Vacation Catch-Up

This past Sunday we returned home from our week long adventure to Ohio to see Bill's family. We drove, which is always an adventure in itself. It takes us two days to drive there, especially because we like to stop at a couple of interesting places on our way so we can all get a break from the car. On the first day of our trip up to Ohio, we stopped at a state park in Tennessee to let the kids play. This was also timed with my needing to wash out Amy's blanket, which she had thrown up on shortly beforehand... We've learned not to give Amy food from McDonald's while going on a long driving trip.

On the second day of our drive we stopped at Lost River Cave in Kentucky. This was so much fun. We took a tour where we learned all about this underground river and even got to ride on a boat into the cavern. It was truly an amazing experience.

We spent the first couple of days visiting with Bill's dad and stepmom. The kids had so much fun fishing with Pa-Paw. They look forward to it every time we make this trip! We also had a visit from Sister Esther, Bill's Great-Aunt. She is amazing at making things with balloons. Oh, how the kids loved the neat things she made for them: jack-o-lanterns, fishing poles (with fish), an airplane, and little mice. She even made me a flower out of balloons. Really neat!

Halfway through the week we went to the Cincinnati Zoo with Bill's mom. This is a fantastic zoo. They have so many exhibits to look at, and the zoo itself is really beautiful. Maybe I was just enthralled by all the trees and hills, something I'm quite unfamiliar with when it comes to our local zoo.

The following day we went out to Bill's aunt and uncle's farm in Indiana. We have done this once before and what an incredible place it is! It's gorgeous on their property, the lovely white farm house and barn, set alongside a creek, which is so spectacular in the fall when the leaves are turning. And of course, the kids' favorite part of the experience, though feeding the cows and pigs is a close runner-up, was riding on the four-wheelers. Harold and Gina have three, which worked perfectly for the adults to each take one child for a ride down to the creek. At the creek, we all had fun looking at the rocks along the creek, finding many fossils in the process. We also had many encounters with cow patties and Nathan took a fall into the mud (yes, thankfully it was mud), but it was all part of the experience. We are so thankful to Harold and Gina for letting us come and visit them at their farm!

We also got to go and visit Bill's sister and her family for an afternoon. They have a large backyard that the kids enjoyed playing in. And what a view! Nathan had talked about seeing his cousins the whole drive up, so I'm glad we were able to stop by for a little while.

I'm disappointed that we missed out on seeing some of our friends during our visit. I had especially hoped to get together with Kris. We planned this trip so quickly and didn't give anyone enough notice. Hopefully we can plan better next time!

Our drive back was somewhat somber, as we knew it'd be another year before we'd get to do it again. We had so much fun on our trip and are so thankful to the many relatives who made the experience so wonderful. And in case I didn't say it enough while we were there - thank you for the delicious dinners, something you truly appreciate after two days of fast food!

We are taking it slow since returning home. I have been busy with laundry and unpacking, but we've held off on our schooling... until today that is. We are off to a slow start this morning as it is already almost 9 o'clock and none of us are even dressed yet. But we have no outside activities today and can take it as slow as we want. I think "slow" is about all I can manage today, anyway. :)

With the hundreds of pictures we took on our trip, I couldn't just pick a few to post. So I created a slideshow album with selections from all the events of our trip. Enjoy!