Kentucky

We decided to head South for the Memorial Day weekend. In hopes of finding warm weather no matter what was going on in Chicago. We loaded up and met our dear friends the Tyson's and went to Kentucky.

The plan worked, because it was pushing 100 degrees the entire trip! But it felt good!

We took our time. Made stops along the way for ice cream in Chicago, lunch, and lots of pool time for the kids. We got a lot of comments, and even more disbelieving stares as we maneuvered our way around with eight kids under the age of nine. They were all SO good on the trip! I can't think of even one major meltdown or serious incident. Just a bunch of pleasant little people fore the most part.

We spent the first couple of days in Louisville.

We went old school and ate at the Hardrock the first night. Leslie and I laughed at how we were THAT mother, who takes her kids out to a street party in downtown Louisville late at night. But, we got in late, and we had to eat!

These pictures are a mix from my camera, my iphone, instagram, and the Tyson's camera.

These two are rockin' the same style vibe. Wavy blondes in vintage tees.

Lots of car time.

It felt good to stretch our legs in dowtown Louisville. (Or Luavoll to the locals.)

Line em up, and feed em! Picture is minus nine month old Annie.

Might as well take in a little live music while we are out on the town. The guy singing had a videographer with him. They were so happy to have us sitting there listening that he came over and recorded me and Leslie. We pretended he was not there.

The next day, after a little swim time for the kids, we hit two of Louisville's most defining spots. The first, was the Louisville Slugger factory and museum.
We took the tour, and watched a nice little video they have.

Do you really have to choose between your flower headband and your baseball cap? According to Georgia.... no ma'am!

At the end of the tour they hand out these mini sluggers. The kids were thrilled! The parents, were honestly concerned about how long it was going to be before someone got a mini slugger to the head.

And yes, it did happen. Will took a hit to the lip in the backseat of the car a few hours later.

You can purchase a customized Slugger to take home. We had ours personalized with our name, and our hometown team. Made me want to come home and take the kids to a Cubs game!
The factory was really so much fun! You can get a glimpse of your favorite hitters bat before he does!  A must for the list of all you baseball fans out there!

Lunch Al Fresco.
Me and Leslie. She is so beautiful.
Oh how we will miss our SLC/Milwaukee friends when they move to Denver for Jared's fellowship next year! What a blessing that they ended up so close for so many years for medical school and residency! Tender mercies.

Nest stop... Churchill Downs!
We missed the Kentucky Derby by a few weeks, but that did not stop us from having a good time. Leslie and I made a friend on the way in, and she gave a tickets for box seats. Although it seemed you pretty much just sit wherever you end up when it is a normal race day.

This place is huge!
People were dressed casual, like us, or really fancy, jacket, tie, and hats with flowers. It depends a lot on where you sit. It would be fun to go back without kids and go all out on the hat!

Running the horse back down the track after the race.

Ella

Annnnnd... they're off!

The kids thought the races were awesome! In fact, Will and little Jack disappeared when we stopped to take a drink break on the way out. We found them sitting side by side, back inside the track, front row, ready for another race!

Isn't Annie the sweetest?!

Del and Jared have known each other since elementary school. Del would want me to point out the he is standing a step down. Ha!

The group.

The Tyson Family at the races.

Us.

We woke up the next morning and headed for church in Louisville. Tiny ward. Kind of reminded me of our ward, where every single number in the congregation makes a difference, and the bonds are tight. I love that about our ward. Everyone is so needed, and we are close. The dowtown Louisville ward was neat.
Louisville was settled in 1780! I had no idea it had such a long settlement history. There is an entire section of downtown that has the MOST amazing historic homes. One after the next lined up along the streets. Unfortunately, it is now a rough part of town, and most of the homes are sectioned off into apartments. But I would love to get a glimpse at those streets in their glory days! I am a sucker for that kind of thing.
Although I was the only one in our group who is, so my musings were probably pretty annoying.

