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| More bats from Louisville Slugger! |
Again we slept well last night with only some loud thunder waking us up briefly. Robby opened the curtains and the kids started slowly waking up. Everyone was in a good mood and quickly put on their blue clothes. While we were getting dressed, Robby asked Anderson if he was excited about going to Louisville Slugger today. Anderson said "well, I have been there like 4 times." He hasn't been there 4 times-this will be his 4th. But I do think that boy we have spoiled the boy with travel.
I took the boys down for breakfast while the girls went with Robby to load the car. Breakfast was a little less serious this morning-there was not breakfast monitors, many bananas and we were aloud to touch the waffle machine. After breakfast we went back up to the room where Whitman had his first fit about not pushing the elevator buttons (I told you I would jinx him).
Our primary mission this morning was to beat the Wilsons into the car. We didn't care if we had to sit in the car for an hour, we were going to win. Actually, by the time we had loaded and straightened everything, they were coming out.
We had quite a bit of driving today along with a plethora of stops. On our first trip, the kids worked on their pictures from yesterday. Campbell took a little longer to finish hers since she was asking us how to spell words and meanwhile, Reagan and Graham were playing battleship across from each other. So our car sounded a little bit like this "C, A12, A, B6, VE, D2"-needless to say, it was a bit confusing but we managed.
On the road to Lincoln's house, we saw an Amish horse and buggy. After we passed it, Graham said "I don't think I need my license plate game right now." Just a bit down the road, we arrived at Lincoln's Birthplace National Historic Park.
We arrived there just in time because Keaton was already needing to go to the bathroom-that girl, I believe that she is on a mission to stop at least every hour. Some of my friends have potties that they keep in their cars and I always make fun of them-guess that might not be such a bad idea.
The Lincoln's stop was interesting. We watched the short film (Whitman sat perfectly and then clapped when it was over.) Then we walked toward Lincoln's birthplace. They created a monument around his birthplace and when Campbell saw it she said "we were here yesterday" (She was confusing the Parthenon columns) After the enclosed the log cabin with the monument, they discovered that it was not actually Lincoln's log cabin. I am sure that his was very similar though!
Then we went down a little trail to see the natural spring (the reason the Lincoln's bought the land). After we all pottied again, we climbed back in the cars. This time Reagan is in the Wilson's car and Brett is with us. They have finished a movie and then played on their kindles as we entered Louisville.
Our first stop in Louisville was the Dairy Kastle for some ice cream. Anderson, Graham and Reagan had chocolate dipped cones, Campbell and Keaton had vanilla shakes and Whitman took over our chocolate peanut butter shake. It was a quaint stop-we ate our goodies sitting in front of the place. Right down the road was the University of Louisville so we drove around to check it out. Then it was off to Churchill Downs.
We had thought about taking a potty stop at Churchill Downs but they must have been running the Kentucky Derby or something because parking was a bit crazy (and costly). I am not sure what was happening there but it was a change from when we have been by before and we parked right at the front door.
We decided to pass on the long walk and head straight to the Louisville Slugger in downtown Louisville. When we passed the Slugger museum we saw a huge line of people standing outside. My goodness, I don't know what is happening in Louisville this weekend but everyone and their mother is here. Tony dropped Shannon off and I jumped out and we found out what the line was for (to buy tickets) and we jumped in line to get our tickets.
I then ran back to the car to collect this kids and by this time the line had moved a great deal. Then I ran back out to the car to picked up my camera from my van as it rolled away. Robby was taking himself and his phone to the store while we did the bat tour. He didn't have much luck because the wait there was an hour and a half. So he made an appointment for the apple store in Dearborn. He said that if he makes his appointment then great and if not, then that is fine too. Grannymom is bringing his old phone when they fly in tomorrow so he can switch things over and will then feel much better about like (though his work email will not work as well.)
I was shocked when I bought our tickets when they said "your tour time will be at 1:50"-that was just in 20 minutes. We barely had time to run in to the restroom and then see the museum before they called us back for our tour. The tour was packed out and each station that you stopped at was full of people-but they did it right, getting our large crowd in and out in not too much time. The kids stayed in the front and I hardly saw them until the end since I was in the back with Whitman in his stroller. The poor baby was sound asleep and missed the entire tour (oh, well, he has seen it before).
