rahh...rahhr...rahh...boom...boom...boom...da..da...da..da..

If Jack could say "Happy Birthday Daddy!" it would sound something like that.  He is stringing sounds together more and more in an effort to communicate. It is really sweet.

Daniel's birthday was low-key this year. Adding a child to the mix and just being plain busy isn't conducive to our usual quick getaway to celebrate routine.

Tuesday night, Daniel's dad dropped in and took us to The Docks to celebrate. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset. Unfortunately they didn't bother to turn any lights on on the deck {normally there are more candles and tiki torches that are lit}. Eating in almost complete darkness with a baby was a bit of a challenge.

For his actual birthday, I asked Daniel what he would like for dinner. He requested salmon, rice and caramel pie. I honored his request with BBQ-Spiced Salmon with Pineapple Salsa, Rice and a Spinach Salad with Caramel Pie for dessert.

Caramel Pie is a favorite in Daniel's family. It is super easy to make and tastes superb.

Caramel Pie
Ingredients

2 (14 oz) cans Eagle-brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Graham Cracker Pie Crust
Cool Whip Topping
Mini Chocolate Chips

Directions

Boil the cans of condensed milk for 4 hours. The water needs to be a rolling boil the entire time and it needs to cover the cans completely – you will have to add water to the pan as it boils. Make sure you removed the label first.

Once the cans have finished "cooking" removed them from the water and carefully open them – be careful because hot caramel may shoot out the top and you don't want to get burned.

Pour the caramel into the pie crust and let cool in the fridge for several hours.

Once cooled, add cool whip and chocolate chips and serve. 

Delish.

Life in the Slow Lane

People in the south take things a little slower. Especially if you happen to live in a small town. Sometimes this can be a source of frustration. Other times it can truly be a blessing.

 {image via} 

Friday night, Daniel's dad came for a quick overnight visit. He wanted to go eat at The Docks. I have mixed feelings about The Docks. The atmosphere is amazing – you can sit on a deck overlooking the lake at sunset. But the service is incredibly slow. If you eat here, you need to plan on staying for at least an hour, probably 1.5 hours. The food is good, but a little pricey for a small town, after all you are paying for the lake experience. Last night was a great time to go. We arrived just before sunset and the temperature was perfect. It did get a little cool as we sat there {thankfully I had grabbed a sweater}. As usual it was a drawn-out meal, but we enjoyed our visit with Wesley.

Daniel had the Sea Bass with Rice and Asparagus, I had the Petite Sirloin with Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Veggies and Wesley had the Fettuccine Alfredo. We all had a starter of soup and bread.

Today we took Wesley on a mini tour of the Hollywood/Scottsboro area. Showing him the sites... like downtown Hollywood {hah}. Then on to Scottsboro to see Unclaimed Baggage. I didn't find any books today, but Daniel and I did find a used BabyBjorn for $8 and plan to go back to get it later.

 
{image via} 

After driving around the court square we decided to have lunch at Geno's Pizza. This is one of a handful of places that Daniel and I frequent. The pizza is decent, but again you pretty much better be prepared to wait. We were one of two tables in the ENTIRE restaurant and it took over 10 minutes to place our order. Like I said, things are slower in these parts. Our pizza was good – typical pizza sports bar fare. And we waited for our check while watching the Arkansas/Texas A&M game.

We split a large Meaty pizza.

Is Daniel a Hippy?

Tuesday night Daniel and I met several of his co-workers at Buenavista, a local Mexican restaurant in Scottsboro, AL. A few other significant others were along, so it was a good chance for a lot of us to meet for the first time. Dinner was great and I feel like I have made some new friends. It helps to know that there are people we can hang out with if we end up moving to Alabama.

Anyways, yesterday, Daniel's co-worker told him that after we all left the restaurant, his wife asked if Daniel was a hippy – her reasoning was that we drive a Subaru! If you know Daniel, this is a very funny question because he is southern boy who is more redneck than anything else. Daniel and I had a good chuckle over that :)

I did a lot of driving around yesterday to try to get a feel for the area. Scottsboro is rural but more livable than I originally thought {especially if we have friends from Daniel's work that will be living here as well}. There is a Walmart, a Home Depot, a good Mexican restaurant and most of the usual fast food joints as well as a handful of local places.

The neighborhoods we visited were varying. Some were very nice. Others were full of singlewides and run-down homes. We found one house on the lake that was in our price range but it is a 45 minute drive south of Bellefonte and we decided if we are going to live that far away, we might as well live in Chattanooga.

It is somewhat comforting to know that there are other couples that are feeling the same stress of trying to decide where to live and to talk about the pros and cons of the process with people that understand what we are going through.

After driving around last night, we stopped to eat dinner at The Docks at Goose Pond Colony. The view of the lake at sunset was amazing. The service of the restaurant was so so, but it was nice to enjoy the views.

Update: It looks like they will be officially restationing everyone to Bellefonte on October 1 {right now they are stationed out of Chattanooga}. With the restationing will come new moving packages but we can't start any house purchases {or anything of that nature} BEFORE Oct 1.