Us on a Sunday afternoon in Horse Cave, Kentucky. Think of every country song you have ever heard with mention of a Sunday in a tiny Southern town, and you have it about right. Something neat about that, actually.

Believe it or not, we ate here on a recommendation! Pretty good. Nice salad bar. Lots of old people! Ha!

We headed South to Mammoth Caves National Park.
Mammoth Cave is the longest cave in the world. Almost 400 hundred miles have been discovered with more added each year. We took a two hour, two mile, historical tour of the caves.

All the kids, even the tiny boys walked the whole way. Well, not Annie, but she gets a pass.

The little cave explorers.

(photo from Tyson fam)

(photo from Tyson fam)

(photo from Tyson fam)

(photo from Tyson fam)

Walking through "Fat Man's Misery."

No Georgie or Ella. Asleep in the car. (photo from Tyson fam)

We made it as far as Indianapolis that night. We let the kids swim for a long time in the morning. Their favorite. We stopped in dowtown Chicago for more ice cream, and headed home. Now I wish we had just gone on to Nashville, which is only an hour and a half from the cave. But that will have to wait for another trip.

(Photo from Tyson fam)

We had such a nice time! It is always good to see a new part of the country! Next time we are in that region, it is on to Dollywood!!

Turtle Rescue

We have a bit of a dilemma on our hands. Since putting up the fencing in our backyard, turtles have been appearing nightly, trying to slowly maneuver their way around, or pathetically, over the fence, to reach the pond water. 

So, we have to go out and shovel turtles over the fence.

I recorded Del lifting one over, after a failed attempt the night before. The turtle swung its head around when he tried to pick it up, and bit him on the finger! Luckily, he was wearing gloves. 

So, we got this guy over the fence, only to find a few hours later that there was an even BIGGER one stuck back there! Talk about unforeseen consequences! We feel bad, but all we can do it lift them over. We certainly aren't taking the fence down because in a matchup of whose well-being we will put as a priority, a turtle's or Walker's... Walker wins it every time!

Here is the one that we found later. What a monster!

And her is the video of our second attempt to rescue the first turtle. We gave up the night before, and came back in the morning after it bit Del because it was so dark. I always sound like a giggling idiot in video. So sorry for that.

Dare Ya To Go Downtown

This weekend is the NATO Summit in Chicago. Everyone is in an uproar about the protestors. So, I dare you to go downtown and brave the crazy crowds. I know I won't be there, so let me know how it goes!

I will be hosting a bridal shower.

I am providing the house anyway. And flowers and chairs. Others are doing the food and other details. Good thing, because I have really had a fire lit under me to get a little more settled, knowing that close to 50, yes indeed, 50! People will be visiting my home!
Good to get things taken care of. I just hope we all fit comfortably. We may have people hanging out the windows, so pray for good weather for me so they don't leave damp!

In other news, I have started an Instagram account. Yes. I know.

MOOOO!
I am one of the mindless cattle that must follow the herd and join every passing online social networking site.

But my username is JessicaRinquest in case you want to follow. I believe I have a whopping four pictures up right now.

I will share some of them here too.

Wally had a pottery piece entered into the Art Show for school. He made this bowl. It has spikes coming out of it all the way around. The art teacher couldn't believe it came out of the firing process in perfect condition. She made sure to pull me aside and tell me how important Wally's art is to him. She is very nice. Wally likes her so much. Wally likes art so much.

Walker got a new pair of shoes. He got them because he threw one of his other pair out the car window while I was driving.
We were on the way to the gym, I heard him roll the window down. I rolled it back up and put the child lock on.

When we got to the gym, he was minus one shoe.

I asked Walker where his other shoe was.
He told me he threw it out the window.
I searched high and low in the car.
Then I drove home because you can't drop a kid with one shoe off in the health club day care center.
Nice.

The Claw!!!
You know those games that you put a dollar in for a chance to grab a stuffed animal with a claw, and it eats your money, and you never in a million years could possibly have grabbed one of those animals?

Well, Wally is The Claw whisperer! This kid is on fire when it comes to those games. He wins, and wins multiple times in a row!
My parents are witness to the King of The Claw madness. Wally won three times in a row while they were here last year. Just the other night, he did it again.
There was a table of elderly people eating next to the game. They were in awe!
Never seen anything like it! Or so they told me.
Wally gives the prizes to his brothers and sister. He is a good sport.

Poor Man's Waterslide.

The Clampetts have moved in!

Our next door neighbors have a... well, amazing home!! It is very large, and beautiful, and to make it even more eye catching, they have a resort style pool in the backyard.
I am not talking your average rectangular shaped pool, but a swirling, multiple leveled, center island, fire accented creation. With a rock formation 30 foot, twisting waterside, that has waterfalls running down it, and a built in cave you can swim into. I feel like I shouldn't have to lift a finger when I hear that flowing water! It is like listening to a vacation soundtrack!

And this is what my kids came up with when they wanted a waterside of their very own. A hose pulled up to the top of the swing set slide, with a leaky plastic pool to splash into when you reach the bottom while riding on your... snow sled!!

So funny! And entertainment for hours! Even some of the neighborhood kids with real pools in their backyards have been over for some of this hillbilly fun!

Yay for creative kids.

By the way. Those neighbors with the super cool pool? They are the nicest, biggest hearted people you could ever meet, and we are glad to live next door.
We bought our home from them.
They think they were meant to sell it to us, and we think we were meant to buy it.

I just hope they got a good laugh out of our makeshift water fun.

I love Del. He is out of town too often for my taste lately.
I got a chemical peel. So I was peely on Mothers Day. Unfortunately, the face of Heidi Klum was not hiding under the dead skin it removed. Shucks. Maybe next time. In the meantime, I need to get my eyebrows threaded ASAP!

Georgia Turns 5!

Georgia is finally five! Oh boy, was she ready! Five means you use all the fingers on your hand to tell people how old you are. It means you do very important things like swim across the pool all by yourself. Not really, but that is what she told her swim teacher. I know for a fact she would not make it just yet.

But most of all, it means Kindergarten!! It makes me sad that my little girl is so anxious to start school, especially considering she has not even finished this year of pre-school yet. But I am glad she has the confidence and excitement to go. What a blessing to have kids that enjoy going to school!

Georgia told me on the morning of her birthday, "Being four was SO hard on me!"

I had no idea!

I am glad there appears to be some relief for this poor girl in turning five!

She is funny, that is for sure. The other day she was running around the house in a panic because the boys were getting ready to go out into the woods next to our house for an adventure with their friends, and she could not find her shoes. She was desperate to go. When I pointed them out to her, she sighed in relief and said,

"Oh good! There are two things I hate, spiders and being left behind!"

Ha, ha! Those are both pretty bad when you are the little sister!
And she ran out the door in a dance leotard and pink tutu, to have a rough and tumble adventure in the mud.

By the way, I am probably going to owe the golf course I don't even want to know how much money, because of all the "excavating" my kids have been doing on a small hill near the golf cart path. Apparently it is a great source for "fossils." But more than likely, THEY are a great source of erosion. I put a stop to it, and find them back over there digging away a few days later. Frustrating.

Georgia is also almost impossible to take a decent picture of when she sets her mind to it. And she had her mind made up on her birthday that the pictures would not be great.

Georgia got her box of birthday cereal. It was gone within hours. Most of it ended up being vacuumed up off of the floor. I should have just gotten her a bag of mini marshmallows. That is all my kids care about when it comes to Lucky Charms. Oh well, the faster it is gone, the faster it is GONE!

We love you SOOO much Georgia! You are the eyes an ears of our house, and I can't imagine any of it without you. You keep everyone in line, and always have an idea brewing in your head. Your energy does not stop! I know you will do great things. The impact you have had on my life began the moment you were placed in my arms after you were born. We are so glad you are in our family, Girlie!