First Day of Summer

Esther sent out an invite last week to join their family on a day out in Birmingham to tour the Golden Flake potato chip factory. I have been wanting to see it for a couple years, but Griffin was too young. Since he has since turned 5 (woohoo) we were able to go this time!

Here we are in our cunning hats.



The potato truck arrived while we were touring. Talk about a lot of spuds...



The starch from the potatoes is processed out somehow (I couldn't hear over the machines) and the starch is sent to other factories including paper and aerosol starch.



Peeling, washing, cooking the chips....







Then comes the BEST part...





Chips that are fresh out of the oil are AWESOME. The kids weren't the only ones chowing down! Hey, it was a RULE. You MUST eat all you want!




After a quick lunch stop we headed to the very center of Alabama.



Apparently Buford and his friends were there before us. Also the center of Alabama is in a grave yard. Niiiiice.




I had never considered constructing myself a pyramid. Elisabeth Seale and David Adams only needed the bottom to die happy.

We made a quick stop at the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum. SOMEONE was happy...













I went a little Ansel Adams with some B&W shots.






At that point in the day it was just too hot to do anything that didn't involve water, so we made our way to Oak Mountain State Park. The wildlife rehabilitation center was on the way to the swimming area so we popped in there.











I did negotiate Esther's release from the cage in exchange for hitting the lake. I hope she got a good shot of the kids...

Last stop of the day... SWIMMING!