Let Them Eat Cake

I truly enjoy vacations, breaks from school or any break from the normal routine. My kids picked up on this 'Spring Break' thing rather quickly and we enjoyed every minute of it. Dave had two long weekends with us at the lake house and we finally launched the boat. Actually the water level at Lake Martin, which is discussed online via the Lake Martin Forum ad nauseum, is at full pool almost a month and a half earlier than normal. We had lots and lots of water, which makes for less beaches to explore. No worries, we had so many other things to keep us happy. Our friends, Liz, Clare and Danny spent the first weekend with us. Fun, laughter, peace and quiet - does that sum it up?

During the week, O, Z and I drove to Birmingham to visit McCray's Science Musuem. Holy cow! We were blown away that Birmingham has been hiding this treasure. Well, maybe they are not hiding; maybe we just haven't looked. Thanks to Teri A. for alerting me of this wonderful science museum. To make things even better, it was FREE. With our Fernbank Science membership, we used their reciprocity and spent a free afternoon exploring and learning. Well, it wasn't quite a free afternoon. Teri also told me about a quaint little bakery in Mountain Brook Village in Birmingham called Olexa's. I will let the pictures speak for themselves. I did not get to eat the cake (why can't they make a gluten free one?), but Zach seemed to love it. I was told that people bring their little ones for their 1st birthday to introduce them to the famous cake and the babies eat the entire piece - it's huge! I loved the lunch, so I was a happy camper. Full belly, buttercream icing, and vacation. Let them eat cake...in a good way! That was the philosophy this past week. I'm sure you'll hear the stories from my kids in the next couple of weeks regarding the science museum and the zoo. Olivia and Zach were impressed.

After the long drive to Birmingham, we took Wednesday off from driving. We visited the Montgomery zoo Thursday. Again, we are impressed with this zoo. Camel rides, cheetahs (Olivia's favorite) and many new springtime babies abound. Spring is the absolute perfect time to visit a zoo. We closed the zoo down at 5 pm, and then drove back 2 1/2 hours to pick Dave up from the Atlanta airport. He was at the NY Autoshow for a portion of the week, so he missed all the exciting musuems and zoos. The kids did not let him get a word in during the ride back to the lake.

It is funny how you can piddle around all day at the lake house. That is exactly what we did - piddle, play, landscaped a bit more. Don't get me started on the landscaping. Dave and I (and my brother) have worked quite a bit on this landscaping/patio project since Thanksgiving. We were finished - for less than 5 hours, when a huge hail storm hit us, washed out expensive rubber mulch and left me defeated. Seriously, 5 hours....Couldn't we enjoy it for at least a day? Oh well, some people in the area had holes ripped in their boat seats, cars damaged and house windows broken out. We only had a portion of our mulch washed into the lake. It was repaired and we had smores last night to make thing all better. Melted chocolate and marshmallows always make things better. The wild azaleas were blooming for another lovely touch. The only thing that doesn't make things better....a 3 foot water mocassin snake!! Yikes. We saw one as we were boating. I'll stay far away from him. It's nice to be home again, but we enjoyed every minute of our spring break.