It's a Moodyful Life: January 2010

I wanted to share the list I keep to remind me of things you can do in Birmingham and surrounding area. I'm always interested in CHEAP and FREE things that we can do. Either as a family, or just Josh and I. When I was looking over my list a couple of days ago I just KNEW I needed to share it with my blog friends. I've added comments about different things and links. I hope everyone finds it very useful.

THINGS TO DO IN B’HAM (or right outside the city) :

1. Visit Vulcan – the museum is open Monday through Saturday 10 am - 6 pm and Sunday 1- 6 pm. And Vulcan's park grounds and observation balcony stay open every evening from 6 - 10 pm. Evening admission to the park grounds and Vulcan's observation balcony: Just $3 plus tax (4&under free!) http://www.visitvulcan.com/

2. Visit Sloss Furnaces – Free admission & interesting stuff! They’ve got several different events throughout the year (some family friendly, some not). They also host Sloss Fright Furnace (October, duh!) , The Magic City Brewfest http://www.magiccitybrewfest.com/index.html (June) and Stokin’ the Fire BBQ Festival (August) http://slossfurnaces.com/

3. Art Galleries – You wouldn’t believe how many there are in Birmingham. Some unique Birmingham based artists, some older art from all over the world. Look around and find a few that look interesting. Of course there’s always THE Birmingham Museum of Art. http://www.10best.com/Birmingham,AL/Shopping/Art_Galleries/
4. The Comedy Club/The Stardome – seriously, if you’ve never been. I’ll be happy to recommend a few of the funnier comedians and you HAVE to experience a hilarious night at the Comedy Club. http://stardome.com/
5. Pepper Place Saturday Farmer’s Market. Every Saturday (May – Oct), - 7 a.m.-noon. Details: 802-2100 or http://www.blogger.com/www.pepperplacemarket.com. FREE – fresh veggies & fruit, music, crafts!! Very neat stuff!
6. The Peanut Depot & Morris Avenue. Historic Morris Avenue is the home to this peanut heaven built & established in 1907. They also offer free tours and very cheap peanuts! http://peanutdepot.com/

7. Temple of Sibyl – 2031 Canyon Rd. Vestavia. The Temple of Sibyl offers tremendous views of Shades Valley and Samford University from atop Shades Mountain. One of the earliest residents of Vestavia was George Battey Ward, the former mayor of Birmingham who purchased twenty acres in a prominent spot on the crest and built a home in 1924 designed after the Temple of Vesta in Rome. Across the road on a peak overlooking the valley below, he added a garden gazebo, a replica of the Temple of Sibyl at Tivoli. To read more check this out: http://fi ndarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4113/is_200407/ai_n9418245/
8. Barber Motorsports Speedway – They offer a Porsche driving school & tours through their huge museum. And while all of that seems exceptionally cool…I’ve got to admit it’s not cheap. The museum is $15 per person. For a family of 4, that’s just ouchy. http://barbermotorsports.com/
9. Aldridge Gardens-located at Lorna Rd & Rocky Ridge Ranch Rd., Hoover it boasts the worlds largest selection of hydrangeas (best viewed April-July) and since I love hydrangeas, and it’s FREE…I really like this place. We also had family pictures made here in the Fall of 2008, and although there weren’t any hydrangeas in bloom, it was still beautiful. http://www.aldridgegardens.com/
10. Go to McWane center and IMAX – It’s definitely not free, but there’s so many fun things to do, educational & entertaining. You can lay on a bed of nails, pet a shark or stingray, let the kids play on the early childhood play area, explore the world of dinosaurs, see how an engine works and thousands of other things. Almost everything is interactive and it is literally fun for people ages 2 – 102. They constantly have new exhibits (currently it’s the Curiosity Exhibit w/ Curious George) & they have wonderful summer camps for kids! http://www.mcwane.org/
11. Alabama Symphony Orchestra (ASO) – I know classical music isn’t for everyone, but I really like it. Especially live. If you’re also interested, ASO plays in various locations (Alys Stephens Center –UAB, The Alabama Theatre, Brock Hall –Samford, BJCC). They also play for The Birmingham Children’s Theater once every month, & are generally inexpensive & on a Sunday afternoon. http://www.alabamasymphony.org/ Oh, and the Principal Conductor is Justin Brown…who happens to be HOT. But that could just be something I’m interested in.
12. Meyer Planetarium-located at Birmingham-Southern College (226-4771) You don’t need a reservation to view the planetarium’s awesome show that is open to the public one Saturday or Sunday per month @ 2 p.m. I remember going in elementary school and I loved it. You don’t have to be a sky-gazer to like this experience (but it’s even better for those that are sky gazers). It’s pretty cheap too! $2 for adults and $1 for kids 12 & under. http://www.bsc.edu/campus/planetarium/shows.htm
13. Tannehill Ironworks State Park – Trade Days are one weekend per month March-November. 7am-sunset; admission to the park itself is $3 p/adult, $1 p/child and 5 yrs and under are free. Located off Confederate Pkwy in McCalla. They also have car shows, rock & gem shows, civil war re-enactments, Halloween Festival, Christmas at Tannehill, and on Labor Day they host the Moon Pie Eating Contest! They have a list of events on their website: http://www.tannehill.org/

