Alabama + Graffiti

Oh weekend recaps on a Thursday – back to my old ways it seems.  In my defense, this week has been garbage.  To say I’m excited to see Friday eve would be an understatement.  Work has kicked me while I’ve been down for quite awhile now, but when I’m crying at 7am on a Monday – probably not a great sign for the rest of the week.  I will just say there has been a lot of crying, a lot of fighting, and a few glasses of wine here and there.

On Saturday, we got up and Sheff’s baseball game had been rained out, so we went and got doughnuts from Hero for breakfast.  Then, we got a random text from Nadine asking if we wanted to meet for lunch.  UMMM…. YES PLEASE!!!! We ended up going to Tostadas and sitting on the patio.  We got drinks, cheese dip and some delicious tacos, and it was so so good to see Nadine and her family.  It was honestly just one of those things that was so good for the soul.  The kids had so much fun and so did we.

When we got home, we all took a quick snooze.  Bennett and I fell asleep to the Masters, and I swear Masters naps are the best kind of naps.  But we all needed naps, because we had a hockey game to go to at 7!  Which meant, we were all going to be up past our bed times.  Birmingham has a minor league hockey team – go figure, right?!  But it was a lot of fun – I absolutely LOVE live sports, and to get this tiny bit of normalcy back into our lives (thanks vaccine!) – it was just almost too much for me to handle.  We didn’t get home until around 10pm – Sheff went straight to bed, but I was still on a hockey high, so B and I watched The Mighty Ducks – the original movie, not the series.  So we weren’t in bed until 130 in the morning, and I was feeling that the next morning.

Sunday, we got up and hit the Lakeshore trail – Sheff played on his scooter, and B and I got in a 3 mile walk.  It was so pretty Sunday, that B brought a TV outside so we could pay attention to the final round of the Masters, and we did all the outside things.  I finished a book, we got in the hot tub, and we went and got Cook Out for dinner and started Mighty Ducks 2.  Oh!  And there was a four leaf clover in our yard!!  I have never ever seen one in person, so I was pretty excited.  Probably too much so.

We have baseball all weekend  – my mom’s coming in for a quick visit, and her and my sister are taking the Sheffster for a night – so hooray for a date night! Hope you all have had a good week so far!

(linking up with Steph & Jana for SUYB)

Pretty Little Wife – Darby Kane // This was a good little murder mystery, with so many twists and turns.  You think you know one thing, but do you really?  kind of book.  I loved the main woman character in this book – she was so flawed, but also smart and brave.

Roanoke Girls – Amy Engel // Nadine told me this book was disturbing about two years ago when she gave it to me to read.  I eventually got to it, and while disturbing, I couldn’t put it down.  A family with a whole lot of deep dark secrets, set in a rural city in Kansas with a tragic but triumphant ending.

A Good Marriage – Kimberly McCreight // OMG – this one.  A murder mystery with so many other mysteries intertwined in it.  It was so good and so twisty that you honestly have to read through to the end to find out what in the hell was happening.  Definitely read if mystery/thriller type books are your thing.

Goodnight, Beautiful – Aimee Molloy // This book was serious twist after serious twist, and it was just so good.  I was hooked from the very beginning – it does deal with a lot of mental health issues, so if that’s a trigger, may want to stay away, but other than that, it was a really good twisty thriller.

The Deal of a Lifetime – Fredrik Backman // When I saw this little novella as available at the library when I was searching for something in between books coming off hold, I knew I had to read it.  I love Backman, even though some people have their misgivings.  This book was sad, but I love the premise of what would you actually do to save someone else’s life.  It’s like 96 pages with pictures, so it took about 30-40 minutes to read, but I really enjoyed it.

Every Last Fear – Alex Finlay // Nadine wrote a review about this book I think a couple of months ago, and I immediately put it on my TBR.  And as soon as I got it, I couldn’t put it down.  The book alternates between past and present, and includes some “documentary” parts as well.  I loved all the characters in each of their own ways – even the “bad guys.”  It was seriously like, “ohhhh, DAMN!” at the end of almost every chapter.  Can’t wait to read more from this author.

I’m Thinking of Ending Things – Iain Reid // Whoa – what a complete mindfuck this book was.  I think this is the first book since grade school that I had to look up and find out what the hell was going on.  I really liked the flow of this book in the beginning – very stream of consciousness, and I felt like it would be what was going on through my head.  Once I figured out what in the hell happened, it was actually a really good story. I don’t normally save quotes or anything from books, but this one stuck out for me:  “We can’t and don’t know what others are thinking.  We can’t and don’t know what motivations people have for doing the things they do.  Ever.  Not entirely.  This was my terrifying, youthful epiphany.  We just never really know anyone.  I don’t.  Neither do you.”

