Road Trip: Lexington, Kentucky

 We stopped in Lexington, Kentucky on the way home.  I got to see my "bestest" friend, Liz, and her family.  We got a little lost on the way there and arrived at bed time instead of dinner time. We really only had Saturday to spend together.

We went to the Montessori School that her children attend and played on the playground.

We also went to the Keeneway Race Track where the movie Secretariat was filmed. It was blustery and rainy so we did not stay long. We put the movie on for the girls right after we got back from visiting the racetrack. Amazing!

The kiddos races around the parade track:

Too bad we don't live closer to these buddies.  Big sister A and my friend's daughter S had lots of fun playing together.

Road Trip: Arkansas Outdoors

We went to an amazing drive through safari in Arkansas.  They had all kinds of animals. Herds of antelopes, deer, water buffalo, and similar animals roamed the open acres in the drive through safari part. We saw wolves, tigers, hippos, leopards, and monkeys in large cages as we drove through as well. An emu came up and pecked on the window of the car.  We had to wait for camels to cross the road. 

In the petting zoo portion of the park the kiddos fed potbelly pigs, goats, alpacas, ponies, and kangaroos.

Brother M wanted to say "Hi" to each kangaroo and he went around and gave them all a pat, making sure not to miss anyone.

 The kangaroos were my favorite. I have never petted one before this. I followed this mama for awhile watching her wiggling pouch and waiting for the joey to pop his head out.

We also got closer to a lion than I have ever been before. It was only a few feet away. She had an Australian shepherd in the cage with her.  They were playing like siblings.

Big sister A's favorite part was feeding the giraffes.  It was amazing getting so close to them and their big black tongues.

Baby L's favorite was the rabbits. She kept putting her hand in the pen and I was afraid they would nibble her. Luckily they were super friendly.

Then we went on a little hike to a local creek and waterfall. Brother S was a bit scared walking on the trail by himself and wanted to hold my hand.  I think he was afraid that it was a road.

It's so amazing to me how much the kids love being outside and make their own fun without much interference from me.

Road Trip: Arkansas Art and American Indian Museums

Our first 2 days in Arkansas were rainy so Aunt B planned indoor activities for us.  We went to their local art museum, Crystal Bridges, and spent most of our time in the children's activity room. On the way across the courtyard we saw this huge sculpture of a spider called "Maman".  

The abdomen of the spider was full of large white rock eggs.

The kids' room was a perfect place for this creative crew to hang out. They had lots of different activity stations.

Cousin C was super patient with baby L's efforts to "help" him with his building.

We also visited an American Indian Museum that was very well done.  They normally had an arrowhead hunt for the kids outside, but they just gave them to us since it was rainy. 

They had this lovely exhibit about stone tools and grinding grain.

 We decided to try going out to dinner that night to a local pizza place.  With both husbands out of town and 8 kids between the two of us.  It was wild. We got a lot of interesting looks. We also had to send one pizza back because it was too spicy for anyone to eat!

Road Trip: Louisville, Kentucky

 On our way to Kentucky we had trouble with the some scammers...  I don't think it is worth recording all the details. In summary, they told us that they saw something dripping from our car, that it was transmission fluid, that he was a mechanic and could fix it, but that we needed to give him a little cash to go get the part. I was never 100% sure whether something was wrong with my car or not.  2 hours later on down the road when the check engine light turned on, we pulled over, waited for a tow truck, and stayed at a nearby hotel. The Honda dealership diagnosed it as a known problem with the piston rings. All under warranty. 

After all that, we arrived in Louisville a day later than we originally planned and stayed an extra day too.  We made homemade pizzas the first night.

The next day Aunt C organized everything and helped the kiddos make paper mache lanterns for the Lantern Walk at cousin J's school (Waldorf).

Cousin J still has the cardboard fort that they loved last time we were there.

We also went "bouldering" at a big rock park. It was pretty chilly outside that day, but the kiddos still ran around like crazy. I don't remember why I didn't take any pictures of that.

Family Schooling Summary

This was a big week for baby L and brother S.  Baby L has officially taken her first steps! At not quite 10 months old. She is our earliest walker.  I think it has to do with wanting to keep up with the big kids.   She also had her first sink bath after dinner. Paul and Heather put cousin E in the sink regularly.  It is super deep and works great to rinse off a messy meal. Baby L has not been willing to try it (without screaming) until now. 

Brother S had his 3rd birthday this week.  I made a sheet cake and drew the outline of Thomas the train on it. And then all of the older kids were supposed to outline it with M&Ms and Skittles from the leftover Halloween candy.  When I came back to check on their progress Thomas had morphed into a wheeled cloud of candy on kitkat railroad tracks.  At least they had fun making it.

 Their were a lot assistants standing by to help S with his present opening:

Baby L is into Hotwheels too.

We had a great free add-on to S's birthday party - Train Day at the Library was this Saturday.  They had several model trains from local clubs. M & S wore their costumes and everyone loved that. 

They got to play with some of the electric train sets. One of the clubs gave out Thomas the Train magazines and train pencils.

They each got a free wooden train whistle and used it as part of the story time.

They also had a real standard train whistle that they kiddos could pull. Tons of Railroad birthday fun!