired champion horse... don't remember his name though!

  The horse show was a lot of fun!

We finished the afternoon with a drive to the Shaker Village.  We didn't have enough time for a tour, but it was a beautiful spot!

Before our late night drive home, we stopped to see our friends the Prescotts.  We met them out here in Columbia our first year here.  They have since moved to Lexington, AND we have the great honor of renting their home here in Columbia =).  They have all girls, and our two boys had a blast jumping on the tramp and cooling down on the slip n' slide.  Here is a pic of Jenny and I.

 Overall, we really enjoyed Kentucky!  It's a beautiful state, in spite of the humidity =).  Everyone we met seemed to really embrace the idea of southern charm.  We hadn't had an interesting road trip in a while, so it was nice to hit the road again.  And I have to say, after all those years of touring the country in our tiny Saturn Ion, it was like HEAVEN to stretch out in the Odyssey! I'm not really a "van person," but I have definitely fallen for ours =).   

Day 3 in Sweet Home

Note: This is part 3 of our Alabama trip... scroll down to "Sweet Home Alabama" to start from the beginning and work your way up (you will actually have to click on "older posts" at the bottom of the page and it should be the first one) or just click HERE.

Day 3

Our third day in Gulf Shores was the warmest by far, and yet we didn't start the day on the beach. Instead we drove into nearby Fort Morgan and took the ferry to Dauphin Island. Since the ride was across Mobile Bay, the water was very calm. We saw a few interesting ships, and some of the off shore natural gas drilling rigs. We even glimpsed a few dolphins swimming, though they didn't come very close to the ferry. The boys - especially Eli - were in HEAVEN. Eli later said that the ferry ride was his favorite activity of the entire trip.

Old Fort Morgan

Tree frog I found in the outhouse of all places!The ferry ride

The reason for the Dauphin Island trip was to tour the Estuarium. We learned a little bit about the various habitats in the region and the importance each plays (river deltas, swamp and marsh lands, fresh and saltwater). The most interesting thing we noted is that the Island itself was literally cut in half by hurricane Katrina. Though the storm itself hit New Orleans, the effects of the storm (winds and waves) were felt along the coast. Apparently, they are working on "fixing" the island... I have no idea how that is done. The kids loved seeing the various marine life in the Estuarium, and so did Brad and I really. I for one am a kid at heart when it comes to the ocean and aquariums... I love it all!

A favorite at the Estuarium was the play boat. Owen was the Captain and Eli the fisherman!

Waiting at the pier for the return ferry was interesting as well. The beach was littered with little crabs. We joked that they must be like the ocean's cockroaches, as they scurried around munching on tiny particles, and scattered like bugs when we got near.

A great view of a pelican flock, as well as some other sea birds.

The boys decided to watch the ocean rush by through the railing while on their bellies... I think they were just too tired to stand anymore!

Double stroller on a budget - also the only thing that will fit in our tiny car when we are traveling with luggage.

There were entire neighborhoods of these elevated beach homes along the coast. Seriously - I want one (though I'm sure hurricane insurance is something else)!

We drove through a nature preserve and saw a lot of swampland and tropical foliage such as this.

The road through the nature preserve ended at this GORGEOUS, natural, secluded beach. There were two little beach homes right there, and then nothing but miles and miles of ocean and sand. The dunes and the sea oats growing on them were gorgeous. This part of the trip was my favorite... my own personal paradise!!! Oh, and we were the ONLY PEOPLE THERE!




The kid in me is obsessed with shell collecting... not that I have any use for them once I get home, but I love looking for them along the beach and picking up ones that strike me. There was no shortage of them here.

My dream home: an Italian villa by the sea. Maybe someday...

Because the beach was a little more secluded with a lot less tourist traffic to till up the sand, we were able to see a lot more of the oil damage. You don't notice it right at first, but as you walk along and realize your footprints are pure white, it is because that is the color the sand is supposed to be. The top layer is stained with oil for miles around. What a job the cleanup effort will continue to be.

The boys enjoyed some good "digging with lizards" in the biggest sandbox they've ever seen.

Some portraits of our lovely selves.

We stayed until sunset again. It was a beautiful end to our final day.

The only reason the kids agreed to leave this beach (aside from the fact we were all starving) was because it suddenly started pouring! The downpour was shortlived, but it was enough to soak what was left of our dry clothes. I had to run back out on the beach to find one of the toy lizards that got left behind... thankfully it was red and I spotted it!


The rain left as abruptly as it started, and the clouds parted enough for us to get one last longing look at the beach at sunset.

A little video of Paradise =).

We took the kids back to the condo and cleaned all the sand, saltwater, and unseen oil traces before hitting the town for one more dinner. This time we tried the Hangout, another open air restaurant with live music right on the water. This one was even cooler looking than Lulu's, but the food was nowhere near as good (in case you are ever down there and trying to decide between the two)! The boys enjoyed dancing with Brad after dinner while I ran across the street for postcards at the giftshop. We had to force ourselves to go to bed that night!

Leaving the next morning was sad for all of us, so we did not get as near of an early start as we had hoped. Thankfully, this is what we saw in our backseat for at least the first four hours of the drive!



As I mentioned we drove home through Alabama instead of Mississippi... it really is a beautiful state (so was Mississippi, but we went through much of it in the dark). There was so much dense vegetation everywhere, and some beautiful autumn foliage. You gotta love the Confederate flags flying here and there (I really do wonder culturally why people still fly that? After all, isn't it a symbol of cessation from the Union and pro-slavery? Or am I missing something?) Anyway, my FAVORITE thing was a GIANT billboard with a little red dancing devil on it that read "Go to church or the Devil will get you!" I laughed out loud, but didn't get a picture.



We rolled in close to 1am. Overall, I think it was the best possible way I could have spent the last few days of my 20's!