Chronicles of a Mini-break: The Trilogy Comes to an End

Sunday was my aunt's birthday, so we took our time waking up, and my uncle told us that we were going out for breakfast (in addition to the traditional birthday dinner.  Fancy!).  By 11:00, we were seated at Big Boy.  After breakfast we went to the Family Christian Store next door to the restaurant so that my cousins could show me the Solar-Powered Praise Flowers.  We looked around for a little bit while my cousins went straight to the children's section to watch Veggie Tales.




They learned to do the Hopparena.




Another one of my cousins called while we were in the store to see what we were doing and to let me know that she'd picked up her little boy.  We planned to all meet at our aunt's house for a "play date."  I hadn't had a chance to meet the chunk-a-munk, so I was pretty excited.  It turns out he was, too.  Once we got him situated on the floor, he started to talk and talk and taaaaaaaaaalk!  Haha!  And then he'd wave his arms around and coo and laugh!  Ugh, it was fun watching him.  Especially when he'd spread his arms and look at us like, "I do not know?"

I guess you had to be there.

See?  Chunk. A. Munk.  But he's SO cute! And happy?!

After they had to leave, we bummed around, played on the Wii for about 10 minutes, and bummed around some more before going to dinner at Graydon's Crossing.

Usually for my aunt's birthday they go to an Indian restaurant called Bombay Cuisine, but it's a little pricey.  So, my aunt and I worked, honestly, for over a week to decide where to have dinner instead.  But once I got there, we sat down in front of www.urbanspoon.com looking for relatively affordable places we'd never been before and to maybe find some Indian food in the process.  Find it we did.

Graydon's is a pub that also happens to serve Indian food.  We got there and the place has the typical, seat-yourself pub ambiance (Love!).  We get the menus and find that the pub people love their food as much as their ale.

There's a seasonal chef's menu in addition to the regular menu.  The Crouch Clan all ordered as close to their usual Indian entrée as they could. 

I ordered pub food.  A "small plate" they called Irish Envy (Apropos, no?) that had potato pancakes, Irish bacon, and veggies seasoned with Indian spices that were too hot for me.

The pancakes and bacon, though?  DELISH.
***Extra Credit Assignment: Click the link above and look for "Irish Envy" on the menu.  See what drinks they'd pair with it.  One in particular is pretty derned funny.

After dinner, we all drove through McDonald's and had Shamrock Shakes ('twas my first).  Once we got home, we watched Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid with Steve Martin and Carl Reiner, which is hilarious, by the by, and then called it a (successful) day.

Monday brought the return of the daily grind for my family and the return of all my crap into my suitcase.  It was a pleasant first half of the day, though.  I took my time, watched movies with my aunt while I packed, and by the time I was packed and ready, it was about time for us to go pick up my cousins for a farewell lunch at Olga's Kitchen, which is probably my favorite restaurant in the world.

After lunch and piddling around the mall after for a little while, it was time to drop the girls off for WMCAT and to take me to the airport.

4/5 hours later, MolPage welcomed me back to Alabama.



Thus ends my boring story, and now we can get back to whatever it is I usually do.

♥