Girls Only Weekend!

This past weekend, me, Christen and my niece, Jessica loaded up and headed to Birmingham, AL to visit my Mom. It's a good 5 hour drive from home. The trip there didn't feel like it took too long. I think it's because we gained an hour on the way.

My Mom is an awesome host. She fixed breakfast for us on Saturday morning & Sunday morning. Eggs to order, grits, sausage and biscuits. Yes, Jessica eats ketchup with her sausage. Actually, she eats ketchup with just about everything.

Mom had a great day planned for us Saturday. This is part of our Christmas. It's a 3rd annual deal. The first year, she took the girls to Jacksonville, FL to watch a Christmas Carol play. Last year, she took me along and we all went to my favorite place in the world: The Fox Theatre in Atlanta!! We saw The Nutcracker. This year, we went to her. She got us all tickets to "Scrooge The Musical" at the Virginia Samford Theatre. The play started @ 7:30pm on Saturday, so we had all day to find something fun to do.

Mom found and researched the McWane Science Center. We had so much fun there!! It's a great place for kids (of ALL ages).

The center even had an IMAX theatre. Jessica just happens to LOVE Harry Potter, so Mom treated us to tickets for the 1:30 showing. I'm not much of a Potter fan, but it was a neat experience seeing a movie on the IMAX screen. The popcorn was just what I needed to! AND I found out where I get my tendency of talking and asking questions during a movie. My MOM! As she was asking Jessica about everything to do with the movie, I had to laugh. I do the exact same thing to Jon.

The center had so many hands-on experiences for the girls to try out. The first thing we saw was the bed of nails. Christen and Jessica both said it felt really weird. Uh.. yeah! I would imagine!! You would lay on the bed and while on it, someone would press a button and the nails would come up and before you knew it, you were being held up by nails!

No way could I have done this. You sit in the seat, then pull yourself up. Christen did it with ease of course. Jessica needed a little help...

Here, my Mom and Jessica were playing tug-of-war with Christen. I do believe Christen won!

Yeah, the center even has dinosaurs and other big, scary things...

The girls even had a "Big" experience... get it?? If not, I must be older than you.

Can you tell who Christen missed the most?? Oh to be young and think you're in love....

This picture was just not meant to be. Their heads were blocked by the sleigh and neither of them found it a "cool" thing to do. BUT, they did it! They get credit for that.

This place even had sharks. Baby sharks, young sharks... The ones above are being kept in the incubator. They are alive and still in their egg!! You could see them moving and everything. They had to be the neatest thing that I saw.

Check out their reactions... I have no clue what text message Christen was reading, but it must have been scandalous!! Jessica, however, was looking at this:

They both got to "pet" the sharks. I didn't... I can't remember if Mom tried to or not. Some were quite frisky and would splash you. They also had stingrays.

Both girls tried this. You couldn't have paid me!! But I don't do well w/ heights. Even going up the stairs at the IMAX made me a bit dizzy...

Christen was the only one crazy enough to try the flight simulator. This thing went upside down and did 360s. I would have lost my popcorn in that thing!! Not Christen. Check out that smile:

And of course, we had great food. Now my town needs to get a California Pizza Kitchen. I'm hooked!!

Sunday, we started the day after breakfast by having some "girl" time. Mom painted the girls fingernails. I applied the dots.

And before we went shopping, Mom led us in a Bible study in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 17:7-8 to be exact.

"But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit."

I feel pretty blessed to have a mother who feels the call to lead us in Bible study, who recalls scripture to me to guide me and counsel me and who will just call me to tell me of a verse she read and wants to share.

All too soon, we had to head back home. I hated to leave, but Mom will be home for Christmas this weekend. It's nice to get away with just the girls every now and then.