{Our Trip to the South!}

This past week we took our annual family vacation to visit Georgia and Alabama.  It was an incredibly relaxing and fun vacation. 

We started out in Georgia, where Mike's half-sister Mindy & her family live.  It has been several years since I have seen JP and Devan (Cal's cousins) and none of them have met Calvin!  It was so fun to experience their southern hospitality & introduce Calvin to his cousins! 

Here is the King clan at Amicalola Falls

Dan, Krystal & Saffron came down at the same time so we had almost all the cousins on the Reynolds side together (missing Katelyn in Texas).  

Our journey to ATL was fairly uneventful. Cal did well on the flight, and barring the incident of him peeing on Mike at the GIGANTIC Atlanta airport, everything went smoothly.

^^^ Kids make everything a bit more of an adventure!^^^

We had a fun family reunion day on Saturday, with everyone going to the "World of Coca-Cola" factory for a tour.  

Calvin getting his first taste of Coca-cola

Little cousins

Meeting the iconic Coca-cola bear

There was a room where they let you sample different flavors of coke from all over the world... There was one called the "Beverly" that was SO NASTY... Cal's face says it all! 

Taking in the sights with Daddy

The Kings

Mike, Calvin & JP in their matching Coke hats

Here is the whole family!  What a fun group of people to spend the day with! 

After our adventures at the Coke factory we enjoyed some tasty hot dogs/hamburgers at a famous Southern restaurant called "Varsity."  We had some great tour guides telling us all the best places to go! 

Another one of my favorite parts of the trip was Mindy's cooking!  One morning she made grits & OH MY GOSH I CAN'T BELIEVE I HAVE LIVED WITHOUT THOSE MY ENTIRE LIFE!  Needless to say I left with a content tummy and the family recipe. 

Mike & I bought Atlanta city passes which gave us the option to see lots of famous sights downtown.  We spent a day touring the Georgia Aquarium, did an "Inside CNN Tour" and perused the College Football Hall of Fame (my personal favorite). 

Here is my favorite shot of Cal - it's so fun to start to see him get excited about these little adventures we go on with him! 

By the Taysom Hill poster!  Go Cougars!

A cool view from the Hall of fame 

Mike checking out some cool "Iron Bowl" facts.  Roll tide roll! 

Here is the fun face painting station they had -- haha!  

And finally, our "Inside CNN Studio" tour.. 

Pretty cool stuff!  The next day we spent with the family.  In the morning, Mindy, Krystal & I headed up to Dahlonega and shopped at a sweet antique store!  I could have spent a whole day there - they have some awesome antique shops in the South. 

We met up with the boys to check out Amicalola Falls - It was cold, but soooo pretty!  Here are some family shots we got at the falls - 

My personal favorite ... Calvin giving sweet kisses! 

That night we ate at a fun Mexican restaurant together - it was great to have that mini reunion with the Reynolds side! 

On Tuesday Mike & I drove into Alabama and started touring different areas of his mission and seeing some of his favorite spots. We stopped in Scottsboro at a store called "Unclaimed Baggage" which is where the stuff that gets left at airports eventually winds up.  It's a pretty awesome store - so awesome in fact, that the local news from Vegas just happened to be doing a special while we were there and interviewed me to be on the news! That was memorable.  It airs in a few weeks - can't wait to see what a goof I look like on TV. HAHA!

This was a lake in Scottsboro called Gunnersville Lake - it was beautiful and even though it's hard to see there were ducks swimming around.  It was a beautiful area!

Here is the ward Mike served in! He said they've added onto the building and it's a lot bigger than when he was there back in 2001.  It was fun to see him in his old mission stomping grounds!

That night we treated ourselves to a scrumptious sea food meal at a place called "Connors."  It was extravagant and extra romantic, until Calvin pooped himself and we didn't have any diapers.  The joys of parenthood. 

The next day we went to the Space Center in Huntsville - it was pretty cool to see the Saturn V replica and learn all about Apollo 13!  

Calvin mostly liked the play area.

Michael in the "Command Module"

Our little astronaut!

After our space center tour we drove into Birmingham.  I especially loved seeing the Birmingham temple -

We also grabbed lunch at the best BBQ place I've ever tasted - Dreamland Barbecue!  It was a game changer for sure.

We drove around town for awhile then settled into our hotel and just relaxed - we had to be up early in the morning to head to 

...Drumroll please... 

TUSCALOOSA!  Home of the University of Alabama. 

Mike was in heaven!  We toured Bryant Denny Stadium and walked all over the campus just soaking it in.  Here are some of the highlights:

View from the press box

Even Calvin was giddy when he saw all the Alabama championship rings (and that's an old poster - now they need to add one more)!

Soaking in their surroundings

Here is little man in Mark Ingram's old locker - yep, we even got to go into the game day locker room!!

Touching the lucky WIN sign that the team hits prior to every game when they walk through the tunnel and take the field

Calvin's convinced he wants to play football here now!

It was an amazing tour and we worked off all that Dreamland BBQ from the day before walking all over campus!

That night we headed down to visit some friends, Noelle & Tyson, who are stationed in Bama - it was fun to catch up with them and spend a relaxing evening visiting! 

We headed back to GA the next day by way of one of Mike's areas, Tuskegee.  We drove past the historic Tuskegee Institute and saw the college/museum where Mike had volunteered for part of his mission.  We also saw the home of Booker T. Washington - 

We ate dinner with the King family that night, and watched in mild amusement as local Georgians worked themselves into a panic over what seemed to us to be the mildest of snowstorms.. Haha! 

It was a great trip - we sure loved to visit family and tour the South!