our trip - Long

kit_kats_mom wrote: OK I was going to just post this on my website but since L decided to take a nap I'll go ahead & post it here

August 3, 2005
We went to Tallahassee today and got to meet Baby Bridget Shoemaker. She is a beauty!

August 4, 2005
We drove to Newnan GA from Tallahassee. We checked into the hotel and went to the Boston’s new house. They have quite a project with the renovation of such a large old place (1930’s house) but I’m sure it will be beautiful when they are done. The city of Newnan has a charming downtown area that is within walking distance from the Boston’s house. I put Lauren in the sling and Katherine and Taitum rode in the double stroller while Bella rode in the sling on Cyndi. We had a nice dinner at the Irish pub but since there were 4 girls and only 3 of us, each of the adults took turns taking the girls outside. Katherine and Taitum were playing “red light green light” and got all tangled up. Katherine ended up with a skinned knee but after a few tears, she was fine. So far, the only downside of this trip is my brilliant packing plan. I was under the impression that all Hampton Inns had laundry’s. Not sure where I got that idea but it was sure in my head when I packed 3 outfits per person in our family. OK, not really, Lauren has 6 outfits but honestly that’s just smart. What is not smart is my not double checking on the laundry facilities. I ended up hand washing our outfits in the tub at the hotel so that we would have something clean to wear the next day. Let’s just say it was a damp day. Sigh

Katherine’s mispronunciations are so funny sometimes. I got some silly putty for her to play with in the car and she’s had a good time making pretend mud with it, for her animals to play in. She calls it her “pitty pat” though which just kills me.

Her sense of humor is in full force now too. She messes up the words to pat a cake and thinks it’s the funniest thing ever. Her version is “pat a cake pat a cake bakers man. Bake me a potato as fast as you can. Roll it and pat it and mark it with a K. Put it in the bathroom for Katherine and mommy!”. Silly girl! I’d chosen a bedtime story for her before our trip called “are we there yet?”. It’s about two brothers who are on a long car trip and they are basically nuts most of the way until dad has had enough and pulls over to nap. K loves that story and thinks it’s hysterical and almost every day of our trip we had at least one round of
K: “mom, are we there yet?”
Me: “No Harry!”
K: “Hey! I’m not Harry, I’m Daffrin”
Everyone in the car: “Ahahahaha”


August 5, 2005
Today we drove from Newnan Georgia, through the mountains to Nashville. We visited with Donny & his two children, Mitchell and Taylor, on our way out of Atlanta. K loved their new puppy and she had a really difficult time deciding between the stairs or the puppy as an appropriate play thing. She settled on dividing her time between the two. Then we went to rock city. The fairy tale stuff was weird but the rest of it was pretty cool. The swingy bridge was pretty scary since I had Lauren in the sling & some ding-a-ling behind us thought that bouncing the bridge was a good idea. My sense of mortality and my children’s safety were on high alert way up there spanning a rocky chasm on a bouncy bridge.
K wanted to be carried in the sling for much of the way though due to an on coming cold so I was pretty beat after we were done. After rock city we went to the playground on Lookout Mountain for a bit. It appears that K has a thing for dogs and she made another doggy pal at the park. We then headed to Nashville where we had pizza at Uncle Paul’s house and after dinner we walked around his neighborhood where the lightning bugs were out in full force. K caught her first lightning bug! We then checked into the hotel and since K took such a late nap, she and dad went swimming while L and I took care of the laundry…yes, at the hotel. I got smart and found a booklet at the Newnan Hampton listing all of the facilities and their amenities. I found that the Hampton that we were to stay in tonight did not have laundry facilities but that the one closest to Paul’s house did…SOLD!


August 6, 2005
We woke up early and drove to Carbondale IL for Woody’s aunt Bonna’s surprise graduation party. I had the opportunity to meet many of Woody’s family members whom I’d only heard about. There were a lot of kids there and Katherine had fun playing in the tree house with Noah and watching the boys climb trees. She also got to hear banjo & fiddle music being played live. She really enjoyed petting the friendly dog. How long do you think I can get away with not owning a dog?

