Fun in the "big city" and at home

On Wednesday Mark had a special Camp War Eagle parent session in Birmingham, so Turner and I decided to take a small road trip and join him for the day.  We actually drove up and spent the night on Tuesday.  Mark scored an awesome deal at the Wynfrey, so the Galleria was just a few steps away...but who needs a carousel or shopping when there are ESCALATORS!!??  Now, let me insert here that this was Turner's first stay in a hotel...so she was quite intrigued by the whole thing.  But y'all, it was almost embarrassing - she didn't know what to think of the huge revolving doors, but when she saw the escalator she started screaming (literally - in the lobby of the Wynfrey) with excitement.  Approximately 4 rides (up and down) later we finally got checked in and headed up to the room, where she jumped all over the huge puffy bed! :)  I really felt guilty - Mark and I travel a good bit and like to stay in nice places and experience nice things.  But we typically leave Turner at home...  :)  So, in this situation she was seriously "country come to town" and didn't know what to do with it all!

Of course, we had to go walk through the galleria a little and Turner got to ride the carousel. (She's so country, when we told her there would be a carousel that she could ride she said, "We are going to the fair??!"  Oh poor thing...) 

Wednesday morning, while Mark worked, Turner and I headed to the McWane Center for the morning.  I had never been before, but it was really neat and there were plenty of things to occupy this little girl for a couple of hours!

By far her favorite toy of the day - perhaps construction work is in her future?

By far my favorite toy of the day...a giant LITE BRITE!  Oh I could have played with it all day!

This activity was a close runner up to 1st place for the day...she couldn't get enough of this!

After visiting the McWane Center, we headed across town to visit with some dear friends from college, Elizabeth and Lauren (and her oh so cute daughter Maggie).  We had a fabulous visit at Zoe's Kitchen (somebody please open one of those up in Auburn!) and it was a blessing to catch up with good friends after so long.  Girls, let's visit again very soon!


Turner had tumbling class tonight, and I haven't taken my camera in a while to snap some shots of her progress.  This little girl LOVES tumbling class, and I am so proud of all the things she can do and how strong she is!  I would have more pics to share, but I had to stop using my flash and the pics I took without it weren't great.  Here are a few that showcase a few of her skills.

And on a random note...this little guy was in our backyard this afternoon!  How fun is that?

We are packing again, this time for a short trip to Atlanta to visit the Georgia Aquarium with both sets of grandparents.  Mark's parents arrived tonight, mine will be here tomorrow, and we'll head to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon.  We are looking forward to a fun weekend with family and some really cool fish!  :)