The Southeast Summer

This time in two weeks we will be on the ground in Norway! It feels a bit surreal after so much preparation and anticipation to be in this final stretch.

Someone recently asked me if the "nomad lifestyle" was suiting me, but I feel like I can't say for sure yet because we've only scratched the surface! Since we headed to Mobile, AL from Birmingham, we've mostly visited family and friends and are about to complete our circle around the Southeast having visited Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia. In some ways, it still feels like we haven't left home because of the familiar faces and surroundings- and the fact that we're mostly just living our daily lives, only under different roofs (and with worse cookware), and that Davy and Faolan haven't joined us in the traveling yet. But living we have done. We've celebrated [several] birthdays, gotten colds, gone grocery shopping, gone dancing, taken classes, had to rework wardrobes, fought cranky four year olds on hikes, and a thousand things in between. Some days it doesn't feel like I'm doing much else than making sure the boys don't hurt themselves or each other (I've decided there are two kinds of kids in this world- climbers and not climbers. I've got two climbers... who also happen to be jumpers 😵‍💫), but we've remarkably managed to fit in quite a few activities, which I will detail a bit more below.

Thus far we've had one moment of "What the heck were we thinking?!" It came after the typically four hour drive between Mobile and Birmingham turned into a six hour extravaganza due to traffic. It was our first back after five weeks away and we were only going to be there for two nights in order for Beadle to go to the orthodontist. We were beleaguered, the boys were DONE, and as we turned down the same stretch of interstate that just two months prior would have taken us to "our" beds and familiar surroundings, we both thought maybe we had made a mistake. Luckily, other than sleeping in a hotel with two young kids (IYKYK), the trip went smoothly and we relatively easily resisted the urge to return to our old house and ask if we could sleep in the basement, haha.

The little boys, I think, I have done remarkably well adapting to the changes of the past three months. Arlo typically takes a few days to adjust to new surroundings when it comes to sleep times, but comes around eventually (nothing like traveling during a typical sleep regression time!).

Having a place to play outdoors I've found makes a huge difference for us and will certainly be something that I prioritize in all of our future lodging.

In the absence of a few sets of toys to rotate in and out, we've found significant joy in stickers, temporary tattoos, bubbles, and good old fashioned balloons. Or sometimes we hit up the local Barnes and Noble or Target to window shop.

Now on to what we've been up to the past nine weeks...

Mobile, AL May 19-June 22

This time was primarily about spending some time with my family before not seeing them in person again for likely over a year. The boys adored playing with their cousins, getting muddy in my mom's garage clay studio, and playing in her pool/splash pad.

We visited the Mobile Museum of Art, which has at least two great things going for it- 1) It has a decent kids' area, and 2) it has A/C, which is a literal lifesaver in Mobile where the humidity drove the heat index up over 100F as early as the last week of May. They offer free admission on Thursdays which I would take advantage of if possible as it's otherwise a rather steep entry fee for what's on offer.

At the beginning of June, Ellum and I celebrated our joint birthday (yes, it is one and the same). To celebrate, my mom, my niece and I attended a wheel throwing pottery class in Gulfport, MS. I've wanted to take one of these classes probably since I had a toy pottery wheel in elementary school. Now I'm hooked. Hopefully I can take more classes as we travel. If you happen to be on the Mississippi/Alabama Gulf Coast, check out The Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art for an excellent selection of classes!

We finished up our time in Mobile with a big joint birthday party at my papaw's house for all the June birthdays. There was cake, boiled shrimp, and swimming. I did not take enough pictures, but it was a lovely way to wrap up the visit.

Franklin/Nashville, TN: June 24-July 3

After leaving Mobile, we headed to our friend's house in Franklin, TN. In addition to a lovely visit, we also established Tennessee residency since we no longer have a home base in Alabama and Beadle owns a business, Compost Nashville, in TN. Excursion highlight was a visit to Cheekwood Estate and Gardens. We initially went because of an annual "Enchanted Castles" exhibit, but ended up spending most of our time in the Storybook Garden watching a plethora of trains chug around a beautifully crafted scene. Plan for a long day if you go to get your money's worth, because it is pricey...but also quite lovely.

Signal Mountain/Chattanooga, TN: July 3- July 12

We popped over to the Chattanooga area after leaving Franklin. Here we did a pet sit through Trusted Housesitters (<-- Pretty sure that's my refer a friend link) which was a great experience. We sat for two pups and an orange cat - all three of them were way chiller with the little boys than our own pets- and kept up a gorgeous house in Signal Mountain. It was easy to pop down the mountain for pastries at Niedlov's Bakery on Saturday mornings (get the miso kale breakfast skillet. TRUST ME!) and Beadle was able to come with us for some afternoon adventures at the Tennessee Aquarium-where Arlo determined that all creatures are, in fact, turtles- and the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum, where Ellum lost his absolute mind with excitement when he realized we were going to ride on a real, live train. We even snuck in a hike and cooled off in the The Passage, a memorial dedicated to the Trail of Tears (and yes, it does feel a little weird that a space that commemorates the starting place of the Trail of Tears is now a place where people play and laugh in water...don't know if I would return).

Now we are in North Carolina until we head back to Birmingham one last time before heading to Norway to take care of a few things- and pick up Davy and Sissy!!! I'll update about our North Carolina time in a future post since this one has gotten rather lengthy. Until then, enjoy this picture of Ellum and Arlo trying to escape a fence: