Kentucky Vacation
Ethan and I just returned from a vacation, visiting friends and family in Kentucky. We love our new life in SC, but this trip was a little reminder of how much we miss our life in Kentucky as well. It took longer than usual getting there, with lots of little stops for Ethan and his pregnant mother.
Here we are at a Virginia rest stop
For the first 4 nights we stayed in Louisville with our dear friend (who happens to be Ethan's previous vision therapist) Margaret and her son Kord. Margaret threw a little BBQ party and invited a bunch of friends from VIPS, where we went for playgroup when we lived in Louisville. It was so wonderful catching up with friends and being with other moms who understand the frustrations and joys of having a child with special needs.
VIPS music therapist, Paula, even brought her guitar and did a little music therapy. Ethan loves playing her guitar almost as much as he loves listening to her sing.
Margaret's gift - cuddling with her kids. Ethan calls her Ms. Mop and since we've been home he keeps asking to go to Kord and Mop's house.
My dear friend, Missy holding Mallory. We also got to spend a day swimming with Missy, Jack and Ben. Ethan and Jack both love the water, and it was so nice to catch up with Missy! It was at the pool that Ethan actually told me for the first time that he had to poop! Unfortunately he only told me about 2 seconds before he did it. Thankfully, Missy had another swim diaper and swimsuit in her bag - good thing she was prepared!
Ethan with his two best friends from VIPS - Mallory and Jack.
We had an amazing breakfast with my friend, Alisa at one of my favorite breakfast places in Louisville - Toast. And yes, I ate the whole plate of eggs, sausage, hashbrown casserole, toast and lemon soufle' pancakes. Ethan loves Alisa and he even remembered her nickname for him. As soon as he saw her he said, "Dough Boy!"
We stopped by Big Mama's house and brought some SC peaches which were immediately enjoyed by all three kids (one of which has grown up on me so quickly I don't think I can even call him a kid anymore - Andre'). This is definitely one of my favorite pictures from our trip. The only bad thing about it, is that you can't smell the sweet peaches or see the juice running down their arms. Oh, how I miss these guys.
Ethan with his big sister, Andrea.
Alisa and Memaw
We stopped by the Center and saw Ethan's friend, Wanda.
And got tickled by his favorite playmate, Mamaw Leesa!
A trip to Louisville would not have been complete without dinner at Dragon Kings Daughter. I wanted to eat there every night, but that would have been a little too extravagant. And, though I really didn't have room in my pregnant belly for anything else after this, Steve and Joni got me a bourbon nut pie from the Pie Kitchen!
It just so happened that Katie Jolly was having her wedding reception while I was in town, so we hung out with the Jolly crew and Ethan got to see his buddies, Mary, Tracy, Penny and JoJo.
Troya made us a yummy breakfast and we got to meet baby Troy for the first time. What a precious little boy!
My grandma's church in Radcliff had a cake auction and yes, we bought TWO cakes and finished them within the week! I won't tell you how much we paid for these two cakes - but at least it went to a good cause.
In Radcliff we hung out at grandma's house with Cara, Aunt Allie, Pop and Nana. We saw all of our Radcliff family, went swimming in Uncle Marvin's pool and played at Aunt DeeDee's house. My Aunt Diane is a retired librarian, so she always finds the best books for Ethan. This visit she gave Ethan a book that I believe is going to be is favorite for quite a while - the Duck Song Book. It sings the Duck Song exactly like the UTube video.
Ethan hasn't ever held his own corn on the cob - he doesn't really like the texture. But my grandma has the little corn holders, so he held on pretty well. You should check out my sister's blog to see how much Cara enjoyed her corn on the cob (http://www.carallison.blogspot.com).
Allison celebrated her 26th birthday at Hubers Farm! So yummy, I felt like it was my birthday!
Ethan and Cara feeding the ducks and fish at Hubers
Four generations
We ended our trip with an exciting diaper blowout that got all over the carseat and all over Ethan. For the second time ever, he told me he was pooping. I was so proud of him for telling me, but I obviously didn't stop soon enough. Thankfully, my dad was there to help hold Ethan in the parking lot while I attempted to clean him up. After all that excitement we decided to let him chill and watch a lot of Elmo DVDs.
We are glad to be home, sleeping in our own beds, getting back into our routine, spending time with Daddy. But we sure had a wonderful time with everyone in Kentucky and we're counting the days 'til we get to see everyone again...and hoping that in the meantime, a few of them decide to take a trip to SC for a visit with the Veecks!