MLK Weekend 2013

We escaped the Inauguration Day/MLK weekend crowds to visit Kevin, Templa and the girls in Huntsville.  As an added bonus, Mimi and Paw Paw drove up from Mobile to join us for the weekend.  We were surprised at how much our newest cousin—Baby Regan—has grown.  She’ll be one year old in February and is easily keeping up with her sisters.  Micah and Rylan also are growing up fast.  Rylan makes her First Communion this year, and Micah is a budding CYO basketball star (apparently athletic skill didn’t completely skip the family).  On Saturday we watched her score a dozen or more baskets against a team of much bigger (and slower) girls.  Kevin is the assistant coach, but Micah didn’t need much instruction on the court—she’s a natural!  Later that evening, we left the kids with Mimi and Paw Paw and went for drinks in downtown Huntsville with Kevin and Templa.  It was a real treat to have some adult conversation, a designated driver and free babysitting all in one night. 

On Sunday, the girls went for a pedicure, and Henry, Bryant and Paw Paw visited the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center (home to Space Camp).  Huntsville was the site of the Redstone Arsenal were Wernher von Braun and other German scientists re-located after World War II to help jump start the American rocket program.  We’ve talked about visiting the museum many times (you can see the large Saturn I rocket from the road to the airport) but never got there; this time we finally made it.  The museum is huge, and includes extensive indoor and outdoor displays of Saturn I, Saturn V, and V-2 rockets plus the Apollo 16 space capsule and a full-scale space shuttle replica.  We wandered through the exhibits, watched an IMAX movie about the Artic, and sampled a few simulator rides.  Henry particularly enjoyed seeing the Darth Vader movie memorabilia and climbing inside the space capsule.

Below are some pictures from the weekend.  As usual, our visit passed all too quickly.  No sooner had we returned home than the kids were asking if they could visit again.

 

Vivi's toes in the middle!