My Family Reunion Trip

So I am going to tell you all about my trip back East. I was busy pretty much every day that I was there.

We left our home on Wed June 7 and I had to get up at 3 a.m. so that my husband would make it to work on time. But our flight left rather early too. Anyway we arrived in St. Louis at 10 a.m. and promptly went to breakfast. D. and I were starving. My mom was very happy to see us. Then we went by my sister's house to drop off our stuff and relax for a couple of hours. When my mom got back I was itching to show my son all of my favorite childhood haunts and stuff. So we went way across town to my first elementary school and my old babysitters house next door. It was nice to visit with them and introduce them to my son. They are pretty old now, so they don't babysit anymore. But their house looked exactly the same. My old school on the other hand had changed a bit. But it was still fun to check it out. Then we swung by our old house too. After that we started going all around the city to old houses we lived in. I was actually checking out the market there a bit too. By the time we got home it was 10 p.m. and then D. was out. That was until my sister's dog Rocco jumped on him and hurt him a little and really scared him. Poor kid. So he was pretty whiny after that. So I took the dog for a walk.

I don't really remember specifically what we did on Thursday. Just getting ready for our trip to Kentucky for Friday. We left by 9 a.m. and it is a 3 hour trip to my grandparents house. D. did really well and napped for about half of the trip. We get there and he wakes up and knew exactly where we were. I was surprised he remembered. The last time we were there he was only 1 year old. It took about 15 min. for him to warm up to everyone after the nap. But then he was playing with my teenage cousins and wanting all of the toys in the house. My cousin M. and I went for a walk after lunch down this old gravel road beside my grandparents house. It leads to property owned by other cousins of ours and to a creek we used to spend a lot of time at when we were kids. After that we packed up and headed for our cabin at Kentucky Lake. It was still light out and D. was napping again, so we went for a swim. It was a nice cabin too. It was basically a small two bedroom house with everything we could need. We had a microwave, oven, fridge, pots and pans, and plates and stuff, tv and vcr with cable. Plus we had a nice covered porch with a picnic table and lots of chairs. And a barbecue. So we were set for the weekend.

Saturday we went about an hour away, still close to the Lake in Tennessee to a place called the Homeplace. It is an old farm from the 1850's that is still in working order. Basically it is an outdoor museum. It has a vegetable garden and 2 old farmhouses from the period. The people who work there dress in period clothing and teach how the place worked. But when we were there they also had a Pickin' Party, bluegrass festival. There were lots of trees and everything was so green. The houses were surprising cool for how hot it was. They also had some oxen, ducks, pigs, chickens and a turkey there. We got to try old fashioned games and see how they did their woodworking with the old fashioned tools. Then we had a picnic by a stream. It was a lot of fun. I only wish I had some digital pics to show you. Then we went back to the cabin and had a barbecue party for my Granddaddy for his birthday and Father's day. We all went swimming again with the teenage cousins and D. We had a blast.

Earlier on Saturday, before we left for the Homeplace we went by our old house by the lake. We also went looking for the old water slide and shops that were next to it. We used to own a music store there. We found it but it is now an antique mall. The water slide and go cart areas were all grown over. But I was able to take my son on a horseback ride at the same place I went as a kid.

On Sunday was the family reunion. It was nice and a lot of people showed up. But I have a gigantic family. So I don't really know a lot of them. The last one we had was in 1989. So a lot of us have grown up and have children of our own now. I do have 3 cousins that are professional clowns, so they entertained the kids. They had face painting and balloon animals. D. kept breaking them, but they didn't mind and kept giving him more. D. was playing with every kid he could find. They even played with balloon swords. The food was pretty good. But the desserts were fantastic. My aunt Marcia is trying to become a caterer for desserts and brought 18 different kinds. My one cousin Kevin, Marcia's son, told everyone that his wife is now pregnant with twins. They will be the first twins on either side of the family. So we are all very excited. She is due in November. We don't know what they will be. They have decided for it to be a surprise.

After the reunion was over, we went back to the cabin for another swim with D. and my Aunt and my cousin M. and my mom. After that we went for a drive around the lake to a lot of old campgrounds we used to go to. We walked down by the lake and collected seashells. But my favorite part was buying Moonpies and Yoohoo for D. and I to eat and drink. I hadn't had those things since I was a kid. It wasn't as good as I remember. But it was still fun. Plus D. liked it. The Moonpies were better than the Yoohoo. Going back to the lake and all of the little towns there is like going back in time to the 1970's. Not much has changed since then. And that is when I lived there. So it was perfect.

On Monday it was time for my cousin M. and my aunt to go home. So we went on to my Uncle James' house further south in Kentucky for lunch and a barbecue dinner with the rest of the family. He has a huge house and a lot of land that he lives on. He even built 2 extra rooms onto his house just for the rest of the family to stay in when we are in town. He has a big pond in his backyard with a lot of catfish we fed. D. loved it, but he almost fell in. My uncle James has a thing that is kind of like a 4 wheeler, but it has a windshield and is more for working on the farm, it is called a Mule. D. wanted to ride on it so bad. So I let him go, seatbelted of course. He didn't want to get off. I got to drive him around in it too. But his dog, Cody kept running in front of it, so I didn't want to do that any more. My teenage cousins came by later and they wouldn't stop driving it until D. fell asleep and started to fall over in his seat. All in all it was a great weekend. And off we went back to St. Louis.

Tuesday we spent all day at the zoo. It is free in St. Louis, but it costs to see any of the shows and to ride the train. So I spent the money and we saw the sea lion show and rode the train. We rode the carousel. D. rode a warthog and I rode the ostrich. D. loved it and was trying to ride the other animals while we were spinning. We saw polar bears and grizzly bears. We saw the penguins swimming. We went into the gigantic flight cage. We went to the children's zoo and petted the goats and a horse and a cow. Then we went inside a tunnel that was painted like the inside of a whale. Then we came upon a fountain that all the kids played in and got totally soaked. D, didn't want to leave. We also got to see turtles, rabbits, monkeys, kangaroos, a lion eating a rabbit, frogs, and guinea pigs. We finally went home when D. was almost falling asleep in his stroller.

Wednesday we went to the Magic House, which is one of the largest children's museums in the country. The last time I was there, I was a kid myself. They still had a lot of the exhibits that they had back then. My favorite is a room that has a flash camera and takes a picture of your shadow. But D.'s favorite place to play is still the kitchen. And the water table. So even though this place was huge and had every kind of fun thing to do in a day, he kept going back to the 3 different kind of kitchens, one was for babies, the other for older kids and the next was a pretend restaurant. But he also liked the grocery store. He played with the musical instruments too.

And then there was Thursday. Our one day to sort of relax. Except we had to do laundry and clean up my sister's house and leave it the way we found it. And then we left Friday afternoon. And here we are. If my family emails me any of the pics from the trip I will post them.

Blessed Be.