Kentucky and Tennessee- Day 1, 2 , 3 & 4

Sunday morning I found out my mom was in the hospital- her heart was putting her pace maker to use. It's always scary when your parents are in the hospital. I'm grateful for her pacemaker and for doctors that got her heart back on track. Unfortunately she had to do a lot of waiting and it meant that she wasn't going to be able to fly out to Tennessee with Mike's family on Tuesday. Instead they ended up coming out Thursday night. That was a bummer but I'm glad her and dad were still able to come. 

Monday we started our vacation. Our first destination was London, Kentucky. We had a bit of a slow start, Tyler had to get something from Home Depot to better fit his tools in with all our luggage- he doesn't like to take the Suburban without tools because it's such an old car.  It took almost an extra hour for him to get the tool organizer and get them all settled. Then we were only a half an hour into the drive when he was pulled over for speeding and he was given a ticket. Not a great start.  But after those hiccups, everything went very smoothly. We stopped to stretch, use bathrooms, and eat every 1.5 to 2 hours. Our stops were a little bit longer with a baby but Ruby did really well. For lunch we stopped at Culver's and met another large family that we shared quite a few similarities with- Tyler and him both have 5 siblings and are the second born. His wife had a small family similar to me, one brother.Buc-ee's was one of our favorite stops- while there I was changing Ruby's diaper and a little boy was getting his diaper changed next to us. Ruby was indecent and kept staring at his private like, what is that thing? Ruby only got cranky near the end of the trip. Our last stop was at a grocery store for TV dinners and breakfast food and then we arrived at our airbnb. Our airbnb had a pretty view of green hills and an old barn. The weather was perfect so we soaked in for a bit before the kids turned on a movie and I put Ruby to bed.  

    

Tyler picked a super long movie for the kids (some Wall of China movie with Matt Damon) so they all stayed up longer than I liked. He also told the kids that the guy who took care of the bnb's was named Jimbo and that he might murder us at night.  There really was a southern, sketchy looking man there,  weed whacking, so that helped his scary tale.  All the kids talked about how they could hear him walking around outside at night.I'm sure. 

Tuesday morning we got up and moving fairly quickly and then headed to Cumberland Falls. I thought you had to hike to it so I Googled to find the best trail to it. I was so wrong. As we were hiking we came up to a parking lot that was right by the falls. We could have just parked by it. The weather was really hot and humid and it was pretty much up hill and up some stairs on the way back so nobody was very happy with me. But the falls were pretty and there was a rainbow by it so I'm glad we got to see them, even if we took the hard way.

    

After our unnecessary hike, we stopped for some food and then headed to Brian and Pattie's house for a short visit. It was awkward with the kids at first but after we took a tour of their new remodeled house, the kids started hanging together- they rode some quads, played some VR, made a small plastic dog with their 3D printer and played on the trampoline. Ruby and Lucy were really the only ones who hovered near us. I feel like our lives are very different and I can't quite relate with Pattie anymore but Brian and Tyler are still good buddies and enjoy making inappropriate jokes. They are good people- they shared their Dollywood passes with us and always welcome us- and because of Tyler and Brian's long lasting friendship, I am sure they will still remain part of our lives.

After hanging with them, we entered the chaos of a Walmart in a tourist town to get breakfast groceries and then headed to our airbnb. Shortly after our arrival, we had a visitor. The kids watched from the balcony and windows and we watched our dumb neighbors from across the street feed it marshmallows. It was poor choice for them to feed the bear because it hopped their gate to their balcony- they all exited very quickly. After settling we went on a hunt for a pack and play so we could put Ruby to bed but had no luck- it was missing. We messaged our host and he ended up telling us to go get a new one and he would reimburse us. That meant Tyler had to make another trip to Walmart- about 30 mins away without traffic... but there was traffic. Meanwhile I rocked Ruby to sleep and watched her on my bed while the rest of the kids swam in the pool spa (it was like a double wide hot tub). I felt nervous leaving them alone, especially after the bear sighting, but it was what it was. Thankfully they all were fine and then Tyler came home and I could put the baby to bed.  The host felt bad about the situation and reimbursed my mom $200 for our troubles. That was a nice gesture. Late that night, when we were all asleep, Mike's family arrived. They had a flight delay which caused them to miss their connection so they didn't get in until 1am.

