From March 26th….
We woke up on our last morning in Birmingham and were back to our usual activities – I hit the sad little gym one last time before breakfast and Abbi enjoyed the view of the never-ending Starbucks line one last time. She loves Starbucks and watching cars, so this room was the ultimate view.
Our first stop was Aldridge Gardens, a free botanical garden in Hoover just a couple of miles from our hotel. Our hotel in Hoover was such a great location to most of our activities. It had rained a lot the evening before, and was a little chilly this day, and pretty muddy. Perfect for exploring some gardens!
Everyone was getting tired and cranky, so basically snacks were key to our survival. And that made our crew a favorite for all ducks and geese.
You can tell a 4 year old eighty times to just leave the ducks alone, but she’s never going to listen. You can also tell them eighty times to stay away from all the goose poop, but that’s never going to stick either.
It was such a pretty botanical garden. The lake was so pretty and they had enormous fish and turtles in it.
Throwing snacks in for all the animals was definitely a trip highlight. We did that a couple of times before we left. The size and qty of animals in the lake was amazing!
The girls had such a great time exploring and running around together.
The squad. I was glad Abbi was back in the group and getting to enjoy some friend time.
After the gardens our last stop was at Vulcan Park. You can see the park from a distance heading in on the freeway, and it’s a Birmingham icon. The view of downtown from the top was pretty nice!
And the statue:
The fact that he had a bare bottom was a big hit with the girls. There’s just something about a bottom at this age that never gets old. They had a museum inside and with your admission to the museum you could also go up in the statue, but we all decided it wasn’t worth it.
Mostly these girls just wanted to shop the gift shop and chase each other around the park anyway.
Our very last stop out of town was for lunch from Chipotle. Everyone was hungry and we were hoping this would tide them all over for some great naps on the ride home. The two littles had more fun peeking in the window than anything else.
Parting is such sweet sorrow. This kiddo was so tired she didn’t make it out of town before she was asleep. She just didn’t want to leave her friends.
I had a really cute pic of Julia and Abbi and my phone is just old and terrible and it “ate” it. You can only see it in views like this. When my phone runs out of space it doesn’t warn me anymore, but lets me keep taking pictures and if I try to view them they go black. Super frustrating. I’d love a new phone but am hanging onto this one as long as I can because those things are just so ridiculously expensive. So, sometimes I just have to deal with lost pictures.
We had a great trip to Birmingham with our friends and are already working on our next adventure together!
