50 Nifty United States

With such a blah winter/spring and being locked up inside for three plus months of it, I decided enough was enough and invited Leilani and myself along on my parent's road trip to Kentucky. We drove for 4 days straight through southern Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and finally Kentucky!! Leilani was the best road buddy I could ask for!!
We stopped each night at a KOA and set up kamp in my Mom and Dad's fifth wheel. (That's the only way to travel, I tell you what!) Leilani brought her own bed with her and slept soundly every night.

I loved passing through the different states and scenery. Each one is unique. Sorry, New Mexico, there's not a whole lot in the category of "scenery" in that state. This was our "scenic detour" which really turned out to be disappointing to say the least. When we finally made it to Kentucky we spent 4 lovely days with my sister, Tara, and her family. It was so fun to spend time with them! Since they live so far away we don't get to see them as often and their kids grow up so fast. It was fun to get to know them again in the stages they are in now.

Carson is 14 and is just an awesome teenager. He, of course, is a teenager and answers questions with "ya" "uh hu" and "I don't know" but he loves his family very much:) He and I used to be the best of buds but since we've "grown up" it's been hard to stay close. But, I could still feel our Aunt Bud-Carson connection!

Jonah is 11 and quickly on his way to being a teenager. He enjoys sports and spent a WHOLE day playing crocket with my Dad. Luckily my Dad was quite a competitor and gave Jonah a run for his money. I think they both won a couple times though:) Sabey is 6 and this picture pretty much explains everything She loves anything pink and princessy and it's even better if the princesses are wearing pink! She is one of my neices that I haven't gotten to know very well because when she was born I started getting older and stopped being considered the "cool aunt" But she has the cutest little 6 year old personality. She's pretty sure that being 6 is the best thing in the world because when you're 6 you can do anything!! She can spell and read any word you can throw at her. She can pump herself really high on the swing set, jump really high on the trampoline and do cartwheels, toe touches, and summersaults. I tried to teach her how to do a backhandspring on the tramp. And even after having a baby I could still do a few tricks myself:) Tara recently decorated Sabey's room Pink and Princessy (what else?) and she so kindly gave up her castle of a bedroom and slept on the couch while Leilani and I stayed in her room. I thought that was very big for a 6 year old. But what am I thinking, 6 year olds can do anything!

Tyler is the younest at 3. He's another nephew I haven't gotten to know very well, and boy have I been missing out! Tara says with Tyler you are either laughing your head off or pulling your hair out:) This story cracks me up and sums up a lot of his personality.

Since he is the youngest he hasn't been around a nursing mom, so everytime I would feed Leilani it was a huge mystery to him that he really wanted to figure out. We would tell him that she was eating, but he would just look at us like we were crazy. How could a child be eating underneath a blanket? After a few days he asked his Mom if he could see Leilani's food. She said Leilani didn't have food, she drank. He thought for a second then said, "I want to see her cup." Tara replide, "She doesn't have a cup." He thought for just a second longer then with realization in his voice he said, "well is she using MY cup!" We laughed the whole car ride home. We went down to Nashville, Tennessee Friday. It was a beautiful day! We stopped at Andrew Jackson’s plantation, The Hermitage, and found out that Jackson wasn’t really that noble of a man. He treated his slaves poorly and his family later went bankrupt and lost the land. But the grounds were beautiful and it was nice just to be out in the warm sun for a change. We ate lunch at the Rainforest Café at the Opry Mills Mall. They had huge fishtanks all over the entire restaurant filled with beautiful fish and Leilani was mezmorized the entire time. Perhaps we need to invest in some tropical fish.

After lunch, we walked around the Opry Mill Hotel. It was probably the most beautiful building I have ever seen. You walk into the hotel and then it just opens up into a huge sky light with plants and fountains and restaurants. It feels like a river walk but you are inside. We thoroughly enjoyed just walking around admiring the landscape and of course stopped by some shops and sampled some chocolates and ice cream...mmmm:) Here are some pictures of the hotel the Friday we were there. Hopefully it gives an idea of how beautiful it was.

Now here are some pictures just two days after our visit...

Because that night it started raining, and it rained and rained and rained and rained. I've never seen that much water fall from the sky before. The entire city of Nashville (and most of the surrounding cities) were under water. But the amazing thing is while thousands of people were suffering from so much devistation and loss, we were doing this...

It was amazing! Tara's house recieved no reprocusions from the rain. I told Tara they must be doing something right:)

It was a wonderful trip I am so glad I was able to take with my Mom and Dad. I think we may have foiled some of their plans to see the country on the drive to and from Kentucky, but I'm grateful for their sacrifice to let us tag a long.