Wednesday we had a chill morning and then we decided to go on a mountain coaster- a first for all of us. There are a ton of options and we ended up picking Goats on the Roof. Just to be confusing, I guess, Goats on the Roof had a dinosaur theme...

I went on the mountain coaster with Penny and it was a lot of fun. At first it was really slow but about half way in it got some speed- at that point we had the option to slow down and I only slowed down a few times for Penny. It was really fun and I was all excited to do it again because for some reason I thought we could go on it as much as we wanted in a day. That was a very incorrect assumption that I had mistakenly shared with everyone. You could only go on it once and all of us were disappointed. It really was so much fun.

After the coaster we went to grab lunch at a place by a waterfall- Red Jasper Beer Garden- but their kitchen was closed so once again I disappointed everyone- especially all the hungry kids. Ugh. But at least we got to view the pretty waterfall. 

We left the waterfall and went to Mel's diner instead. We had a fifteen minute wait which felt longer to me because I decided to wait outside in the hot, hot heat with Ruby. Everyone else stayed in their cool air conditioned cars like smart people. Once inside I was reminded why we don't go out to restaurants much these days- Ruby is such a wiggle worm and she doesn't love just sitting in a high chair. She was all over the place but some how we made it through dinner.

Then it was back to the bnb for some pool time and chill time. I did at one point attempt to go visit the Salt and Pepper Shaker Museum with Mike, Penny, Lillian and Ruby and after walking down the hill to it, we discovered it was closed. It was not a happy walk back up the hill. 

    

    

Thursday, July 4th, we went to Dollywood as soon as it opened. It was another day in the 90's with 90% humidity and I am not sure if I ever stopped sweating. We started off in the kid area where Ruby got to go on her first rides and all the kids were able to have some fun. I think the bumper cars were a big hit with everyone. 

At some point Tyler left with the older 3- Steven, Ben and Lucy- to go ride the roller coasters. The rest of us spent the morning in the kid area. After lunch I think we were all feeling tired and hot and cranky so I suggested we go to the Gazillion Bubble Show so we could sit in some ac and maybe get a second wind. The Bubble Show was pretty cool- at the end we were showered with a gazillion bubbles and the smoke bubbles were particularly cool. Even Ruby did a good job sitting through it. It was really nice to cool off.

After the show we went to another area that had some things geared towards younger kids. Everyone went on a small roller coaster while I hung out with Ruby. At that point I was honestly starting to get super cranky because I literally hadn't gone on a single ride- not even a baby one- and I was just super hot which didn't help, so I sent Tyler a text to call me. It took him awhile to get off the ride he was one and call me but it was a relief when we finally met up with us. It meant I could finally go on a ride! I decided to take everyone who was willing on the Dragonfly- we had done that one before as a family. It was a long wait and during it Penny started melting down and getting scared. I kept telling her that she didn't have to go and she could go hang with Tyler and Ruby instead but she was insistent- through tears- that she wanted to ride it. She was not helping my own nerves at all. At last it was time and she was sitting in the seat and silently crying. The attendant was nice and *lied* and said they would make her seat go slower. I am not sure she believed her but it was good distraction. This roller coaster had a big drop and was fast and pretty much convinced Penny to never go on one again. I think she decided it absolutely lived up to her fears. Matilda, on the other hand, asked if she could go on it again.

After that trauma, I went with Ben and Lucy on the Big Bear Mountain Coaster and that one was fast but no big drops, it was pretty fun. They loved it and wanted to go again. Mike and his family were done at that point so they headed out- taking Steven and leaving Lillian. We were almost done but Lucy and Ben wanted to do the Big Bear coaster again so I had them take Tyler on it. While they did that, I took the girls on a couple kid rides. When we were all done, we went and got ice cream, visited the souvenir shop and headed back to the bnb to scrounge up some dinner. 

