Kentucky vacation

We typically go to Tennessee to visit family, but it was a special birthday for Aunt Delta and several of Tate's cousins planned a surprise family gathering to celebrate. We headed to a state park in Kentucky and had a blast. It rained a lot, but we had fun anyway. We were able to meet some of Tate's cousin's grandchildren who are close in age to the boys and they had a blast playing together. When we arrived some of the other aunts and uncles from Tennessee joined us and we knocked on the door to Aunt Delta's cabin. I think we really surprised her! We celebrated all of the boys' birthdays too. When they lit all of the almost 80 candles the smoke set off the alarm and Peyton went dashing outside. When I got out there he was standing by a tree and was very upset and crying. He was so bothered that none of the other family members ran out to the tree. It is part of our home safety plan to get out if there is a fire and meet at the tree and Peyton didn't understand why nobody else followed the rules. Once he calmed down it made for a lot of laughs.

The boys slept on the floor of our cabin. One night Brett woke up around 2 a.m. repeating the same thing over and over and laughing. I had no idea what he was saying and kept telling him to go to sleep. Finally I was so tired I just scooped him into bed. In the morning I was folding the blankets on the floor and realized that the rainstorm had flooded a part of the floor - including part of the blanket Brett had been sleeping on. I asked him if that was what he was trying to tell me and he shouted "Yaaaah!"

Chilling with the older "cousins"

Playing with Cole.

It was pretty rainy so the Tennessee aunts and cousin Terri decided to take the boys to Walmart to pick out their own birthday gifts. The boys - and the aunts - had so much fun shopping and selecting. It was great because it gave them something to play with indoors too! Thank you for being so generous Aunt Delta, Aunt Juanita, Aunt Thelma and Uncle Burt and Cousin Terry and Walt!

Hanging out in the cabins.

Hanging out on the cabin deck.

Between any raindrops the boys begged for the older cousins to play baseball. They played a TON of baseball and were in their glory.

At the cabin outside and inside with Grandma, Auntie Rhonda and Granddad.

When it was time to leave the boys were so upset. They were having so much fun and Jackson kept crying and saying he didn't want to ever leave his cabin.

Peyton wiped away his tears to console his brother.

Metropolis, Illinois was on our drive home so we took a bit of a detour to see the home of Superman. You'll have to look under the statue for the boys pretending to be the man of steel.

(above) Peyton and Jackson with Daddy and (below) Brett playing checkers with Daddy at one of our favorite vacation meal stops - Cracker Barrel.