When the tour was finished we ran back through the museum part and by this time Robby was back. We all pottied and had one last picture stop by the big bat before hitting the road again. We hadn't really had lunch so the kids were a bit hungry and thirsty. As we were trying to decide what to pass out, Robby asked Graham if Keaton was asleep. A second later, we heard a voice from the back saying "I am awake.: Whitman wanted to make sure that we knew he was not sleeping and needed his snack.
We eventually needed a gas and potty stop and pulled off at a decent rest gas station. My Anderson said "this looks like the nicest gas station ever." I am not really sure why he thought that since it was fine but not by any standards the nicest gas station ever.
As the kids climbed back in the car, Robby and I stood outside to discuss the winners of the clean row competition. Anderson and Campbell's row and Reagan and Keaton's row were perfect. Graham's row was neat but had stuff sitting on top of his box. We had to pick a winner so Anderson's row won with a 10.0. We said that Reagan's row had a 9.8 and Graham's a 9.5. That still didn't sit well with my losers-Reagan immediately began lecturing Keaton about helping more to keep the row clean and Graham just keeps glaring at me! The prize was the the winners were able to pick the box of candy that everyone would share (Sweettarts were picked) and then they received 4 more than everyone else.
We were a bit worried about the rain messing up our walk across the Roebling suspension bridge between Covington, KY and Cincinnati but it didn't bother us at all-the skies were cloudy but the breeze was refreshing. We climbed out of the car and walked over the bridge. Whitman wasn't so sure about all of the noise from the cars zooming by us but once we were at the bottom of the bridge and into Cincinnati he was delighted.
Last time we were here they were working on a playground and this time (about a year later) it was completed. It was really, really neat-once side had a water area, some odd pig contraption that you could climb into and then it would bounce, a giant piano that you could walk on that played chimes and on the other side there were slides and rocks to climb on. It was pretty cool and the kids could have stayed there much longer except we still had quite a ways to go before our day was over.
So we then walked back across the bridge and back into the cars. Next up was a quick drive over the bridge we had just walked on and then drove past the building that is financing the trip for the Wilsons: Kroger headquarters. Campbell rode in the Wilson's car on that leg of the journey and Brett rode with us. We heard nothing from our people the entire time-possibly because they all were playing on their devices.
Supper tonight was at Blue Ash Chili in Blue Ash, Ohio. We usually eat at Skyline Chilis when we are in this neck of the woods but the kids have started watching Diners, Drive Ins and Dives so we thought a local favorite would be a great stop. The Wilsons, us and Whitman crammed into a booth and the kids spread out at another table.
The kids ate hot dogs covered in cheese so mostly they just ate cheese-lots and lots of shredded cheese. Whitman was pretty happy about his cheese too but he was also quite intrigued by the book of Thomas the Train pictures that Robby printed out. That little book of pictures was my brainstorm in the middle of church one Sunday (yes, I listen in church but sometimes sitting still and quiet I have the best ideas and I can make the longest mental list of things to do!)
Anyway, Robby had the 4 Way-Spaghetti, Chili, Beans and Cheese. I had the 3 way which was just like Robby's except minus the beans. Now the Wilsons, who are thankfully in their own car, had the 6 Way-Spaghetti, Chili, Beans, Onions, Cheese and Jalapeno Poppers. We all ate as I wrestled with Whitman. Supper was good and I am sure that we caused a scene with Graham spilling his drink and then later falling out of his chair knocking his chair over and then stumbling to pick up his chair and falling again (like the child was drunk). I just turned my head and tried to act like he was Shannon's kid after all she had on blue like the rest of us.
Before we left town we changed hotels and moved tonight's hotel about 2 hours past where it was originally. We are planning on being in Canton at the Football Hall of Fame pretty early in the morning because of a special event they have (hopefully the rain doesn't cancel it) so we are getting in late tonight.
After supper, Robby worked on his computer for a bit while I drove through the pouring rain. Thankfully, Tony slowed down a bit so I could follow him a comfortable pace. The weather to the left of us looked almost sunny but on all of the other sides it was nastiness. After a much needed pit stop, Robby started to drive and then rainbows started appearing everywhere and there was no longer any rain...well, no rainbows but no rain either! We did discover that I am out of windshield wiper fluid and we need to change my wiper blades...maybe if he does that in the next few days, we will ward off any future rain!
Right now it looked like we will pull into the hotel around 11:30 which will still 10:30 to us since we lost an hour this morning. Today was another good day (even though it has been and will be a late night for all of us)
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