Sweet Home Alabama, Part 2

Khy, all ready for church!

We woke up Sunday morning and got ready for church. I love Robin's church... it's full of great folks who have ALWAYS made me feel welcome. The preaching is good and the music terrific. Anyway...

Hanging out in the church nursery. :)

After the service, Robin's dad took us all out to a local restaurant to celebrate her birthday with her brother, Jesse, and his wife, Kathy. I regrettably forgot to pull out my camera, so I have no photos from that lovely meal. :)

After lunch, Robin's mom offered to watch Khy while he napped, and Robin, Rachel, and I ducked up to Green Mountain in Madison to enjoy the scenery.

The twisty, windy road up to the mountain top.

The entrance to the part. Rachel poses for the camera. :)

There are beautiful nature trails running through the part, but we chose the one that led to the covered bridge.

I was enthralled with the beautiful lake... It reminded me of a story I had written several years ago that took place near a lake. It was actually kind of eerie, in a positive, "have I wandered into my imagination?" kind of way. :)

There's this adorable little "seat" formed by the tree, so Rachel took advantage of it. Though not half as cute, I also tried it out. :)

A little footbridge on the way to the covered bridge.

The covered bridge overlooking the lake.

I didn't know this about my best friend, but apparently she is a little nuts about turtles. :) There were about 15 turtles of various sizes who kept diving and resurfacing and following each other around, and just generally being cute, and every three seconds Robin would call "Look!" in a very excited voice. I'd run to the side of the bridge to look out, and there would be... a turtle. As she said... "I really like the turtles!"

Rachel took a moment to reflect.

"Look - turtles!" :)

The beautiful view from the bridge window.

Rachel takes a moment to capture just the right picture. Rachel is a true photographer - we will walk past the same thing, she will pause to take a picture, and the picture will reveal a completely different aspect than I saw.

Literally "hanging out!"

We went back for the evening service at church, where they honored the graduating seniors, Rachel among them. Afterwards was a reception, where I got to snuggle some more with Khy (lol, I crammed the next two or three months worth of holding into this weekend!). Afterwards, Robin's mom took Khy home to put him to bed, and Rachel, Robin, and I went to a late showing of Letters to Juliet. Which I also loved and was actually pretty impressed by. :) I love seeing movies on vacation, because months afterwards, when you see the movie again, it brings back all those good memories of the places and people you love. :)

To be continued...