That night Mike picked up my parents and we were happy to finally have them join us. Also that night I was awoken by the Midnight Parade in Gatlinburg- the drums were loud! Apparently not so loud that they woke anyone else up but they certainly woke me up so I went outside and watched the parade for minute from the balcony. From my vantage point it was like a tiny ant parade but at least I can say I saw it ;)

Things

Monday morning Penny had her appointment to get her expander out. She was super thrilled to be done with it so she can talk more clearly and eat sticky things! She just has to wear a retainer at night now until all her teeth are lost and grown- then we can do braces. She bought herself some gum shortly after to celebrate :) After her appointment I called my doctor to find out if I needed some medical care for my super heavy menstrual bleeding. I was on the phone for ages between hold times and transfers, and in the end, I had a last min appt with my obgyn. I literally had 15 mins to get there so thank goodness the kids and Tyler were all home to watch Ruby. 

At the office, the dr did a check and acknowledged it was a lot of bleeding, then he prescribed me some medicine, and told me to schedule an ultrasound and get blood work done. The blood work all came back ok so I wasn't deficient in anything so that's good but my condition is still perplexing. It didn't let up until Saturday so it was just over a week of awfulness. I have the ultrasound scheduled for when I come back and hopefully I'll get some answers.

Tuesday Steven and I were supposed to go to the eye dr but they canceled on us- Dr's always seem to cancel on Steven. That was OK because I also had a dental appt that day so it was nice to only have one appt. The lady who cleans my teeth is always very chatty ( and I guess I am too) so it always takes a bit longer.  This time we talked about the weather we have to deal with when watching our kids' sports. 

Wednesday we met up with the Eakins and the Mays at our beach. The weather was just a touch on the cool side but the kids still had fun in the water. They are tougher than me.  The teens also took a walk to seven eleven at some point. I brought Ruby's little blue pool and filled it with beach water and that helped entertain her some and keep her out of trouble. I'm glad we've had more beach days this year, they help pass time. 

Thursday morning Steven went and got his physical. I ended up bringing Ruby with me and she did pretty well. The hardest thing is that she wants to crawl around (and those floors look gross) but she is usually content if I help her walk around. She honestly does pretty well as long as she can wiggle and eat. Steven had to get two shots and thankfully the doctor was young and pretty so he didn't cry about them.

Thurday afternoon the boys went and did archery at the library. It was too bad it wasn't a contest because they said they would have won if it was ;). I am just always glad when the teens (especially Steven) get out the house and hang with friends. Steven is on his computer way too much and it drives me bonkers. 

Friday evening we went to a graduation party. It was nice to get a free dinner for our family, lol. It was for the teen who cut himself while trying to sell me knives. We gave him bandaids and a $20 ;)

Saturday I got started with packing for our trip to Tennessee and other misc things related to the trip. That evening Grace watched Ruby and Penny while the rest of us met the Mays at MJR to watch "The Quiet Place: Day One". The movie itself was pretty good- they are always entertaining enough- I just feel like there are some inconsistencies in the franchise. 

Youth Conference

Sunday was Father's Day. In the morning we made Tyler scrambled eggs for breakfast and spoiled him with gifts. He got a new bug assault gun from me (the widow maker), Lucy got him cotton candy soda, Ben got him a minecraft shirt and Penny got him a Lego Dumbledore Keychain.  At church Penny gave her first ever talk in sacrament. With her expander and nerves (that caused her to rush) she was a little difficult to understand but since I helped her write her talk,  I would say it was a good one. She talked about how her dad and Heavenly Father show her they love her by teaching her things (like how to scare her family ;) ). The rest of the day was naps and a delicious dinner of shepherds pie (something that won't choke him). Ruby was looking silly during dinner.

Monday the boys left super early to Youth Conference. They didn't come back until Friday evening. For Youth Conference they got to see church history sights in Ohio and New York. They stayed in cabins in upstate New York. Both boys seemed to have a good time. The Bishop stayed in a cabin with them which apparently led to push up competitions and a rock climbing race and other competitive things.  The weather was pretty hot and they had no a/c but surprisingly neither one complained too much about it and they both said the food was decent. Steven's favorite part was doing baptisms at the Palmyra temple and walking its grounds. He thought it was cool to see the chandelier in the Celestial room through a window. Ben's favorite part was visiting the Sacred Grove. He felt like it was a nice calming experience. They also had some cool ruins to explore near their cabins. Some of the pics from the week.

On Monday I had one of the youth from the Ward come and try to sell me Cutco knives. Really he was just practicing and I was very upfront that they were out of my budget. It was only slightly awkward and maybe even more awkward when he accidentally cut himself with one of the knives and started bleeding. He tried to fake that he was ok but eventually relented to me having Penny get him a bandaid. 

