We decided to attend Matthew and Lauren’s wedding on August 7, in Covington, Kentucky, and make a family vacation out it. What a whirl wind adventure! The children did amazing well in the van thanks to great activities books from Costco! I took audio books and DVDs but we only listened and watched for a total of 3 hours out of the 36+ that we were in the car.
Day 1:
We started July 31, at 4 a.m. and drove until 3 p.m. to reach West Memphis, Arkansas. I made breakfast tacos before we left. The kids slept until 7 or 8 a.m. and we had breakfast in the car. We took a break at the Arkansas state line. The kids kept asking for the CARS songs. They particularly like the song, “Light in the Hallway”–or known to the rest of us as “Life is a Highway.” Therese’s response to Adam’s podcast was pretty funny too, “Noooooooo, not Basic Brewing, again.” We made vigil Mass at St. Peter’s downtown. We ask some locals for a place to eat and ended up at Neely’s BBQ in Memphis. They are known for their ribs. The ribs didn’t agree with Adam’s tummy that night.
Day 2: Memphis, TN
We checked out of our hotel and headed to Mud Island Park. We rode the monorail to the park as it’s the only way to get there. The kids called it the bus in the sky. When we got there we made a beeline to the scale replica of the Mississippi River. The Corps of Engineers designed it topologically correct and it is scaled 1 inch per 1 mile of the Mississippi. It is very impressive. The kids took off their shoes and “walked around in the Mississippi.” It was a lot cleaner than walking around in the real thing, that’s for sure. It started to get a little warm so we thought we’d go to the museum there. Unfortunately, the air conditioning wasn’t working so they didn’t open it or even know when it would open. That was a bummer. So $24 later, we hopped back on the monorail to grab some lunch before our next adventure. Adam and I are not really Elvis fans or blues fans. But we thought it would be neat to go to the Gibson Guitar factory to see how guitars are made. We walked up to the line and read the sign that children under 5 years old are not allowed on the tour. Uggghhh! Really???? Memphis will not be a city we revisit any time soon. So we took the kids to get some ice cream and hit the road for our next hotel stop just north of Nashville. On the way, we saw a sign for the Casey Jones Village. We didn’t really know what it was only that Casey Jones was a train engineer. It turned out to be a pleasant stop. I think a lot of our parents or grandparents would remember the song about Casey Jones. He was a train engineer who gave his life to save the lives of his passengers one fateful night. Turns out he was a Catholic convert too.
Day3: Mammoth Caves, KY
We planned to stay the whole day a Mammoth Caves National Park this day. We took our time getting breakfast and checking out of the hotel. As a result, we didn’t get there until almost 10 a.m. By then all the morning tours were sold out. Most of the tours were 2 hours long or we’d have to wait until mid to late afternoon to go on one. There was one at noon that was only 1hr 15 minutes. So on the Mammoth Passage Tour we went. To kill time before the tour we went walking down a couple of trails near the cave openings. As we were walking back to the visitor’s center we noticed this cool wave of air. It turns out it was coming from the cave opening. When we went on the tour it was 54 degrees in the cave. The kids were uncomfortable. Adam and I were refreshed! So every 5 minutes I heard, “Mommy, I’m cold. When is this going to be over?” I was a little disappointed that we didn’t get on the tour with the cool cave formations. It turns out that only an 1/8th of a mile of the 30+ miles that have been excavated actually have stalactites and stalagmites. So we got back in the car headed toward Louisville, KY. On the way we saw a sign for Lincoln’s birthplace. Why not?! We took another side trip to Hodgeville, KY. The interior of the memorial was closed for renovations, but it was a nice stop no less. That night we enjoyed a nice dinner at Brownings. It’s a microbrew. Adam enjoyed his sampler of their brews. Therese and I enjoyed some muscles. I’m thankful that my kids will try new foods even though it means I’ll have to share.
Day4: Louisville, KY
Our first stop in Louisville was Churchill Downs. We went to the museum which was very kid friendly with many interactive exhibits. Part of the museum experience was also taking a tour of the track. They were running the horses that day. We also saw one of the retired horses. It was very interesting. My favorite part of the museum was the hats. The kids enjoyed the horse racing game. At lunchtime we ended up in Indiana at a park to have our picnic. Then we crossed back over the bridge and went to the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum. We saw how baseball bats are made. Adam held Micky Mantel’s baseball bat and we saw Babe Ruth’s bat that set his record.
Then we headed to Florence, KY for our final destination. That night Lauren’s parents invited us to their home for dinner. Their house is on the river and it was a beautifully peaceful place. They live walking distance from Rabbit Hash, KY with its Rabbit Hash General Store. It was in the visitor books. I walked in the General Store and thought it smelled like my grandmother’s house. 
And some of the stuff in there could have come from my grandmother’s house, too.
