Southern Roots

Don't worry, I really didn't fall off the face of the earth. We took our first big vacation with Amelia this past weekend and since it's best not to put any info about being gone on the internet, I had to leave everyone hanging. Or, I could have brought my laptop and continued posting, but that doesn't seem like a true vacation. Nor did I run while I was gone. That was probably a mistake.

Anyways.

Thursday we left around noon and stayed in Florence, KY, which is just south of Cincinnati. Amelia was super and slept almost the entire way. I pat myself on the back for this because I had to pee for the last hour and held it, as I did not want the stopping of the car to wake her. Needless to say, I was pretty desperate by the time we hit the big city. I may or may not have peed in some bushes at a local park that did not have their bathrooms well marked. Can you get public indecency charges by posting that in your blog? I'm not sure.

Cincinnati Skyline

Little Peanut practicing walking after Mommy committed a minor crime

We ate dinner at a nice little restaurant called Biehl Street in Newport. Amelia was getting pretty crabby by then, but Jon and I were OK with it since it was half off a bottle of wine night.

Why is a bottle of my lotion more entertaining than her toys?

The next day we went to the Newport Aquarium. Amelia loved it, for the most part, but it really wore her out and she was pretty tired afterwards. I managed to talk her into a nap and we headed to Brother's Bar and Grill, which has a lovely patio facing the Ohio River. After some lunch, we were ready to travel the rest of the way down to Middlesboro, Kentucky.

Amelia did pretty good for the second leg of our trip until about the last thirty minutes. After that she conveyed that she was thoroughly fed up with her car seat. I kept her happy by managing to contort my body so I could nurse her while she was still buckled her into carseat and then singing children's songs continuously. We had dinner with our family and then called it a night.

The next day we were well rested and ready for our family reunion. Remember when I said my teeth are awful because I inherited them from the hillbilly side of my family? I really wasn't kidding. My maternal grandmother's side of the family is from the foothills of Kentucky and they settled on top of a mountain in the Cumberland Gap region. It is now called the Hensley Settlement and is a protected part of the Cumberland Gap park. Every other year our family has a reunion down there, and some of the family heads up to the top of the mountain to relive the past. Being that we have a baby and the path up to the top is treacherous, we chose to just do the chit chat with family and gorge yourself with food part.

Hensley Reunion

Snuggling with Great Grandma post-nap

Happy girl chillin' in the camping chair

After stuffing ourselves and showing off Amelia, we rested up at the hotel. In the evening, Amelia and I went to my cousin Jessica's bridal shower. Amelia was much easier to amuse once I put her on the floor and let her try to get into mischief.

With Great Grandma and ripping her name tag off

My cousin opening her shower gifts

Amelia and her cousin Rebecca seeing what they can get into on the floor.

The next morning, we packed up and headed home. Here are a few random pic's from the trip:

The view from our hotel

Little Amelia in our big king sized bed

Ready to head back home

We had a terrific time but there is always a certain amount of satisfaction that being back home brings. And, if I stuff myself full of much more food, I'm going to need bigger pants and another package of Tums.