On Friday, we headed down to my dad’s beach house after school.   Luckily, we only ran into a few traffic issues, and made pretty good time!  My step-bro and his fam had already made it down there (all adults have been vaccinated!! whoop!) – and Sheff was super pumped to see his cousins.  They ran off together the second we got there!  They ate some chicken nuggets for dinner and then got their Birmingham Candy Company chocolate lollipops for dinner!  Those things were inhaled!  They all cuddled on the couch and watched a show until their bedtime.  Dad and step-mom made some shrimp and crab cakes for the adults and we ended the night playing dominoes.

Saturday we played let’s see how many Easter things we can pile into one day.  We started off bright and early with a walk down to my dad’s neighborhood clubhouse to visit with the Easter Bunny.  I still stand by my thoughts that the Bunny is the creepiest.  After we got our pictures and a cute little Easter basket from them  – the kids went to play on the playground for a bit.  When we got back, B and I did a quick 3-mile run while the grandparents chilled with the kids for a bit.  My step-mom had made the most delicious breakfast casserole, and we scarfed down some of that.  The rest of the afternoon was pretty much spent watching the kids get in and out of the freezing cold pool, hanging out in the sunshine and eventually getting into the hot tub once it was warm enough.  Of course, then it was time to dye some Easter eggs.  We don’t get fancy with them – we just throw them in the dye and let them chill.  The kids then discovered they could make the eggs two  colors, so all the eggs took another dye bath.  They actually ended up pretty cute!  Then, some plastic eggs were hidden.  30 in total – All the kids found money eggs, and there was some candy in the others – the good stuff: Crunch bars, Butterfingers, 3 Musketeers.  Later after the adults had dinner, the kids got an extra special Easter basket from the grandparents, and they were sent to bed.  We continued our game of dominoes and called it a night.

Sunday morning, my step-bro and his family left- they had a 15 hour drive back to their house.  Sheffield was definitely bummed having to say good-bye to his cousins.  Luckily we had a beach trip planned – and it cured most of his blues.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  Sheff found a friend to jump in the waves with him, and then when he got out he was freezing, and took a tiny sun snooze on Poppa.  We came back and got Easter dinner ready – super informal.  Sheff and I were in our bathing suits!  We hung around for a bit more before heading home.  We grabbed a pizza and garlic knots from Domino’s – watched about 20 minutes of Hop and were all in bed.  Super fun weekend = super tired parents and kids on Sunday night.

Was really glad to get to spend that time with family – it was much needed, and we were so grateful for gorgeous weather!  Hope everyone had a great Easter !!

On Monday, we got up and headed to Foxy Loxy for breakfast, and OMG, y’all – they had this egg and cheese kolache, and it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever had for breakfast.  It was like having a tiny pizza.  Their chai tea was amazing, and even Sheffield liked their vegan cookie dough brownie.  He choose the vegan one because it had colorful sprinkles on it, and he actually really enjoyed it.

After breakfast, we headed over to Forsyth Park.  They have these beautiful oak trees lining their paths, and of course, a playground for Sheff.  The weather was beyond incredible.  Sheff, unfortunately, got his first experience getting the wind knocked out of him when he fell from the monkey bars – luckily, it didn’t seem to stunt him too much, since he was back up and playing again pretty quickly.

After the park, we headed over to Tybee Island.  Sheff had such a good time in Hilton Head, we told him we’d go to another beach.  The weather was so pretty – and Sheff collected himself a whole bucket of shells.  We did about a mile and half walk down to the pier and came back. Sheff played – jumping in the waves (even though it was freezing cold), and digging in the sand.  After about a couple of hours, we were pretty hungry, so we hit up Chamacos Tacos, and it couldn’t have been a more perfect place.  They had cheap tacos and margaritas, and it was completely open.  Even Sheff and his picky ways approved of this cute little place.  Sheff and Bennett played a ton of foosball – I can’t even tell you guys how amazing the weather was.  This was my favorite thing we did by far.

After we got back to the hotel, we went down into their heated pool and let Sheff play for a little bit.  He quickly made some friends, and they made plans to meet back at the pool again the next day.  We got so lucky for dinner, I can’t even tell you.  We had no reservations and literally walked right into the Olde Pink House – one of Savannah’s most popular restaurants.  It wasn’t in their main seating area, but more in their bar area, but still same food and atmosphere.  Seriously – the people behind us were told a two hour wait.  We really couldn’t believe our luck.  We got a few drinks, and I had the most amazing ravioli.  It was our most expensive dinner, but so worth it.

