The Brown Brick Road

Capturing our adventures one photo at a time...

FL or bust!

After Christmas we had one day at home to play with new toys (yay!), get all the Christmas decorations put up (ugh!), and apparently get strep throat (double ugh!). Yes, by Christmas night Maxwell was in tears because his throat hurt so bad and when the fever came too, I knew it was strep. We were up at the doctor first thing the morning of the 26th and got that strep positive test! So thankful we had a day at home to rest and start a round of bubblegum medicine!

hangover

I was also pretty proud of myself for getting the tree down and ALL the inside decorations put up that day. I knew I wasn’t going to want to come home from the trip to a decorated house so I made myself get it done. Check check!

By the morning of the 27th, we were feeling good and ready to head to sunny Florida!

backpack

With thanks to GJ, Samantha now has her own “baby iPad” to use for trips! Between that and plenty of gummies, we did just fine on the flight!

gummies

When we got there, the kids wasted no time making themselves at home…

florida

and then opened more presents!

florida

My favorite gifts were these hilarious Star Wars masks (Chewie was the best!)….

masks

naples

The boys’ favorite was these light up cars and track…

cars

and Baby loved her purse and sunglasses!

florida

Fun fun! We sure were glad to be there in the sunshine! See you tomorrow!

More Mountains

We stayed up in Highlands through the weekend as there was plenty of fun to be had. On Friday we met up with our friends and explored town a bit…

highlands

and then, while I let the baby nap on me, Robert took the boys to a gingerbread house workshop where they decorated quite the masterpiece!

gingerbread house

Saturday brought a healthy breakfast…

breakfast

breakfast

and then another hike to work off that healthy breakfast!

hike

After carrying baby on my hip on the last hike, I knew we needed a better solution for her. I still had my infant carrier in the car so, despite the fact that it has a 25 lb weight limit and is made to carry your baby in the front, I strapped my 30 lb baby onto my back and made it work!

hike

It was totally worth it to get this view at the top!

hike

hike

After everyone was good and tired, we had plenty of football to watch that afternoon! Roll Tide Roll! We were supposed to go into town that night to watch the tree lighting and see Santa, but the crew decided to just stay at home and eat some ice cream instead. We packed up Sunday morning and headed back to Birmingham to get ready for Christmas!

It was a fantastic Thanksgiving trip and we can’t thank Lulu and Granddaddy enough for their hospitality! Let’s do it again next year!

Thanksgiving

As I mentioned yesterday, we went up to Highlands, NC for Thanksgiving with Robert’s side of the family and had a great time. The kids got to hang out with some of their cousins, we all got to go on some hikes, and everyone ate plenty of good food!

Ready for the drive trip up on Wednesday!

tgiving

We then had a great Thanksgiving with cousin time, turkey, and a post-meal hike to work off that pie!

thanksgiving

thanksgiving

hike

hike

hike

hike

Gobble gobble! More tomorrow!

Mountaintop

We went up to Highlands, NC for Thanksgiving and had a great time. We got back Sunday mid-day, unpacked and got our Christmas tree! All fun stuff but I’m still playing catch up. So, today you get a picture of us on a mountaintop…

mountains

and one of the boys on another mountaintop…

mountains

and, for good measure, one of Samantha in her mountaintop gear!  🙂

mountaintop gear

See you tomorrow!

15 years!

Last weekend I headed over to beautiful Nashville for my 15 year Vanderbilt reunion. I saw lots of familiar faces and got to spend time with some of my favorite girls! It was a glorious fall weekend and we walked around campus, went to the tailgate, ate some good meals, and, of course, hit up the honky tonks on Broadway.

Before the class party…

nashivlle

Dinner at Le Sel…

nashville

Walking around campus and the Tri-Delt swing…

campus

tridelt

Lunch at Pinewood Social…

pinewood social

The tailgate…

vandy

Robert’s!!

roberts

and, finally, some random bar after Robert’s that I’m too old for!  🙂

bar

Nothing beats Nashville in the fall! Robert ditched me and Nashville to go see Phish in Atlanta and had a great time with his friends. The kids didn’t miss us one single second because they were at home with GJ and Daddo eating candy all weekend. Well, maybe not all weekend but they did make a Halloween candy house and I’m pretty sure Baby ate as much as she decorated with!

candy house

slide

A fun weekend for all involved!