Tuesday Lucy hung out with Claire and Penny hung out with Reggie. At church this past Sunday I caught Penny writing a note that said  I heart Reggie.  She got super embarrassed when I brought it up so I won't tease her about it but I would also rather they just be friends. They have a lot of fun hanging out together and play really well together- no drama. Tuesday afternoon I took the girls to see "Inside Out 2". With the new emotion anxiety introduced, it felt pretty relatable. It was a good one. 

Wednesday we met the Eakins and Mays at our beach. Julie was there as well. We were going to go to the zoo but had decided it was much too hot for a zoo day. Tyler was off of work for Juneteenth so he stayed home since Ruby was still napping and he fed her lunch before bringing her to join us. It was really nice to just sit and chat with friends for a bit and not have to worry about a baby. Once she came she was crawling around and trying to eat literally everything she could find- rocks, trash, sticks...It became a little less fun for me. 

Thursday we met Mimi and her mom at the libray. For once Mimi's mom had actually text me with an invite and that was really nice. It is hard to always be the one reaching out. They didn't get quite as crazy as the last time we were there but Ruby was very active and required following. Honestly needing to follow her around, relieved me from making small talk with Mimi's mom. Her mom is super nice but I am not sure she would approve of my total weirdo, negative self so I have to try harder to be a normal person when talking to her, lol. Afterwards Penny went over to Reggie's for another hang out and the rest of us chilled at home. 

Friday Lucy hung with Claire and was lucky enough to sleep over at her house. This will be their last hang out for a bit because Claire is going on a mission trip and then we will have our Tennessee trip. This is very sad for Lucy. Also Friday, Penny, Ruby and I did some second hand shopping to try and find clothes for when we take pictures in Arizona. I don't want to spend a ton of money on new clothes but also it's hard to get a matching color scheme for 7 people with just what we have. It's an ordeal and I still think new clothes- for me- are in order.

Saturday we went to a baptism in the morning. It was a bit longer than I like- they had a slideshow of pics of the girl growing up. I don't know why this is such a thing. I feel like it is super cute but also irrelevant to the ordinance.  Although Penny was happy that she was featured with her friend in one of the pics. After the baptism I went to a puzzle competition at the library with Caroline and Grace. I was surprised by how many people were there and the variety of ages (kids to the elderly). Everyone was given the same 1000 piece puzzle (it had lots of different people reading books) and there were teams of 3 or 4 people. We did not win and I was not a fan of the team that did win. They were high enery people that were all matching and wearing green visors. They were not your typical puzzle people and I feel like they were a little too enthusiastic about their win. The librarian was also a little too high energy for me. My negative attitude was probably influenced by the fact that I am having a particularly bad menstruation cycle. It's been very very heavy and I probably will be calling the doctor this week about it.

Some cute pics of Ruby enjoying the outside this week and Ruby staring adoringly at Mariah the guinea pig.

Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary

Sunday we had Stake Conference. I actually don't mind Stake Conference because Tyler gets to sit with us (he usually mans the zoom feed in our ward). We sat by Mariah's family so we were a big and busy group. I spent some of the time in the halls getting Ruby to nap and then sitting in a cozy arm chair while she napped. Then I sat with everyone. Dad took Ruby and I ended up watching Wesley for a bit. There were some good talks- I especially enjoyed the ones by the missionary presidents. They had some good stories about people being in the right place at the right time because of promptings. The stories also showed that real life isn't always happily ever after. I told Tyler later that that might be us someday- I don't know why, just a random feeling. Then he told me all the public speaking that involved and I said hard pass ;)  After Conference, Mariah's family came over and hung out- one last time before they head to Arizona for 6 weeks. I made cookies because I lost a Scrabble game against Ben and promised him cookies if I lost. All in all it was a good Sabbath and Ruby was looking particularly cute so I had to take some pictures. Plus one weirdo picture of me.