August 7, 2005
We made it to Myrna & Carl’s house out on the farm. Katherine rode on the tractor with Carl to get the mail, she got to pet the horses (while I stood in the background having heart attacks about the electric fence), she fed the horses, she got to ride on chocolate the Donkey’s back (HIGHLIGHT OF THE ENTIRE VACATION AS FAR AS SHE’S CONCEREND), and chase lightning bugs. We also looked at the soybeans growing in the field behind nana & papa’s house. In between all of that she also chased down the cat numerous times and played with the dog for a bit. She had a blast! When asked what she rode her reply, “a camel”. After we told her that it was a donkey she agreed but still called it a camel later. Goofy girl.

August 8, 2005
We went to a neighbor’s farm and picked some corn & other veggies. We also got to see how broccoli looks in its natural form. Katherine helped pick some veggies but she was much more interested in the neighbor’s cat. She also thought the swallows that were flying in & out of the barn were pretty cool.
After that, papa Carl had a big surprise for her. We showed up at his work and she got to see what he does. She got to sit in a giant tractor and she went for a ride on the smaller one. He also took her for a spin in the semi.
We got back to the house & shucked some corn for dinner. It was delish!
Both girls got a bath in the wash room sink and then off to bed. I have to say that for being off of their schedules so much, both girls are doing pretty well! Hooray!

August 9, 2005
We drove into Bloomington to see Grandpa Henry and Grandma Jane. We all went to a new sprinkler park that they’d just opened and we played in the water for awhile. It was really hot though and I was fine with going back to Jane’s when K was done playing. Katherine did stick to her cautiousness today. There were a TON of kids at the sprinkler park and she just avoided them and went to play on the toys that everyone else was avoiding. We had dinner at Jane’s then headed back to the farm.

August 10, 2005
Drove from the farm to Cincinnati today. On the way we stopped at the Indianapolis children’s museum and met up with Colin and Colleen. It was great seeing Colleen after so many years and Colin was fun as usual. Katherine however was a beast! She had not taken a nap and so we left the museum after only about an hour. I wanted to stay and see more but she just had a total meltdown and Woody carried her crying and screaming out of the building. That was a bummer. We made it to the Laupp’s house by dinnertime and they cooked us up a yummy meal. Katherine played with their cats and Anthony’s dog for awhile and both girls played with the pile of toys that Brian and Becky have on hand to entertain the youth who stop in at their place. We had a wonderful visit with all of the Laupps.

August 11, 2005
Left the Laupps in Cinci after breaking a vase (whoops! Bad husband!) and drove to Nashville….well sorta. This is the kind of day that the words “flexible vacation plans” were made for. To put it shortly, our GPS failed us. The plan was to drive from Cinci to Knoxville. I had the bright idea that we should stop in Kingston and get a picture of K with her great grandfather’s stacks in the background. We put “Kingston” into the GPS and headed off mindlessly following the GPS, with no questions asked.

The girls started to get grumpy and Woody saw a sign for Horse cave in Kentucky so we pulled off. If we knew what was good for us we would have just nursed the baby, changed diapers and kept on going but nope, we went for Horse cave like the adventurous, flexible, family of suckers that we are.

I should have known something was up when we pulled up to “horse cave”. The “cave museum” was a storefront in a run down looking downtown area. We went in and bought tickets. Ok, well, we weren’t’ the only suckers. There were 3 other women waiting for the tour. The tour guide shows up and we start down into the cave, stopping every few yards to get lectured on ground water pollution and what we can do to save caves. Then on our way into the cave itself, the guide tells us that this particular cave used to be the towns sewer system. Uh, excuse me? You didn’t just tell me that did you? You are taking us down a million wet wooden stairs into an old sewer? Between Lauren babbling the whole time and K trying to run away down into the mouth of the sewer,,,uh..cave I was pretty sure that that is exactly what I heard. We kept going for a bit but finally Woody asked if I wanted to turn back. Yesirre Bob I Sure Do! SO up a billion stairs with Lauren in the sling I go. Note to self…work out more. I was dying at the end. So how much did we spend on that little trip? I don’t know and frankly, I don’t really want to know either.

