1st day of preschool yesterday

I didn't blog this yesterday because it was kind of traumatic.
The whole way to preschool, Brody yelled, "I DON'T WANT TO GO TO PRESCHOOL!!!"

 

Here is a picture of the sign that all the other kids posed by for their Moms.
Brody wouldn't even look at it.

 

By pick up time, though, it looked like he did okay.

 

And here is proof that he actually had fun.
Juice and granola bars for snack.
We will see how Thursday goes...

 

Watch out McCain and Obama!

The whole crew

These are all the people who showed up to welcome us to Kentucky.
Like I said, we were treated like Kings and Queens.
The friendliest, most hospitible people live in Lexington... especially if they are your family!

 

From the top:
Uncle Steve (my Dad's brother)
Steve, my cousin Stevie (Steve's son)
Me, Susan (Stevie's wife)
My cousin Rachel (Janet & Jeff's daughter), Uncle Jeff , Aunt Janet (my Dad's sister)
My cousin Willie (Steve's son), Tyler (Missy's husband)
Jessica (Willie's girlfriend), Cody (Missy and Tyler's son), my cousin Missy (Steve's daughter), Emily
my cousin Luke (Janet and Jeff's son), Isaiah, Matthew (Stevie and Susan's son)
Micah, Hannah, and Brody
The only one missing was Zach (Janet and Jeff's son), as he is in the Army, stationed in Japan.

A wonderful trip

My Aunt Janet (my Dad's sister), my cousin Rachel, and Uncle Jeff

 

Beautiful Kentucky farm

 

Isaiah, my cousin Luke, and Micah

 

The long drive home...

 

more old friends

 

 

 

This horse, who's name is Popcorn, played Seabiscuit in the movie.

 

Monday...

My Aunt Janet, and Uncle Jeff arranged for a tour of a horse farm called Old Friends.
It is for retired race horses, and is the only farm that will take stallions.

 

I love this picture because it shows how much my cousin Luke and Isaiah are alike. They were inseperable, and I am convinced that if we lived closer, they would be best friends.

 

Micah feeding a millonaire.

 

This just made me laugh. This poor boy never won a dime, and is the son of the famous racer, Seattle Slew.

 

more horse park

 

 

 

 

The Horse Park

Sunday morning we headed to the Kentucky Horse Park. We spent all day there, and all the kids loved it.

 

 

 

There was even a hunter/jumper show being held there this weekend, so we caught some of that as well.

 

Rachel's cake

This cake deserved a post all it's own! My cousin Rachel made it.
And it was perfect.
And delicious.

 

My family.

Once we checked in to our motel, we headed over to my Aunt Janet, and Uncle Jeff's house.
We were treated like royalty.
Seriously.
The kids swam, we ate steak, and visited with family we hadn't seen in over 11 years.

 

This is my cousin Willy (Steve's son) and my uncle Jeff (when I was little, I used to tell my friends that he was in ZZ Top)!

 

My uncle Steve (my Dad's brother)

 

Brody LOVED their pool. All the kids did. At one point Micah asked me if people in Kentucky lived like this every day!

 

And so it began...

Our first major stop was the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum.
Apparently after 6.5 hours in the car, Brody had to use the bathroom.

 

 

They were all thrilled that I wanted to take pictures.

 

Fun with the props.

 

After this, we got in the car again, and headed another 1.5 hours east, to Lexington, our destination.

We're Home!

We got in last night about 9:30pm, and the kids stumbbled in to their beds....
Most are on their way to school, and later today Brody starts preschool!
He is very upset about this. He only wants to go to kindergarten, not preschool.
Pictures of our incredible weekend are on their way....

The land of Jack

Daniels that is.

We are headed to Kentucky. Leaving dark and early, around 3am. Hope to be in Louisville by 10am eastern time, to hit the Louisville Slugger Factory and Museum. Then it is on to Lexington, to a gathering of family we haven't seen in much too long.

Good times are sure to be had by all. Looking forward to sharing my "roots" with my children.

Pictures soon....

On being "you".

As I was vacuuming out my car this morning, I was thinking about some blogs I read. That lead me to start thinking about what I would say to my kids, if I knew I wasn't going to be around anymore.

Morbid, I know, but stay with me here.

I get so tired of people saying things like, "That doesn't sound like you."
What SHOULD it mean to be you? To act like yourself?

Here's what I think:
Acting with conviction for that, and for whom, in which you believe.

I wasted too many years believing things like, Christians couldn't be environmentalists, and could only vote republican. I made the choice to let others define who I was. And what's worse, believing something else entirely.

Years wasted, afraid of hurting feelings, and stepping on toes.

Being "you" means embracing what and whom you believe in, and acting on it.

Who I am today, who "you" are, may not be who we are tomorrow, but I am convinced that it does indeed sound just like me.

I mean, seriously,

How could you not smile looking at this little tree frog?

Without flash...

 

With flash...

 

Do you see it?

I was sitting on the couch, looking out the window, the second one in the picture, when I saw something. My first thought was, "Is that a baby turtle?" I know it makes absolutely no sense that a baby turtle would be on the deck rail, but clearly I have had lots of experiences with baby turtles recently.

 

An adorable frog. And I have no idea where he came from.
But, he was smiling at me.
And that made me happy.