Kentucky Cousins

The day after Craig's birthday, we headed to Kentucky to visit my sister and her family.  I learned a valuable lesson from this: DON'T TRAVEL THE DAY AFTER SOMEONE'S BIRTHDAY.  Because there's a lot of work that goes into leaving for a three week trip, and you don't really want to do any of it on a birthday.  So packing, cleaning the house, and loading the car didn't happen until the next day.  And because we'd stayed up late the night before ('cuz it was Craig's birthday!) and Craig hadn't slept all night because he'd had like five Cokes or something ('cuz it was his birthday!), we didn't even roll out of bed until 8am!  So then we dashed around frantically trying to pack clothes and food and everything and tidy up so we wouldn't come home to a mess and give the chickens extra food and all the stuff you would normally do the night before.

It was a little bit stressful.

But I was kind of proud of us for being on the road (with the gas tank filled and a new pair of sunglasses for Craig) by noon.  All things considered, that was pretty good.  And we even managed to bring all our leftovers from Maggiano's with us, since they would have been spoiled by the time we came back and we NEVER EVER waste their Rigatoni D.  Ever.  And Craig somehow managed to cram five garbage bags of baby clothes that I'd promised to bring to Natalie into the van, in addition to all the stuff we needed, so that was pretty impressive, I thought.  We're not going to be able to do this once our kids' legs get a little longer!

It's only a six hour drive to Natalie's home in Ashland, so we made it there with only one bathroom break, and with a gas tank nearly on empty by the time we arrived.  Phew!  And we were just in time for dinner!

While we were there, we didn't do a whole lot: Natalie and I hung out and sorted the baby girl clothes I'd brought for her (she would go on to have that baby two days after we left, so I just barely missed getting to meet my newest niece!).  And mostly we let the cousins all play together, which is a wonderful thing. 

A little bit of TV time so the adults can get some peace and quiet

It can be tricky convincing kids this age to get along, so I was pleased with how well Caleb and Ryder did

Samuel, Caleb, Kendra, Colton, Bentley, Ryder

It was fun to watch Bentley and Samuel playing chess together.  They don't have all the rules down yet, but they're close!

Dinner at the Kids' Table

The kids enjoyed wearing Natalie's Civil War hats and running around fighting and screaming and being crazy

It was kind of nuts, but in an awesome fun cousin-y kind of way!

Kendra wanted a picture of her holding the hat

Craig was starting to get a little stir-crazy from just sitting around the house, so one day we took the oldest kids and went and explored some nearby caves.  That was pretty fun, too!

While we waited for our tour, the kids practiced panning for gold.

Apparently you could buy little bags with sand and fossils and things to pan for, but they were having so much fun without those, that we didn't see the need to spend any extra money!

So excited!

Even Colton was excited by the muddy water!

About to enter the cave!

Most of the gang (you can't see Colton on Craig's back)

There's Colton, grabbing the most uncomfortable nap ever.  He was just lucky Craig didn't back into that ledge right behind them...

Pretty view coming out of the cave

I loved the contrast between the green and the rocks here

On the last day of our stay, my Mom arrived, so it was wonderful getting to see her again, even for just a little bit.  We were sad to have to leave the next day, but we needed to make it to Houston in time for Maya's baptism (which should be my next post).  So that was our visit to Kentucky!  Natalie seems to have been a bit camera shy, but considering how very pregnant she was, I can't say that I blame her!  If you want to see pictures of her adorable baby Nicole, hop over to her blog!  

We were awfully glad to get a chance to visit them, especially now that they'll be moving across the country in the next few months!  Guess we'll have to start saving up for plane tickets...!