Ohio: Day 8 – Friday, 4/30/10

• High: Peaceful drive out to the lake.
• High: Checking out Nancy’s lake house that we’ve heard so much about.

• High: Visiting with Nancy.

• High: John and Dad went to the flight museum and I stayed at the hotel for some R&R.
• High: Another feast for dinner!

Kentucky to Ohio: Day 7 - Thursday, 4/29/10

• High: Visiting the home of Mary Todd Lincoln’s family.

• Low: Driving to the wrong airport in Cincinnati to drop off the rental cars.
• Low: Cincinnati traffic.
• High: Making it to Fairborn!
• High: Amazing rooms at the Homewood Suites.

• Low: Getting lost on the way to Nancy’s house.
• High: Nancy made a feast for dinner.

Alabama to Kentucky: Day 6 - Wednesday, 4/28/10

• Low: Taylor REALLY unhappy about being in the car all day.
• High: Taylor playing and watching the turtles and ducks in the pond when we stopped to stretch our legs.

 

• High: Eating dinner at the very first Kentucky Fried Chicken and checking out the “museum” of collectibles.

• High: Taylor’s funny faces when eating potatoes (which she normally loves).

• High: Speedy diaper change on the road. Somethin’s wrong here ….

• Low: Driving from hotel to hotel in Lexington looking for vacancies. 
• Low: The DISGUSTING carpet in the elevator up to our room at the questionable Sleep Inn.
• High: Finding the hotel room would be ok for one night. 
• Low: The ridiculous amounts of Febreeze our room was doused in.

Alabama: Day 5 - Tuesday, 4/27/10

• High: Getting to have a “slow” day and relax a bit.

• Low: Crazy weather patterns! Wind! Hail! Rain downpour! Sun!!
• High: Visting Harrison’s Hardware store and buying a few things.
• Low: Driving around and around looking for an Alabama t-shirt, and coming up empty!
• High: Buying some last minute barbecue to bring home.
• Low: Saying goodbye to Iva Jean.

Alabama: Day 4 - Monday, 4/26/10

• High: Visiting with our favorite cousins.
• High: Checking out the cows and farms.

• High: Crossing the log “bridge” and not falling in the creek. (Thanks Bobby!)

• High: Sharing tidbits about our family history to John and Renee. 

 

• High: Moonpies and Cokes at Taylor’s house.H
• High: Family reunion dinner – yummy food and great company.
• High: Hearing about Nana’s best friends Francis’s bus adventure to California to visit her not long after she married Papa.
• High: Driving around until we found Uncle Roy’s first hotel site, the El Rose.

Alabama: Day 3 - Sunday, 4/25/10

• High: Sleeping in!
• High: Driving to downtown Huntsville and checking out all of the old buildings and historical landmarks.
• Low: Everything being closed because it was Sunday.

 Harrison Bothers hardware store

First bank. Also, robbed by Jesse James (according to Iva Jean).

• High: Getting to see the "big Spring" where John Hunt founded Huntsville around 1805.  I've heard about it many times, but had never seen it.
• Low: Super windy!!

Overlooking the Big Spring

This canal ended up being a bit of a failure.  It was finally completed just about the same time at the railroad came through.

Husband in action!

• High: Walking around an art fair --> Taylor trying to see out from under her sun shade and also somehow finding a little stick and grasping onto it for dear life.
• High: Checking out the Tennessee River and having lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.
• Low: Taylor's first taste of gum.  (Don't ask. Really. You don't want to know.)
• High: Checking out the new Gardenwalk and having dinner with Iva Jean.

Alabama: Day 2 - Saturday, 4/24/10

• High: Marshall Space Flight Center - So much fun to walk around and see all of the exhibits.  Especially the Quick monoplane.  (Built by one of the family uncles.  Nana remembered climbing on it like playground equipment in a barn.)

 

 

 The Quick Monoplane

Rocket. Cool!

Push Dad! Push!

"Just give me a minute here and I'll have this figured out."

Check it out!!  Moog parts!  Good job Space and Defense group.

 Front view of the Moog parts, with 2 Moogers in the background.

    

• High: Taylor's rain "bubble" for her stroller.  So cute.
• High: Relaxation time in the afternoon.
• Low: Dire tornado warnings on the tv.  Several emergency broadcasts for heavy rain, hail, flash floods, and a tornado.
• High: Huge rainbow after a period of heavy rain.  (The rain started and stopped so quickly!  The clouds were moving fast.)

• High: Dinner at Scott and Mary Carol's house.  We always have a great time with them and the food was so good!
• High: Getting through the day with no tornados!!

Alabama: Day 1 - Friday, 4/23/10

• High: Vacation!
• Low: Waking up at 4:15 am for our early flight.
• Low: Paying $25 per bag for our checked luggage. Dang airlines and their nickel-and-diming!! Just factor the darn fees into the ticket prices already!!
• High: Using my Dad's American Airlines gold member status to skip the long security line.
• Low: Security checking all of Taylor's formula for bombs.
• High: Taylor busy on the plane but pretty content overall.

 "Yeah, this is kinda boring Uncle John."

• Low: Taylor refusing to drink her bottle on descent and crying because her ears hurt.
• High: Chicken McNuggets for lunch.  Mmmmmm!!
• Low: Short flight delay in Dallas for plane repair.

 

 "What do you mean there's a delay!?"

"It's ok, I'll keep playing."

"Papa's fun to play with!"

• High: Making it to Alabama with everyone's luggage!!  Woohoo!
• High: Hilton Garden Inn turned out to be very nice.  (The fresh cookies at check-in didn't hurt!)
• High: Having barbecue at Iva Jean's for dinner. So good!!
• High: Checking out Iva Jean's fancy new bathrooms.

Guest bathroom

Guest bathroom

Master bathroom

Master bathroom

• Low: Weather forecasts for tornados the next day.  Eek!