Birmingham, AL

On Wednesday morning we loaded the minivan with suitcases, the DVD player, plenty of Polly Pockets, colorbooks and crayons, snacks, and a few baby dolls and headed out for Birmingham, Alabama, about 5 hours from Camp Rudder, FL. Were we staying for a week, a month? Oh no, just a few days. Our many travels in the minivan with two toddlers has taught us to be prepared with plenty of amusement and fruit snacks to keep them distracted from the fact that they are strapped into car seats.

This was our second trip to Birmingham but it will not be our last. Kaitlyn's Cleft Team is located at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Children's Hospital and we go once a year for check ins. Last year we had to go during the school year so we did not get a chance to see the city at all. This year we decided to go up a day early and stay a day after so we had a chance to see Birmingham. Birmingham is a fascinating southern city, full of our nation's history and we had a great time experiencing some of the city's magic. On the drive up we stopped at Priester's Pecan Factory where they have been making Pecan products since the early 1900's. We got to watch the candy being made and sample quite a bit. Duane had to call Mom and rub it in a bit as they share a great love of Pecans and Pecan Pie. He made up for it by buying some pecans to ship to her though. :)

After arriving in Birmingham, we settled into our hotel and got things ready for the next morning. Cleft Clinic starts early and so we made our way to UAB Children's first thing in the morning. UAB is rated among the top 3 Children's hospitals in the U.S. and is the single largest employer in Birmingham. The clinics and hospitals span the entire downtown portion of the city and are surrounded by the actual UAB campus. The sidewalks and restaurants are filled with medical students, doctors, and nurses in scrubs on their lunch or dinner breaks. Children's itself is a huge building that spans two of the city blocks and is decorated brightly with all artwork at a child's eye level. It is a fun and engaging place and Kaitlyn loves her visits there. We feel incredibly thankful that we have the opportunity of receiving care at Children's. Kaitlyn's visit went exceptionally well this year. She has never had an abnormal hearing or speech test so she was actually exited from both clinics this year!!! This means she will only need to receive future screenings if we feel there is a problem that develops. I usually go into the booth with her when she does her hearing tests but this year, she went in by herself and was perfectly comfortable following the directions. She is growing up and becoming so confident! All in all, it was a great visit, with no surgeries expected in the near future.

After the hospital, we spent the remainder of the day at the Birmingham Zoo where we saw everything from monkeys and gorillas to alligators, Flamingos, and hippos. One of the Gorillas there was the first in the world to receive a heart implant. The surgery was performed by both Vets and cardiologists from UAB that normally operate on humans. Pretty fascinating! The zoo was beautiful and we had a fabulous time and were exhausted by early evening - well, mom and dad were................