The Kentucky Trip: The Mississippi and a Civil War Museum

While on our visit, Jess organized a BBQ for us to be able to spend some time with her family. 

When Jess was living in Minnesota, her family would come visit and we would have a BBQ at the North Mississippi Regional Park which is just under a mile from our house.  So it was very fitting that we would have this BBQ at a the Columbus-Belmont State Park on the Mississippi in just over a mile from her parents house in Kentucky.

I have always loved that we all grew up hanging out at the same river, only Jess was 800 miles down river.  Or we were 800 miles up river. 

It may be the same river but it sure does look different all the way down here.

I have always heard people say "The muddy Mississippi" but I never understood it.  The Mississippi I know is pretty clear.

The Mississippi Jess knows looks like coffee with cream.  And look how wide it is!  I could not swim the width of that even if there wasn't a current.  I also noticed that when I look out in either direction there is no visible crossing of any kind.  The view is clear for miles and miles in both directions but there is no interstate crossing. 

My Mississippi view, from my park has a different view.  Look to the North and there is the 694 Interstate crossing.  Look to the South and you see the blue Camden Avenue bridge.  Enter near Minneapolis and you see a number of bridges, enter in St. Paul and you see even more.

I am continuously amazed by the mass of this river and the difference in it's appearance over it's 2320 mile life.  After this trip, I have a deep want to see much more of this river.  I hope that many of our vacations include the cute little river towns that reside up and down this river.

The park lays claim to a Civil War battle.  Part of the battle happened on this land, the rest of that land gave way to erosion during some major flooding in 1920.  Scattered throughout the park are items found after the flood believed to be used in the battle or the war.

The largest item on display, and used for a mini photo shoot staring my family, is this large cannon.  It is so large it has a name!  Lady Polk was name for Confederate General Leonidas Polk's wife.  He was the General who lead the battle on this ground.

My girls could be models for a cannon magazine!

All of the kids spend more time playing on the cannon than they did on the playground.

The park is also home to a museum and interpretive center.  I am not one for snapping a ton of pictures in a museum but I had to get this shot of Willy chilling on a cannon ball with his favorite leaf.  Man, I love this child!

The museum was very interesting.  Shawn and I could have spent so much more time in this little house packed with relics and information.  It was a fantastic history lesson.  And being from Minnesota, we don't come across Civil War history every day!

But the kids grew tired of the museum and when they decided the gift shop was a toy store it was time to move on.  Next time we are done in Columbus we will return, hopefully sans kids!

Outside the museum the grounds were beautifully landscaped.  Ryan and Jess were married on the steps of the museum over looking the river.

After we took in all the sights and activities, we hung out in the pavilion and ate dinner.  It was nice to catch up with Jess's family and meet some other who never made the trek to Minneapolis. 

But a major highlight was finally meeting this little peanut!

The Kentucky Trip - A Drive Through The Country

We arrived safely on Jess's driveway at 7 am on Monday morning.  We all fell out of the van and right into bed where we stayed until noon. 

After a shower and some food, we were all feeling much better and ready to see the sights.

Our group was pretty big so we piled into two cars and headed off for a drive.  Western Kentucky and Tennessee really is pretty country and the drive was beautiful.

I enjoyed the company of my three favorite ladies in the van.

The beautiful Miss. Emily hitch a ride with us.  Man, I miss this child.

Sassy McSassy, AKA Heidi actually smiled for this picture.  Amazing.

And the always charming, Makayla, took in the view from the back seat.

Heidi and Emily had some Silly Bandz to hold their interest.  They spent the better part of the drive fashioning them into sandals.

Have you heard of Silly Bandz?  They are apparently the newest craze among the early teen set.  Tweens?  They have been banned in a number of schools because the kids trade them and it causes all sorts of ruckus.

But they kept these preschooler occupied so I figure they did their job.

We ended up at Reelfoot Lake which is a lake in Tennessee.  According to Wikipedia, it's a swampy lake that connects water basins.  The largest is Blue Basin.  This lake was created by the New Madrid earthquakes in 1811 and 1812.  They say the Mississippi River flowed backward to fill it.

Whatever happened, it's a cool lake and has lots of wildlife hanging around.

We stopped at a wild life center where the kids picked up goody bags stuffed with tons of stuff they didn't need.  Inside we found some really cool stuff (and air conditioning!!).

This exhibit had a sign that said "Please Touch!"  so we did!  There was a molted snake skin, a few turtle shells, and different types of antlers. 

The peas were so happy to be reunited for a few days.  I think the only time they were not this close was when they were sleeping.

Heidi commented on how great it was they found all these animals after they died.  Yep.  That's what happened.

An American Bald Eagle.

An Osprey.

The center was tiny but packed full of animals on display.  It was very interesting and I think we all enjoyed it.

After we were all freezing from being in the nature center, we ventured outside for a walk on the path.

