Alabama Trip 2011: Day Four

...Day Four...

This was Monday of our trip....we all loaded up and headed down south to Tuscaloosa, the home of the University of Alabama. This is where Uncle Todd is going to school and where Mamo used to live when she was a little girl. Ashton was so excited about getting to see another college campus and to see where Uncle Todd went to school.

The point for the trip was for Uncle Todd to move his stuff from one house to another. We got there around lunch time, so we got to see the "very dude-ish college house" Uncle Todd was living in. Then we went and had lunch and a fantastic restaurant called Moe's. It was delish!

From the restaurant, the boys went and got started moving Uncle Todd's stuff while us girls went on a tour of the town and the campus. We drove by to see where Mamo used to live when she was a little girl. That was pretty neat to see the house and hear her tell stories of things she remembers.

Back in April, Tuscaloosa was hit with an F5 tornado which was a VERY scary time for our family. Luckily Uncle Todd was fine and so was his house, but many of his friends and fraternity brothers weren't so lucky. As we drove through the town, we saw so much of the damage that was still there. I can't believe that here we were three months later and there was still so much clean up and damage everywhere! It was scary and very surreal.

Our next stop was the Alabama campus. It was absolutely gorgeous and Ashton loved it! The only other college campus she has been on is Baylor. We spent a few hours there entertaining ourselves while the boys were working hard doing moving duty.

Why yes, I did take pictures documenting everything we did...

The fountains were right outside the Ferguson Student Center aka The Ferg. They were the first things we saw...what a perfect picture spot for Mamo and Ashton. Shockingly, Landry did not want any part of the fountains which is so out of character for her. 

Our next stop was the bookstore to find some cute Alabama goodies. Ashton fell in love with this fedora and because she looked so stinkin' adorable in it, I snapped a picture. Then of course, Landry wanted to do it too since Sisser did it!

The girls wanted to take a picture on my camera. Landry took a picture of the bookstore (on the right) and Ashton wanted to take a picture of this bulletin board-the letters were glittery!

Snack Time at Starbucks in the student center!

Momma's turn to have a picture in the fountain with her two favorite girls!!

ARB was soaking up all the history and info about the campus. She read every single sign she saw...love it!!

There we the most giant and gorgeous trees in the Quad. Landry looked so itty bitty standing by one of them!

The trees were so perfect for climbing! My girls have never ever climbed a tree in their lives. They thought Mamo and I had lost our marbles when we asked them to climb up there so we could get a picture. Landry was freaked out at first...

...but then she warmed up to the idea once Mamo stood behind her!

It would have been a hilarious picture of us trying to help Ashton up into the tree...if only Landry could have manned the camera. 

If you know Lan-Lan then you know about her love for purses. She wanted to carry Mamo's purse, so Mamo tied up the strap and let her go to town. It was so funny to us that she was carrying that giant and heavy purse around the campus. The picture on the right is of the girls standing in front of Denny Chimes...these are the chimes that ring every 15 minutes. 

After we finished touring the campus...we headed back to the air conditioning in The Ferg. (We knew the guys would be finished soon and Daddy wanted to go to the Book Store.) While we were hanging out, the girls were playing with Mamo's reading glasses. We thought they looked very studious.

The bookstore closed at 5 and when we realized the boys weren't going to make it time, us girls  made one last trip to the bookstore for Daddy and then we headed to the stadium to see the Walk of Fame. We watch Bama football games on TV and root for them, so it was cool to see the stadium in person. 

Gotta have a picture with the current head coach's statue: Nick Sabin...

...and of course we can't forget about Bear Bryant {the fedora wearing coach and legend)

Uncle Todd took the girls up the stairs to look at a few more statues before we headed back to Huntsville.

This was a very FULL day, but one full of great memories. I know we loved seeing where Uncle Todd spends his time these days and I think he loved for us to see it. It is a beautiful campus!