Huntsville... 4 years later!

We have been planning our return to Huntsville for over a year now... since we heard about the engagement of Lindsey and Tyler! Tyler's family attended the church where Matt did his internship, and we love them all to pieces! We were thrilled to be invited to their wedding and have a chance to come back to Huntsville after 4 years!

Since we had just made the 12+ hour drive (nonstop) from MI-SC and back, we chose to break up this trip a bit. The first day, we drove about 5 1/2 hours to Louisville, KY. The kids did great in the car (even with a huge 2 hour delay because of road construction...booo).

We found a cute local hotel to stay at for the night called the Breckinridge Inn. 

We dropped our stuff on in the room and then went driving around to see what we wanted for dinner. Well...what do you know? Our girls had never eaten at a Waffle House (we don't have them up here), so that's where we stopped. It was a huge hit with Ashleigh, who LOVES waffles!

Then we went back to the hotel to go swimming! Ashleigh loves to be in the pool.

 Miriam was done after about 10 minutes!

Someone was worn out!

The next morning, we got up and ate breakfast at the hotel. Then we headed downtown to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum.

       

It was a great tour! We weren't allowed to take any pictures during the actual tour, but we all enjoyed it!

Matt got his own personalized Louisville Slugger!

On our way out of town, we drove by Churchill Downs.

We stopped to pick up White Castle for lunch because I had never eaten there before. I was not really a fan...

Then we headed on to Huntsville! We couldn't wait to get there and see everyone!

We got to HSV around 5:00. After visiting with the Graves, the Edmondsons, and the Kearneys, we headed over to Banditos for dinner and some live entertainment.

The next day, we went over to Tamara's house. She is one of the secretaries at All Saints. We enjoyed visiting with her and her beautiful daughter, Kathryn,  and crazy son, Jack, who was born while we were on internship. Ashleigh and Jack had a wonderful time playing together, and Kathryn was so sweet to show Ashleigh their pets (guinea pig and lizard).

We stopped at Chic-Fil-A for lunch and met up with the librarian from Randolph School from my year of working there. I had such a wonderful time catching up with Kim! Ashleigh loved playing on the (outdoor) playground. Those don't exist up here! :)

We got the girls back home and both of them took naps. We enjoyed relaxing and spending adult time with our long-lost friends! Oh, and we watched lots of World Cup soccer! Ashleigh enjoyed hanging out with her new buddy Riley!

And Miriam played with the light up balls. 

That evening, we walked next door to the Edmondson's house to eat some of the delicious foods they had prepared for out of town family and friends. So sweet of them! Miriam LOVED the meat from the Big Green Egg!

Saturday was the big day! During the day, we were able to see some familiar faces and hang out with some of the youth of All Saints. We miss them!

The wedding was beautiful and the reception was a lot of fun (even with a whiny and tired 3 year old and a teething baby!)

 So, Rich brewed all the beer for his son's wedding. It was delicious!

 These two were too much!

 (I have a very cute video of the two of them doing the Cha Cha Slide together, but YouTube flagged the video for copyright infringement (really??) so I can't post it...)

Ashleigh enjoyed drinking her water out of a wine glass.

The next morning, we headed to Matt's old internship site, All Saints Lutheran. It was fun to see everyone again! We enjoyed hanging out after the service and having the chance to visit with folks.

I was also able to see Carolyn, who I hadn't seen since we left... when we were both pregnant with our first children!

That evening, we headed over to Pastor Keith and Margie's house for dinner. By this point in the trip, the girls were exhausted, so dinner was a bit of a struggle. However, Keith got Ashleigh's attention when he took her outside to catch lightning bugs. She had a ball!

(An example of what wild children do at the dinner table... she brushes her hair with a dinglehopper, you know, like Ariel. Sigh.)

The next morning, we went to Bridge Street shopping center with Cheryl to let Ashleigh play at the splash pad. That was a big hit!

Then we went to eat at Mellow Mushroom. We had forgotten how amazing their pizza tastes! YUM! Miriam entertained herself with a straw while we waited for our food. 

Matt and Miriam played hide and seek in Zach's new hammock.

We also played around with duck calls. Funny!

That night, we went to the Concert at the Park with the Graves, Thompsons, Edmondsons, and Cooks. What fun!

(Do you see a theme in the pictures with Miriam? That child loves to eat!)

The next morning, we had to say goodbye to everyone. It was hard to leave but we had such a wonderful visit! We are so thankful for the time we had to spend with our old friends, and we are most thankful for our amazing hosts, Rusty and Cheryl! Y'all rock!

We headed to Indianapolis where we stopped at Pastor Chris's church to visit with her. We went to find dinner and checked into a hotel. Then we went (can you guess?) swimming!

The next morning, we headed to the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, which is the world's largest children's museum. It didn't disappoint. It was incredible! Ashleigh and Miriam both were in heaven!

We could have for 24 hours and still not have seen everything. Wow! What a cool place! 

We then went to Lucas Oil Stadium for a tour. Go Colts!

Then it was time to head back to Michigan. After driving through some rough thunderstorms, we arrived back home safe and sound! What an awesome trip!!