So we hop back into the car, sweaty and still out of breath, and we continue to Knoxville…or so we think.

We start to see signs for Nashville and I start thinking…this just doesn’t seem right. However, being the geography whiz that I am, I didn’t really know. So we get just outside of Nashville and I call my mom to get an idea of what interstate Knoxville is off of. After speaking with my mom I’m positive that we missed a turn somewhere but Ginger (our gps lady) is leading us to our destination…even though it’s still the wrong destination.

Woody gets on the phone with Hampton reservations and the decision is made to stay in Nashville for the night. Paul is working overtime so we miss him. We walk around the Green Hills mall and eat dinner then we go to bed.

August 12, 2005
We drove from Nashville to Atlanta & met with Bella, Taitum and Cyndi again at the Atlanta zoo. We enjoyed spending time with Bella on her 2nd birthday. Cyndi made some cute little gift bags for both girls and the toys she put in them kept the girls occupied in the car for most of the ride home.
Katherine was such a good girl that she really really reaped the benefits. She not only got to go to the zoo, which she would have forfeited if she’d been a monster like the previous day, but she also got to get ice cream and go swimming.

August 13, 2005

We are home after our whirlwind tour of the country. We had a great time and the girls could not have been better behaved for the most part. We had a few meltdowns but all in all, for the amount of time they were confined to their car seats, they were awesome. So awesome in fact that we may actually take another road trip next year.

kit_kats_mom replied: do I win a prize for longest post ever?

coasterqueen replied: OMG! All I can say is I'd never be that adventurous to take my two kids on a road trip that far, lol. I'd be begging for a rubber room by the end of it.
Glad you ahd a good trip!

TANNER'S MOM replied: And you were able to type after all that..

I must say I read every bit of that..and really enjoyed your writing!

I am glad you enjoyed yourself!

booey2 replied: Wow, you sure are a brave lady. I dread a 3 hour car ride to the cottage every summer and that is with only one of my two boys. Sounds like you all had a blast. Welcome back.

mom21kid2dogs replied: WoW!!! Adventures galore! Can't wait to see the pics!

Jamison'smama replied: Wow, big trip, you say you carried K in a sling most of the day because of an oncoming cold? WOW, I can't imagine how hard that must have been--did she get a cold?

kit_kats_mom replied:
Well, since she's only 24 lbs, it wasn't too bad really. LOL The cold never got bad. Runny nose & sniffles for a couple days then she was fine. I think it may have had something to do with the hotels...or rather my DH's affinity for blasting the AC as cold as it will go when we aren't paying for it. I woke up a few nights as a cary-sicle.

kit_kats_mom replied:
My secret?

DVD player for the car

Kept K busy for about half of the trip each day and DH sat in the back seat of the van playing with Lauren (when she was awake) while I drove. We tried me in the back but Lauren got really upset both times. I think she was saying "the boobs are sooooo close but you wont' give em up lady!"

booey2 replied:
I really wanted to get one for the boys but DH says that he travelled in the car on long trips with his parents and lived so the boys can put up with it too.

A&A'smommy replied: WOW what a trip sounds like you guys had a great time thought!!

coasterqueen replied: Cary -

You might have something on the cold symptoms and hotels. Almost every time we've stayed in a hotel Kylie always ends up with cold-like symptoms and so do I. I figured it was the musty-ness of them, though. Even in really expensive hotel rooms our office puts us in we both still get this way.

Also on the dvd player - was that the first time K has had one in the car? I think Kylie is so used to hers (unfortunately) that she doesn't stay entertained by it for long.

amynicole21 replied: Sounds like a blast, though exhausting! I'm glad the girls did so well