14. Alabama Theatre-1817 3rd Ave. N. – Amazing, gorgeous…the Alabama Theatre is a completely renovated classic from the old days. They have concerts (BB King, Alabama Symphony) and movies all through the year. From what a friend of mine tells me they are also looking into renovating the top floor and opening it up as a bar/restaurant. I hope it happens soon! That’d be awesome! http://www.alabamatheatre.com/

15. Birmingham Botanical Gardens & B’ham Zoo are right next door to each other so you might as well make a day of it! If you haven’t been to both of these places then you are seriously slacking!! Get out of the house!! http://www.bbgardens.org/ http://www.birminghamzoo.com/
16. Historic Rucker Place Jazz on the Porch & wine tasting. First Thursday of each month (starts in May), 5:30-7 p.m. $10. Details: 558-2485 or http://www.ruckerplace.com/. Hmm, historic, jazz, wine…I’m there!
17. Ave Maria Grotto – Called “Jerusalem in miniature” and that’s a very apt description. Great for all ages, & located in Cullman…it’s a short drive and fairly cheap ($7 for adults, kids 6 & under are free) If you’ve never been, or it’s been awhile it should be on your list. http://www.avemariagrotto.com/
18. Southeastern Outings & Wild South are 2 non-profit organizations that offer Short Day Hikes, River Floats, & Picnics throughout various locations in central Alabama. They both have a calendar of events available, but only Wild South has a website. To find out more about SE Outings you can contact the founder Dan Fredrick @ seoutings@bellsouth.net And you can visit Wild South’s website for a LOT of great info on their FREE hikes. http://www.wildsouth.org/
19. Alabama Adventure aka:Visionland is located in Bessemer off I-59. Roller coasters and other rides & attractions. They also have concerts & Splash City during the summer.http://www.alabamaadventure.com/ 20. Smith’s Variety & A’Mano – 2 shops of several shops located on Culver Rd. in Birmingham/Mtn Brook. Smith’s is a true 5 & Dime with unique toys, gadgets & collectibles. A’Mano is a combination gallery & gift shop. http://smithsvarietyshop.com/ & http://amanogifts.com/

Great Places/stuff I’ve not listed, but everyone needs to know about:
Birmingham Baron’s baseball Games

Rickwood Caverns – Western Blount Co.
Birmingham Race Course – Greyhound & simulcast horseback racing
Clay & Cocktails (Imagine Clay Studio) AND Sips n’ Strokes
Consignment Chic – bus tours of B’ham’s finest Consignment shops!
Talladega Super Speedway/Museum
Southern Museum of Flight
Heart of Dixie Train Museum (Calera, AL.)
The Tutwiler & The Redmont – 2 historic downtown hotels that have lovely restaurants/bars
The Birmingham Farmer's Market - Off Finley Ave.