On Monday Ben got to start his soccer conditioning at Northern. They took it easy on him for the first day but it got progressively more difficult for him. He still has a good attitude about it but he is usually pretty exhausted afterwards and doesn't want to do too much. With soccer Ben realized his tennis shoes needed to be replaced so we went on an outing to the Great Lakes Crossing Mall- they have good outlet stores there. Lucy's friend Claire joined us. The kids had fun window shopping (in which they were confused by the term because I didn't buy any windows) and we got Ben some new shoes, a couple things for Father's Day and ended the outing with a cone from Dairy Queen. 

Tuesday I decided to go running with Ben and that was not a great idea. It's been years since I have ran. I barely made it a half a mile before I needed to walk for a bit. My lungs also did not enjoy the run and I had a pretty yucky cough for the next 24 hours. I think I will stick to lifting weights from now on. No more running for me.

Wednesday we met my usual group (Eakins, Mays, Bloomfields) at our beach- school is finally out for everyone. The Mays were a little late and it felt like the kids were all awkward and not really playing with each other until they got there. I guess they were the glue in the friendships. With Ruby needing a nap, we only stayed a couple hours. Gone are our days of spending all afternoon at the beach but it was still a good time. 

Thursday we met Mimi and her mom at the libray for a bit. That was probably not a great idea because Penny and Mimi were both were a little bit too rowdy for the library. Ruby also decided she wanted to stand up when I put her down but then she tipped over and hit her head on something and that was very sad. She scream cried for quite a bit. We certainly disrupted that library.

Thursday afternoon we met Stacy, Jenna and Marin at our beach (and Claire came with us as well). I hadn't seen Stacey since Christmas so it was nice to catch up with her in person. Ruby was not feeling well and spent most of the time needing hugs from me and wasn't super social with them. Not sure what was up with Ruby but she had a rough next day (and night) too. I was bummed she wasn't her fun usual self for them but it was still a good time. It's hard to believe that Marin graduated and will be starting college and that Jenna (and Lucy) will be in middle school. I think Stacey views me as an oddity with my big family and strange religious beliefs but that's ok, at least she is interested in the things I say, lol. 

Thursday night Lucy finally convinced me to let Claire spend the night. It turned out to be pretty low key. We had dinner, went to Kroger's for some treats, they watched a movie and then they went outside in the dark and made a scary movie with Claire's camera. They had me watch it and I am reminded how not good I am at faking reactions. It was just a goofy kid video that was really only funny for the kids that made it. Lucy asked me what I would rate it and me being generous gave it 8 out of 10 stars. That was not generous enough apparently. She asked "What about the other 2 stars!?" Awkward.

Friday was a chill day. I ran an errand to get the boys a few things for Youth Conference and that was my only outing for the day. That everning the oldest 3 had baptisms at the temple with our ward. I am glad our Ward is good at setting up a monthly temple date for the youth. They all seem to enjoy it (especially getting a treat at Culver's afterwards).

Saturday we had no plans so I made my family come to the Critchlow Alligator Sanctuary in Athens with me. I had been wanting to go for awhile and there happened to be a groupon for it. No one is quite into the adventures like I am and they were all especially grumbly about the drive (2 hours). Ruby seems to have outgrown falling asleep easily in the car but she did take a cat nap on the way there so the drive went fairly smoothly. Once there we had a person come up and ask if we wanted a tour and we said sure. What started out as just us and one other family grew after the first stop. That was a bit of a bummer since I am not a fan of lots of people but I am still glad we said yes. She had lots of interesting facts about the tortoises and alligators and she had some back stories on some of them too. The alligator below that looks like it is smiling has a short snout because they kept him in a tub and he didn't have the room to grow. Most of their animals there are rescues. People aren't so smart about taking on alligators as pets apparently. Near the end of the tour, we had sort of had enough of alligators so we sat and had lunch. While eating we saw a family doing the small alligator encounter and I decided we should do it too. We will probably never come back so we might as well enjoy it to the fullest. It was a good choice. The kids all were pretty excited about holding the alligator and we even got a smile from Steven (who was saying he wanted to go home the whole time). Although I didn't capture the smile- booo. After our fun adventure we stopped at Horrock's Market for some treats and then headed home, where Ruby once again took a cat nap in the car.

We ended the fun day with the kids watching Ruby so Tyler and I could go eat the Filling Station. Their burgers are sooooo good and it's a small, not well known place so it's never crowded and the service is always quick. Unfortunately that means it may not stay in business long but I do hope it does. I really like the food.