It was so hot, our shoes were melting. 

We followed the path to a small pond and then a trail to this larger pond.  It was less than a quarter mile walk but we were all melting and decided to head back to the cars and lunch.

 But before we could go I needed a group shoot.  Since we were the only people crazy enough to be outside on this day there was no one around to take the photo, so I am not in it. 

Here's who is, from Left to Right:
Shawn, Makalya and Emily, Jess, Austin, Willy, Austin hiding behind Ryan and Heidi.  And my now warm and flat A&W root beer.  Oh, and Mr. Sticky, the very large poking stick in Heidi's hand.

We all dripped our ways back into the cars and headed for a nice lunch at Ryan's Buffet.  We spent the rest of the evening hitting balls at the baseball field and walking laps on the track.  I forgot my camera at the house, bummer! 

The heat never broke that evening, it was in the high 90's with insane dew points all day and continued after the sunset.  I am pretty sure we all sweated away 10% of our body weight but it was a fun day with wonderful people which always makes it worth wile!

The Kentucky Trip - The Drive

Our drive to Kentucky started on Sunday evening when the sun was still shining. 

Heidi and I returned from the parade and jumped right in the van to begin our trek.

The van was loaded to the top with Shawn, Heidi, Ryan, Makayla, Me, all the stuff that goes with keeping a 5 year old entertained for 14 hours, all the stuff that goes with keeping a 13 year old entertained for 14 hours, and everything Ryan didn't ship two months earlier when his family moved.

Our first stop was the first rest stop in Iowa and the information building.  It's shaped like a big barn and is right next to a casino.  We all jumped right out to stretch out legs for a bit.  Heidi and Makalya ran up and down the sidewalk to burn some energy, I stretched, Ryan smoked, and Shawn found a map for his collection.

I made Heidi pose for this picture. It was going to be the first of four pictures showing her in each state but I neglected to consider she would be asleep for Missouri and Illinois so this was the only one I got.

The girls were excited to be in a new state for the first time, even if it was Iowa!

I drove about two more hours and then the dark, single lane highways got a bit unnerving and I changed seats with Shawn.  Shortly after we switched, all of the back seat passengers fell asleep and that's how they stayed until we crossed into Kentucky 10 hours later.

With the exception of Heidi.  It was very hard for her to get comfortable in her booster seat. 

I have fond memories of curling up on the back seat in my parents mini-van with a blanket and pillow, waking up how every many hours later at our destination. 

This was not reality for Heidi. 

She was stuck sitting straight up and strapped in.  She doesn't remember waking up seven times, crying because her neck hurt but the rest of us do.

I took a couple 30 minute naps while Shawn drove. 

I was awake when the Owl almost hit my window.  How amazing and frightening to see a bird that large change directions mid-air to avoid crashing into the windshield of a van moving at 65 miles per hour. 

Road trips are fun but I prefer them when stops are planned in to see the many small towns passed through.  If you do a little bit of pre-planning it is easy to find where to find the largest ball of twine or the house where some author was born.  The towns may not be places where you want to spend an entire weekend but these silly attractions are a good way to break up a long ride.

On the way down, we decided to drive right through.  I don't think we will do that again. 

Next time we drive, we will start out early in the morning and make many, many stops that are not at gas stations, we will eat in small diners and not fast food, we will enjoy the sights and sounds and smells.  Next time, we will take our time and make the drive part of our vacation.

Kick Off To Vacation - A Parade

We are home now, at least for the next few weeks!  Over the last 14 days we put 2,300 miles on our van but it was completely worth it.

At the end of May, Jess and the kids moved back to Kentucky.  Last weekend we drove down to visit them and deliver Jess her husband. 

While Shawn and Ryan loaded up the van, Heidi and I headed out to Hopkins for a parade.  Heidi's friend Lauren was picked to be an ambassador for the city of Robinsdale which means she will ride in the float for a large number of parades and most importantly, she has a teria and is a real princess!

Heidi, Amaya, and Lily waited so patiently.  We were are the very end of the route, which means much less candy, but the girls hung in there because they knew seeing Lauren on the big float for the first time would be worth the wait.

We saw the float coming down the road and all ran across to the other side for the best photo opportunity possible.

Lauren was hot and tired but she sure was a princess.  That's her in the middle wearing the pink and white dress, looking all the part.

And after the parade she was all smiles to see her huge fan club.  We are so proud of her and can't wait to see her in many more parades!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

We survived our 13 hour road trip!!  I will post on that as soon as I have a few minutes.  I have a lot of pictures I want to share.

We got home late on Thursday so Heidi could attend her field trip to the Sculpture Garden on Friday.  She made an awesome sculpture as a project when they returned.  I will get pictures up soon.