I'm ALWAYS happy to hear more ideas. So if you've got something...PLEASE share it with me!

Jan. 15th 2010-
A great city is not to be confounded with a populous one.

-Aristotle

Wow! It’s been a long time since I’ve done my blog! Christmas has gone by, as well as my baby sister – Audrey’s – birthday. We’ve ushered in a New Year and it’s time to focus on the future and reflect on the past. There really are so many things to be thankful for this past year. Josh re-enlisted in the Army to continue to provide a better future for our family. Braden had another illness free year! Kendall continued to cheerlead & play basketball. And I’ve managed to survive another year with all these crazies in my house! Like the title of this blog post suggests, 2010 is all about a new beginning .

(Braden & Kendall @ the Christmas Tree Farm)

Christmas was great. Hectic & chaotic as usual. We traveled all over the place and saw all our family. The kids were ridiculously spoiled and Santa brought far too many toys! The weekend before Christmas Braden, Ben & Kendall had a Polar Express pajama party at our house. The boys & Kendall wore their pj’s, drank hot cocoa, ate sugar cookies & watched the movie Polar Express. It was a lot of fun! I think this will have to be something we do every year! --I'm putting the Christmas pictures at the very bottom of this post--

Ben & Brady eat their sugar cookies!

(Best Friends)

New Year’s was a little different this year for us. We actually went to see the Alabama Symphony Orchestra at the historic Alabama Theatre. For anyone who hasn’t been to the Alabama Theatre, I would say it’s a MUST on anyone’s visit to Birmingham. Josh & I went with my friend Bonnie and the music was wonderful. They had champagne at intermission and then when we were done listening to the ASO we took our old selves to Waffle House at 8:45 p.m.! After that we went back to Bonnie’s house and watched t.v. and talked until midnight. Not long after midnight we decided we’d had enough fun and went home. It was all very exciting (I typed that last sentence using sarcasm, LOL).

(Me & Josh at the end of the night)

(Looking down from the second floor into the main area)

watching the symphony from the cheap seats

(Me & Bonnie)

So, what lies ahead for us in the New Year? Well, for obvious reasons I have almost no clue. I know what things are supposed to happen, and I know things that I WANT to happen…overall I hope it’s a good year, and an even better year than 2009.

Here’s a few things I anticipate will happen (no definite’s, but they are absolutely listed as SHOULD occur);

**Me, Josh, Diana, KB and several other friends are turning 30 this year. ARGHH!! I’ll miss my 20’s, but I have a feeling that I’m REALLY going to miss my 30’s one day.

**Going to West Virginia in May for Josh’s brother Nathan’s graduation from medical school. GO NATE!

**Braden starts kindergarten at Bagley Elementary. Believe it or not, I’ve got to do pre-registration for him in April! And he’ll start K-5 just a couple weeks after he turns 5. So, I get to turn 30 AND my only baby starts school. How very sad for me.

**A trip to Wyoming is in the works. An old friend of mine lives in Cheyenne and it seemed like a great reason to visit a part of the country we’d love to see. Then there’s the added bonus that I’ll get quality time with a friend that I miss.

**We’re SUPPOSED to finish putting the house in decent order so we can put the house on the market. A lot of that hinges on our job security & financial situation, but I know this needs to happen very soon if we want to have another baby one of these days. With the 30th birthday on the immediate horizon, I’m starting to feel like there is a deadline looming over my head. J

Obviously we’ll have another busy year. There’s no way around it. Just continue to keep us in your prayers. Lord knows we need them every single day.

Love you ALL, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I promise to keep up with the blog better than I did last month!