Alabama...

I SO can not believe that the summer is already over! I have so much catching up to do! Like 15 posts just of our yearly summer trip to Alabama. This year in Bama was unlike any other. The kids still had a blast, but the first week and a half we were there, a stomach bug slowly worked its way through all 13 of us in the house! It was miserable. We kept on talking about how horrible and different this summer at Grandma's house was, but when I got home and looked back at all the pictures I took, I realized that we still squeezed in a lot of fun while we were there! :) So, lets get this show on the road, because I not only have to blog about Bama, but the rest of our super fun and busy summer, back to school festivities, and Tuck's first day of school, and now we're getting into fall activities, and the list goes on and on... :)

The funny thing about this picture is that I took it one day as I was packing for Alabama, Taylor just randomly got her dog purse, Tuck's shoes on and my keys and said, 'bye mom' and headed for the door like she had somewhere important to be. Well, the next day I could not find my keys anywhere. I looked and looked everywhere. Luckily we were leaving for Alabama the next day and didn't really need to use the car for a month or so. Fast forward to us getting home from Alabama and still looking everywhere for those keys, I happened upon this picture and thought to myself that I should check in Taylor's dog purse and lo and behold, there they were! The little stinker had put them in her purse, when I put the kibosh on her attempt to take off! :)

Anyhoo...the next day, after lots of effort getting everyone packed up and ready for the flight (Ben surprised us and joined us for our first week down there, we were so excited, we thought we would be without him for three and a half weeks!) we were off!!! My little travel'n family:

What's not pictured is me and my load of about 4 bags! (2 personal and 2 carry-on's, for me and Taylor) :)

Tucker captured the beautiful clouds outside the airport window while we were waiting to board our flight:

Since we now have to purchase 4 (ugghhh!!!) tickets to travel, we decided to split up in two's, since the the rows are of three in airplanes. I tried my hardest to convince Ben that I was just happy sitting all by myself for a few hours (of peace and quiet) but we decided this way would be best. We were right across from each other, luckily it wasn't a full flight and we each had our own row. I looked over and Ben had made a little bed for him and Taylor to take a nap. So cute! She loves her daddy so much!

Somehow by the end of the flight, I was in the middle of both kids on my side of the aisle and Ben was fast asleep in a whole row to himself...hmmm....how did that happen??? :) Something random about this flight was that Tucker met a little boy named Myles in the Spokane airport. It was really weird, they really hit it off, and were obviously going to Denver just like us. But while in the Denver airport, we noticed his family again in our terminal and they were also flying to Atlanta! The boys played so well together and became fast friends during our layover in Denver. Tucker still mentions Myles every now and then! They had a great time together at the Denver airport playland, and riding the trams together in the Atlanta airport. But once we saw Grandma and Grandpa in Atlanta, the only thing he could focus on was his excitement to see his cousins! It was still a nice little distraction for a boy who had to travel all day!  :)