After dinner, we were stuffed, so we headed back to the hotel for some boat watching on the patio.

Our last day, we didn’t really have any plans except to get Sheff on a carriage ride throughout the city.  He talked about riding in one since the day we got there – and we told him it would be our last day activity.  So, all we really did was walk the city until it was time for our carriage ride.  It was actually really interesting  – they pointed out a ton of things we didn’t know, and our tour guide was great.  We grabbed some lunch at Treylor Park – Hitch.  We were pretty disappointed in the actual food, but one thing that was amazing was the Philly Cheesesteak eggrolls, and their beverages were pretty great, too. We then went over to the Cathedral of St. John- and it was absolutely gorgeous.  I’m not a particularly religious person, but it made me want to go to confession or something. After,we headed back to the hotel and back to the pool.  Sheff’s friend was there, so we were down there for a good long time.  The pool was actually a lot warmer this day, so I got in and played too!  For dinner, we decided on a pizza, and Sheff got a slice almost as big as he is.  It was the perfect way to wind down the trip.

On Wednesday, we got up pretty early and made the drive back to the Ham.  There was plenty of laundry and errands to run before resuming normal life on Thursday.  B and I celebrated our last day of Spring Break with a sushi dinner outside.  I’m really glad we decided to do this instead of going to a beach – looking forward to many more Spring Break trips!

Last week, we were lucky enough to be able to go somewhere for Sheffield’s spring break.  We didn’t hit the crowded beaches, but we did get to head over to Savannah.  It was pretty tame people-wise, and had a ton of things for a family to do.

We left out Saturday morning – it took us about 6 hours to get there from Birmingham.  We checked into our hotel, and freshened up.  The hotel was walkable to the main street by the river, so we bundled up and started walking.  We went down, and checked out all the sights to see – Savannah is so beautiful!  Of course, I made Sheff pose with everything.  Savannah is a big St. Patty’s Day celebration city, so there were still a few revelers, and decorations everywhere.

After walking along the river, we headed over to City Market.  Basically it’s a four block open-air market with shops, bars, restaurants and art.  They are an entertainment district, so we got our wine slushies (they were so good!), and walked around a bit more.

We didn’t really eat a huge lunch, so we decided on an early dinner at Crystal Beer Parlor – supposedly the oldest restaurant in Savannah.  They had a little bit of a wait, but we got there just in time, since the rain started shortly after we got there.  B went into the bar to get us some drinks while we waited, and Sheff and I played the selfie game.  It was such a cool spot once we got in.  B and I shared the warm crab dip (so good!), and B and Sheff shared the grasshopper pie for dessert.  We were all pretty tired from our travels, so we turned in pretty early.

Sunday, we knew it was going to be a rainy, gross day.  We started out the day at The Sentient Bean – where Sheff had the most delicious cinnamon roll, and B and I got our coffee fix.  B wanted to get a new coat, since he had forgotten to bring his, and it was a bit chilly.  We decided to head over to Hilton Head Island, since it was only about an hour away, and their outlets opened earlier than the ones in Savannah.  After shopping around, we decided to just hang out there.  It was still cold and overcast, but it wasn’t raining.  We hit up Fish Camp for lunch, and it was perfect.  The view was amazing, and the drinks were amazing.  The oysters below are their low-country oysters – B loved them, and I loved my shrimp burger that I got.  No pics, because I was hungry.

We promised Sheff a walk on the beach if he was good, and he was, so we took a quick and chilly walk on the beach.  They had a super fun bench swing, so we hung out in that for a bit, as well.  And did some souvenir shopping, too!  Sheff loved looking at all the shells on the beach.

After our Hilton Head adventure, we went to check into our new hotel – this time it was across the river at a Westin Resort.  This hotel is pretty much the only thing on that side of the river – it had a heated pool, golf course and spa.  And the view of the city from across the river was beautiful.  After we got settled into the room, we took the free ferry over to the main side of Savannah.  Sheff got some cotton candy ice cram from the candy store, and we did some more walking.  It was such a walkable city, and we really loved that.  We got a light dinner at Moon River Brewing, took the ferry back, put Sheff to bed and B and I had a nightcap on the patio overlooking the river.

I decided to break this up into two posts, lest this one get way too long.  It was a great first two days of Spring Break, and the next two were just as good!