Mobile, Alabama

I know I'm very behind on my blogging. Please forgive me (Devry).

But as I'm sitting here watching the Saved By The Bell episode where they all work in the mall at Christmas and Zack meets that homeless girl, I feel in a very giving mood myself and have decided to update - even though I am extremely overwhelmed by it.

We just got back from the Wagner family reunion in Island Park, but this post is about the earlier trip to Mobile, Alabama to watch Paige, Mark's little sister, compete as California's junior miss in the America's Junior Miss program which is now called Distinguished Young Woman. Spoiler: She placed in the top ten and did amazing!

I stole this picture from the professional photography website, this is Paige performing her talent - she is phenomenal on the violin.
Just FYI, we were there with Mark's parents, Uncle Mike and Aunt Cathy, Kimi and Craig, and Grandma and Grandpa Wagner.

We did lots of fun - and hot - things while in the South. Day one I believe we went to the Bellingrath Gardens and enjoyed the heat while looking at some beautiful, green scenery. I am definitely used to dry heat because I absolutely did not like being sticky all the time; it was beautiful down there but I don't know if I could get used to that humidity.

Oh and the same day as the gardens we went to Dauphin Island and enjoyed the beach, without any oil sightings, but I don't have any pictures of that. It was really fun though - the water was very nice and very warm! Also, I fell in love with Southern homes; driving through Mobile was maybe my favorite part just looking at those houses. I told Mark that I want a Southern home no matter where we end up.

There were two nights of preliminaries for the competition. We really only got to see Paige after her performances. Everyone gathered in the parking lot and mingled for a few minutes, it was pretty fun! Here's Mark and Paige after night one of pre-lims.


The next day we headed out to see the USS Alabama, which again was hot. Everything we did was hot, sticky and fun.

The ship

Craig, Uncle Mike, and Kimi in the bunks

The newlywed bunk

That night we enjoyed a delicious Southern meal; I got to enjoy my very first hush puppy. Devry kept texting me to make sure I didn't leave the South without that delicacy.

Here's a shot of everyone who came out from California, or in support of California, in our Paige t-shirts!


These little ladies greeted everyone at the doors each night before the performances - I called them the cupcakes, but I guess they are some sort of ambassadors or something.
In this picture it's pretty clear that I stopped trying to fight the heat as it looks like I had been at the beach all day, but really that's just how I looked by the end of the day - hot and sticky. Last night of preliminaries!

So I guess the last day was Saturday. We went to - I don't know what it was called, there were booths set up from every state. It was put on by America's Junior Miss. So basically each state had food that represented it's state. We had lots of fun going around learning and taking their treats! My purse was full of delicious things.

Saturday night was the final night, where the top ten were announced! And Paige of course made it to the top ten and did such a good job! She really is an amazing girl with so much talent.


Then we came home, after a few long hours in the New Orleans airport. We were home for a few days and then went to Idaho for the Fourth and Wagner family reunion - hopefully those posts are coming up next and soon.