Friday was our first full day in Alabama, and it was Mer’s and my tenth anniversary to boot. We had a good day of it!  We slept in, and then I got up and showered and went downstairs, where I had cereal with Sammy and we watched a Richard Scarry cartoon about the alphabet. We had a leisurely time while Kelly and Meredith got ready, and then we all headed out to the Childrens’ Hands-On Museum.

CHOM was fun. We did not see too much of it, since WCN generally got fixated on what she was doing for a fair amount of time. First, we went to the farmer section, where WCN slid down a silo, played on a bridge (I was briefly the troll under the bridge), and then sorted vegetables into separate bins. We then headed over to the beaver dam section, where there was a beaver dam house and slide. Everything is small-sized for kids, but WCN wanted mom and me to get into the beaver house with her. I managed to squeeze in, and once I was in, it was plenty big.

We spent about an hour or so at CHOM, and then we headed to a sandwich/wrap place where we ate very well (I like wraps). We swung by a German bakery, and then walked home, where Mer and I ate our chocolate-filled, frosted croissants. Yum.

It was then time for WCN to have a nap, and in a display of support, I had a nap too. After my nap (WCN was still sleeping), Kelly took me and Mer to the gym so I could run and Mer could read in the lounge. I managed to run 7 miles at my last year’s half-marathon pace (7:08/mile), so I was pleased. The University of Alabama’s fitness center is a very nice facility – the place was spacious and clean, and the treadmill I was on was soft on the feet, and had a built-in heart meter (I maxed out around 182 beats/minute). It was a good workout.

The University of Alabama is a nice campus. The buildings are all red brick, and the campus has a nice uniform feel to it. Even the frat buildings look nice. Not too surprisingly, the football stadium is pretty central to the campus, and can be seen from much of the school grounds – it is huge.

We went back home to an awake WCN and Paul, and we got cleaned up so we could get messy eating  barbecue. We went to a nearby restaurant, where Mer, Kelly, and I got good pulled-pork sandwiches, while Paul got ribs and WCN got chicken tenders.

After supper, we went home, where Sammy got ready for bed, and we headed up to Kelly and Paul’s loft to watch the Olympics’ opening ceremony. It was a nice day.