Day 5: Newport, KY
This morning we had some issues with our extended stay hotel. It wasn’t the cleanest place on the planet and too rough for us. I came to appreciate the no-smoking laws in Austin. This ended up being a smoking hotel and the mental giants made the 1st floor smoking. We walked into our no-smoking room on the second floor to find an ash tray on the end table. It was spacious, but when my baby crawls around and has black knees within 10 minutes, you have to set some standards. So we spent the morning finding a new place to live for the next 4 days. We changed hotels and by the afternoon we drove a short distance to Newport on the Levee and the Newport Aquarium. We spent the remainder of the afternoon there. What children don’t love fish, and jellyfish, and sharks and all other things that swim in the water. When we went to the jelly fish exhibit, there was a game projected on the wall. It looked like a bunch of jelly fish swimming around and if you touched one, it changed directions. The kids LOVED it and could have spent all day there.
Day 6: Distillery/Children’s Museum/ Urgent Care
Adam planned to go with Matthew, Greg and Sam on a day trip to tour some distilleries. They went to Four Roses, Wild Turkey and Maker’s Mark. Maker’s Mark was the only distillery actually in production during the summer. He was in heaven. He brought back some bourbon BBQ sauces. They also went to the Abbey of Gethsemani which is home to some Trappist monks. They make bourbon fudge among other things.
While the guys were away, Lauren and her niece went with us to the Duke Energy Children’s Museum in Cincinnati. It was great! I have to say it is a hundred times better than the Austin Children’s Museum. It turned out to be a little more eventful though that I had planned. Within 10 minutes of getting there and starting to explore, Fulton fell from a ramp of one of the exhibits. For the rest of the stay there, he was nursing his right arm, wrapping it in his shirt when he wasn’t playing. I was very much hoping that it wasn’t serious. But the pain persisted even after we left. While the kids were napping that afternoon, I decide to give our pediatrician a call. Given that he complained about pain when we held something in his hand, the nurse said we should take him to get it checked out. “How are you going to feel if you wait until Tuesday when you get back and find out it is broken?” Gee thanks for the guilt trip, nurse. As Divine Providence would have it, there was no in-network doctors or facilities in the area, and the hotel was caddy corner from an urgent care. At least I didn’t have to travel far. Fulton has a distal radial buckle fracture which happens when the bone impacts on itself. On the x-ray it looks like a bump on the bone where is should be straight. It’s very subtle and doesn’t require a cast, but the doctor said sometime a splint it used. I told the doctor to look at Fulton’s knees and elbows that were all scraped up from the two previous falls he had earlier this week. And Fulton was made a splint to wear when he is active.
Not five minutes after getting back to the hotel the cell phone rings and it’s my dad. He called to tell me the news about my sister (which I blogged previously) and all that had happened since the previous weekend. She was scheduled to have back surgery on Saturday at noon. I love my big sister dearly and hearing this broke my heart. I spoke to her later that evening and she sounded as strong as she always does to me as if all this was a minor blip on the radar.
Day 7: Cincinnati Zoo
This was our last day of big outings because tomorrow would be the wedding. So we decided to go to the Cincinnati Zoo. Adam was skeptical about going to the zoo…especially since we can get in free to the San Antonio Zoo. He said they all have the same animals. Not so, my beloved. At least my sister said they don’t. God is good and it turns out it was visitor appreciation weekend and zoo admission was half price. Woohoo (I can use was I saved to pay for the out-of-network costs of the urgent care visit the day before)! It was a lot of fun. They had a lot of shade–making the heat bearable! Zoo keepers had a few small animals for kids to pet like a python, lizards, and llamas. The kids got to feed the giraffe some crackers. We saw a cheetah-run exhibition that was simply amazing. And they had manatees at their zoo. (All the Veggie Tale lovers (Adm and I) couldn’t help but sing, “Barbara Manatee.”) We got there at 9:30 a.m. and didn’t leave until closing–6 p.m.!
Day 8: Matthew and Lauren’s wedding
Their wedding wasn’t until 6:30 p.m. but we decided to take it easy and start packing to head home. We took the kids to the mall to play at their play area. We ‘tried’ to get them to nap but it just didn’t happen. I went to vigil Mass at 4 p.m. so Adam could go in the morning and we could leave immediately after that.
The wedding was at the Basilica of the Assumption in Covington, KY. The church was beautiful. Lauren was beautiful. The Mass was amazing and perfect for Matthew and Lauren. Our babies were tired. We were asked to take up the offertory gifts. Thankfully, Cecilia fell asleep in my arms in the back before we had to go up. The deacon gave Adam the cruets and gave me the ciborium. As we were walking up I was trying to keep an eye on the children. After we gave the priest the gifts, I start counting kids…where’s Fulton? Geez, he’s six rows behind us with crossed arms and a pouting face. Really, Fulton, you couldn’t just be agreeable? Apparently he was upset he didn’t get to carry one of the cruets. Only my kids! Muffin passed out 5 minutes later in Adam’s arms.
The reception was great and we had a fabulous time dancing with each other and the kids.
Day 9: Heading home
Vacation over. We were so ready to come home! We started at 9 a.m. and drove straight until 2:3o a.m. Monday morning. We only stopped for gas. I just made the kids sandwiches in the car. It was a LOOOONNNNGGG drive but we were all happy to be home.
