Friday, February 5, 2016

Trip to Louisville to meet Cousin Warner!

(2015)
My sister in law and brother in law had their first baby on March 26th and we were all so excited. Since it was on a weekend, we decided to go up and make a quick visit of it. We left Friday night when Jonathan got off work and decided we would drive to Nashville, meet some friends for dinner, and then find a hotel right outside of Nashville and go on the next morning to Louisville. Normally I don't think that would be a problem....but man did we run into one. We left from eating in Nashville about 10pm and figured we would just call around and get a hotel. I had started calling when we were about two hours out from Nashville and they had a big citywide event going on and there was NOTHING available, so I started getting online and just booking things right on the line of Kentucky - just to get an e-mail back immediately stating they were overbooked and did not actually have a room reserved for us. It got almost comical, but we were exhausted by this point and just ready to stay somewhere. 

We had a room booked for Saturday night in Louisville, but they were booked Friday night so we couldn't just drive through and stay there. Unfortunately there were also college basketball tournaments and racing events all the way from Nashville to Louisville. It was CRAZY. To say that we called 200+ hotels was not an overstatement in the least. We started even trying to find places in the outskirts that we could potentially stay. We FINALLY found a hotel that was available, but it was an hour out of our way. at that point it was midnight and we were desperate. Thankfully the boys fell asleep when we left Nashville, so they were unaware of the comical state that we were in. We called America's inn in Bardstown and they had two rooms. I immediately paid bc the guy said they had people calling and booking and they only had 24 rooms. I paid over the phone and we drove the hour to get there. We finally got settled in our room about 1:30 that morning and it was a much needed time to get some rest. The next morning we woke up and decide to drive around the town a little before leaving because Katherine and Scott were still in the hospital and the kid's couldn't go there to meet Warner. 

We came across the coolest cival war re-inactment that was only happening that morning, so we walked through it and went to the museum. This is SO UP MY HUSBAND"S ALLY. We had a great time getting to tour it all and it was interesting hearing him share so much with the boys about this time period and which set of clothes were each battalion and the guns that were used, etc. He was very well informed and I'm thankful that I'll have him in my back pocket for history while homeschooling :) 


The boys thought the cannons were so cool. They had a whole room of different ones.



Cheesing - he didn't want to take a picture, can you tell?


They let him try on the suit, but it itched and he was out immediately. He can't handle stuff like that.


But they did let him "shoot" one of the guns.


We left the boys with Mrs. Pam for about an hour and ran to meet this sweet boy while they were still there. They told them they were being discharged while we were there, so we weren't there but a minute.


We ate at a pizza place there that was to die for. I can't remember the name, but it was WELL worth the wait and we would do it again in a heartbeat. 



Jace is saying, "This gluten free pizza is amazing mom!"


Getting to meet his cousin!! This boy was beside himself excited. He absolutely loves him.




Aunt Say Say arrived as we were about to leave and go to the hotel for the night. Sweet love!


All the girls on the couch visiting - I was taking the picture ;)


Breakfast at the hotel the next morning. As we left that morning to see warner one more time, I mentioned to Jonathan how close we were to Cincinnati and we could go to the Creation Museum. We have been wanting to go for the last several years, so we looked it up and realized that it was very reasonable. They also had packages where you could buy your tickets and hotel combined and saved a lot. That's what we decided to do because they were two day passes. We called and asked off work for Monday and went ahead. We knew it was our only family vacation for the year because it had already cost us a pretty penny to get there and we wouldn't be able to do that again.



At the creation museum in the "ark."

 Petting zoo...




After we got ice cream to celebrate our fun day.



headed to load up and head home...


Daddy's Big helpers



So thankful for the opportunity to get some fun time with my boys...

 Officially headed home...


Stopped to see Warner one last time and had to stop at Grater's - the best Ice cream place ever!!


Silly boy on the way home...last leg of the trip...


And sweet boys the day they were born...Warner on the left, Jace on the right. I see a bit of a family resemblance. 


Shenanagins along the way

A few shanagins.. (March 2015)
Haircuts at a real barber for the first time...If you are local and looking for somewhere to get your kid's hair cut at a reasonable price, I HIGHLY recommend the barber shop in Oakland, TN. She is local and does a wonderful job and I can get their hair cut for $10 each. That's a steal. Also, Jonathan goes there and gets the hot shave while she cuts his hair as well. It's a great place to check out!


March was snowy, and then beautiful, so we went fishing!!



A little zoo fun with some sweet friends.





And this guy thinks this is where he is supposed to sit anytime the dishwasher is open...


Sensory box taken outside to play = HOURS of fun!


I had a tire coming apart so we had an emergency stop at Gateway for new tires...it was a LONG wait, but we made the best of it!


Tuesday, February 2, 2016

My baby turned two...

These sweet babies were spoiled while they were so little. We brought them in every night and loved on them. It was so fun for sure.

Daddy got a boat and had to test it out - even though it was freezing out! You will notice there's no picture of Jace and I in it. We stayed home so we didn't freeze to death.


Sweet babies.



The night before this little guy turned two.


Happy Birthday to my Jacie Pooh... cutie pie!


Happy boy.


Eating at the hut for lunch - Gaga and Mimi came out to go to lunch with us.


Gaga brought this cool sensory box and they were in LOVE.



Tucker working on the attic flooring with Daddy. We floored almost every square inch of it earlier this year. 


2015 Winter Snow

March 2015 brought the biggest snow of the year. 
We of course made snow cream - dairy free, but snow cream none the less!

Jace was not the biggest fan of the snow. He wanted to go inside so bad.


Tucker on the other hand LOVED EVERY SECOND







Papaw and Gaga came out to join in our fun and see what we were up to.


The roads were frozen solid, which made for awesome sledding.


A family photo attempt: