Home Again

Two vacations in a row...this is pretty unheard of for me!  After unpacking from a short stint in Michigan, we were all packing again to head south to Kentucky to visit a large portion of James' father side of the family. 

In the past, we would make an annual drive to the south eastern part of the state for Thanksgiving.  Last year, we went in June to celebrate the wedding of a wonderful woman (Lillian's Godmother) and a very lucky (and kind) man.  Being up on the family hill in the summer had us on the look out for snakes but also lightening bugs.  The sheer joy illuminating Lillian's face as she ran around collecting the lighted bugs made us know that we would need to have our pilgrimage in the summer.  (Yes, we have lightening bugs at home but we seriously see 3 or 4 a night.  In Kentucky, there seems to be an endless amount of them)

Our goal was to get all the cousins on James' side (2 of them live in Illinois and another 3 are in California) to Kentucky at the same time so that they could bond with each other and also all the millions of cousins who already live there.  We were semi-successful as the California crew had a different itinerary from us and our paths only crossed for one day.

Lillian was able to catch fireflies and boy, she is a pro at it.  She would catch one, race full speed down a small hill screaming with such joy and excitement only found in a child.  " MOMMY! MOMMY! I GOT ONE! I GOT ONE".  Over and over again she would shout and sprint to me.  If I won a million dollars I don't think I would have sounded as excited as she was each time she landed a flashing bug.

Lillian and her 2 cousins (one cousin is a year older, the other is a year younger) went on many hikes around the family hill (yup, they have their own hill.  Everyone who lives on it is related.).  They quickly discovered that their uncle down the road would give them an ice cream bar each time they visited.  This was fine by me except on their last evening.  Lillian ate 3 hot dogs, chips, and 2 s'mores.  The girls went down to say goodbye to the uncle (with instructions to NOT get ice cream) and all three walked back with chocolate on their faces and an empty wooden stick in their hands.  We brought a puke bucket just in case for the ride home.

Overall, it was a good trip.  I eventually even got some reading done and I didn't have to drive any part of the 8 hours. Lillian had a fantastic time and is currently bouncing off the walls at home.  Poor thing doesn't know what to do with herself now that she doesn't have people (especially kids) around her constantly.

I am writing this at work now because I was ridiculous and decided to come in on a Friday after being gone all week.  You can likely tell that my head is not checked into work right now.