August would seem a good time to talk about where we were in July. We spent the holiday on the fourth in Kentucky with Aunt Rebecca and Uncle Jason. They hosted the entire clan from cousins to grandparents and we were delighted to be invited to their home. We stayed at their house while others in the clan were in hotels. All of the children slept at Uncle Jason and Aunt Rebecca's. We spent some time at their house and in Louisville.
We were the last ones to arrive Saturday morning. Our two eldest kids were in the advance party with grandma and grandpa. Our lovely red headed teenager texted us about an hour into the ride. When she agreed to travel with her grandparents she did not realize the several hours trip would be sans television. The grandparents don't have the DVD, satellite tv set up in their car. She and her brother were forced to deal with the passing time strapped to the backseat of the car. I think she texted everyone she knew. Traci had advised her to take a book or something to keep her distracted but Savannah chose not to. Somehow they survived the travels with minimal psychologic distress.
We went down the the riverfront in Louisville to watch fireworks during their fourth of July celebration. There was a band playing an odd mix of country and hip-hop. I wasn't sure where the music was going and everyone around us seemed to not notice. We sat on the lawn, shared a couple of funnel cakes and waited for the fireworks. The year before we were on someones lawn watching the explosions over the Puget Sound. This year it was the Ohio river. The fireworks display was exciting and colorful yet lacked communal chorus of oohs and ahhs we usually heard accompany such displays. I wondered if the unison oohs and ahhs were regional to the midwest.
We made an early start the next day with several air hockey games, rock band on the playstation and finally a family wiffle ball game at a nearby park. The competition was fierce and Traci caught a fly ball off the end of my bat to end the game. The terrific heat and humidity trimmed our kids' tempers to a short fuse and they made plays at attacking each other. No one was injured and over all everyone had a good time.
After wiffle ball in the park we returned to the house for the birthday festivities. Aunt Rebecca made a pink cake with strawberries on it. The cake was the right color and flavor for Sophia. Sophia wanted a pinata full of candy. I stuffed the rainbow shaped pinata with tootsie rolls and tootsie pops completely forgetting a couple of the kids were still in braces. As the candy flew I realized my error and had to stop the brace bearers to relinquish their share for something else. They had no problem voicing their dissappointment and letting me know I was not their favorite person at that time.
The next day we visited Churchill Downs home of the Kentucky Derby. We took the tour and learned all about the race and festivities manifesting during derby week. The hats, the crowds, the pageantry all was on display at the downs. We left the race track to eat ice cream at Graeter's in Louisville. I had the Blackberry White Chocolate Chip something or other. It was darn good.
We made our way home, never as swiftly as we wanted. We were all tired from our journey but were grateful for the wonderful family we have to share our time with. We thank Rebecca and Jason for their hospitality and generosity.
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