Whirlwind!!

Hey guys!!! We had an AWESOME vacation!! I have spent the last two days trying to unpack and get everyone back on Central Standard Time.... I think we are getting back into our normal routine and I actually have a few minutes to try and blog! It might take a post or two to get through the whole trip, ok?

Day 1.
We left on Saturday morning, the 29th and aimed for Memphis, TN. We thought we wouldn't get in until after dinner time, but by lunch, we were starting to realize we had not only "made really good time," but we apparently didn't realize that 8 hours from 7:30am isn't dinner time. Hehe. So, we got to Memphis at 3pm, pulled straight into the Graceland parking lot and went up to buy tickets! We're crazy, I know. We had just enough time to take the 2 1/2-3 hr. tour before they closed at 5pm. Well, with our little ones, who seem to have the attention span of a fly, we did the entire tour in only an hour and a half and we were done! It also helped that we aren't diehard Elvis fans, we just wanted to see the place and check it off our list of "Things We've Done." Pictures later.

Oh, on our way into Memphis (in the car), I had been on the phone booking a hotel room and looking online to find a restaurant for dinner. We originally wanted to go back to Neely's BBQ, but we let some friends suggest another place, Rendezvous. It wasn't nearly as good as Neely's, imho, but we had fun nonetheless. Then, we checked in to our hotel and went out to see the city real quick before bedtime. We took a hourse and carriage tour, which was absolutely comical. I don't think the girl was "on" anything, but she was totally scatter-brained! She gave us a tour and was on the phone the whole time trying to get some battery or something for the carriage. Dan and I would have asked for our money back had it not been so funny. It was also a little creepy, because as the sun was starting to set, all these homeless people were moving into the park, seriously. They were setting up camp on benches as we were driving around having a family outing! It wasn't like you could have helped one or two of them either, there were literally about a hundred homeless people milling about. Very sad.

Day 2.
The next morning, (August 30th) we had intended to stay in Memphis and see Graceland on Sunday, but because we had already done that we left and drove on to Kentucky! We stopped for lunch in Nashville, TN at the Hard Rock Cafe. Nashville was very cool, we didn't even get to see a lot of it, but all the old buildings and music clubs, etc. were neat.

We drove on after eating lunch and made it to Hebron, KY by dinner time. (Do you see a theme in our stops? It's all about making it to the next restaurant, before the kids lose it, ha!) We checked in easily, b/c Dan had made the resevations the night before while we were in Memphis. Have you noticed that we had not made a SINGLE reservation when we left Texas??? We knew where we were going, but everything else was completely flexible!! We're crazy, huh? Anyway, we booked two nights at a Country Inn and Suites, which was really nice. I highly recommend those hotels! Very family friendly!

So, we got a lists of restaurants and chose TGI Fridays as the lucky recipient for serving our wild and rambunctious boys. :-) They were actually all 3 doing really well, considering the amount of road time and being strapped into carseats for soooo long. After dinner, we found a local Wal-Mart to stock back up on juice boxes and such. Dan was amazed at how friendly everyone was everywhere we went. When we got back to the hotel, Daddy took the boys to the indoor pool for a quick swim. Eventually they came back up to the room ready to crash for the night!

Day 3.
(Monday, 31st) Our hotel package had included tickets to the Creation Museum, so we didn't have to wait in line when we go there, which was very cool! (The Creation Museum is in an off-the-beaten path location, we learned the story about it right before we were leaving. Apparently, the owners/investors had tried to purchase some land right near the Cinncinnati airport, but the city put a stop to their plans when they learned what was being built... :-( They kept praying about it, and a new piece of property opened up finally. It was a lot more land for a much better price! God works in mysterious ways!)

The Museum is great! They have the biblical account of Creation and have literal interpretations of Genesis throughout. The kids get to see dinosaurs actually right beside humans and learn about how they might have gone extinct. There is a huge replica of the inside of Noah's Ark, videos playing everywhere, lots of things for the kids to do! Outside, there was a petting zoo and a botanical garden to walk through. Oh, and a swinging bridge, which my family thoroughly enjoyed swinging as Mommy walked over.... Every little detail had been carefully planned out, you could tell! It was a really nice facility, and the gift store was incredible. They have so many books on Creation v.s Evolution and all about the Flood. It was awesome.

Ok, taking a break. I have more about Day 3 coming up...