Saturday Heidi went to a birthday party at the Chutes and Ladders Park in Bloomington.  If you have not been there it's totally worth checking out.  It's free and a ton of fun.  I didn't have my camera so no pictures but we will go back and I am sure I will have a post after that!

Sunday, we did a ton of yard work since our lawn started to look like it belonged to an abandoned house.

And we were all back to work and school on Monday.

So, we are still here.  Just trying to catch up.  Hope you are all well and enjoying the summer!!

New Addition To The Family Part 2

As I mentioned yesterday, we had to have the sewer guy come out before the washer delivery guys came.  Due to really old, really clogged pipes (did I mention we have two dogs and two cats?), we have to have him come out about once a year (always on a weekend so I get to pay him weekend rates.  That's awesome!) 

When we pulled the washer out we realized water was coming up again.  The washer sits on top of the drain so unless it's a lot of water we don't always notice.

That was the same day the modem broke.

Over the course of 6 hours we had the sewer guy, the phone company, and the Sears delivery people at our house.  It was an eventful, exhausting day.

When the Sears guys showed up with an electric dryer, I nearly cried.  I was so excited for my new Washer and Dryer to finally be here and it was wrong. 

We had waited for three weeks for the washer to arrive. While we waited we had to babysit every load of laundry.  Since the old washer didn't like to work on the cold cycle and since it was made in 1984 and since they didn't believe in options in 1984, both wash options had at least one cold cycle.  It was a long three weeks and we had tons of laundry to catch up on.

I accepted delivery of the washer but sent the dryer back.  What am I going to do with an electric dryer?!  But, the old dryer still worked so thats a plus.

Two weeks later, the gas dryer finally arrived.  But it didn't fold and put away laundry like the sales man promised.  I guess maybe he was kidding on that part...

I told Heidi the story about how great this dryer was at folding and putting away laundry and how disappointed I was that I was fooled. 

Here's how she made it all better:

What a wonderful child.  I am so lucky!  She had so much fun doing that I even got her to do this:

And this:

Now I just have to teach her how to fold and we are all set!

Aren't my new washer and dryer so very lovely?  I am very happy now.  The only complaint is the doors are on the wrong sides.  I had this problem with my last set as well.  Shawn can get a kit and switch them but I am waiting on our laundry room remodel before we go to that trouble.  Since the gas is on the left and the water is on the right we can't just flip them around.  For now, I will deal with it because these beauties are so much better then the old beasts!

New Addition To The Family

A few months back we had Ryan and Jess's family staying with us.  It was a fun filled two months and I am so very happy to have been able to spend the last two months they were in Minnesota with them living in my house.

I often thought, "Hey! Why didn't we do this sooner?"  But I know everything happens for a reason.  And I am grateful for the time I had with them, short as it may have been.

In that time, with four adults, three children, two dogs, and two cats all using one washing machine, for some reason my 1984 model Whirlpool just gave out. 

We had replaced the transmission in it back in December so when it decided not work on the cold cycle any more we figured it was time to put the old beast out of it's misery.

As many of you know, I was greatly heart broken when we had to leave our old washer and dryer at the Minneapolis house.  It was the beginning of the housing crash and we figured that adding high end washer and dryer to our sell sheet would help move the house faster.  I am not sure if it worked but we were out of that house with in months of adding them to the listing.

Ever since we moved, four years ago, I have been dreaming of what my new washer and dryer will look like.  All the extras it will have.  In my fantasies the dryer folds and puts away everything!

It was much sooner than I had planned but with the old beast croaking it was time to go buy the new super washer.  We left Heidi with Jess and headed over to Sears.

I spent the night before price shopping on Sears.com and knew exactly what I wanted.  But when the sales man explained how that model was made in North Korea Shawn shut it down and we were back at square one.  Only with a sales person by my side.

I hate dealing with sales people.  I don't want someone asking me to rationalize my thoughts.  If I like one better than the other because of the color than that's my prerogative and no one should judge me for that.

I know that sales people hate dealing with me.  They ask me a bunch of questions and then show me what they think I want but they are almost always wrong because they can't see what's in my head.  (Ask my last two real estate agents...)

But this guy was different.  He did ask the annoying sales person questions but he understood my humor and connected with me quickly.  When he realized I expected this thing to hold up to the demands of our life and pet hair, as well as actually put the clothes away, he explained the options available and matched me with the perfect washer and dryer set.

Ok, enough about that!  On to the kid pictures!

The day we took delivery we moved the old appliances out to the family room.  (We then had to have the plumber out because the drain backed up, again, but that's another story.)

I came down stairs to find three silly kids playing in the old dryer.

Where's Emily?

There she is!

Oh, man, it's dark in here!

That's much better!

Willy's turn!

They had a blast going in and out for a long time!!  (Someone should brush the hair on these children!  Where are their parents?  Oh, wait.  That's me...)

But, that's not the end of the story.  To be continued tomorrow...