Parker's Summer Vacation 2016

I waited too late to schedule our beach vacation this summer and it was already booked for the summer. We get a super awesome deal on the condo we rent so it's hard to dish out more money to go anywhere else. 

Maynard and I discussed it and decided we wanted to go to Loraine, Ohio and visit with Tara and Reuben. They just had their one year anniversary and we have never been up there to see where they live. They live 5 mins away from Lake Erie and said we were welcome to use the church apartment. That tickled us to death and saved us a ton of money. 

So Saturday July 2nd, we loaded up the van and headed north. 

Maynard was talking to his uncle while on the trip, when he reminded us they were having a family reunion that day. It was on our way and also lunchtime. So we made a stop at Krogers to buy something to attribute to the dinner and then headed to the reunion. 

I'll be real honest here when I say I wasn't too thrilled about going. However, Maynard puts up with my family anytime I want to see them and it's only fair to support him when he wants to see his extended family. I also had remembered the food being "blah" previously, but this year I was in for a suprise. The food was amazing!!  They had smoked beef brisket, grilled chicken breast, hamburgers, hot dogs, every side item and desert imaginable. There was red, white, and blue cake pops on every table along with mixed Hershey's chocolate candy. They had a photo booth set up and jars of snap pops and sparklers for the kids. Whoever Maynard is kinned to, put a lot of time, money, and effort into that reunion. As long as they continue to host, I'll probably go every year. Ha ha

I should have taken more pictures, but I didn't. This is Maynard introducing the kids to his Great Uncle Herman. Uncle Herman is 96 years old and still sharp as a tack. 

After we ate and said our goodbyes, we got back on the rd again. We kept getting turned around and didn't have signal to use our gps. After getting some help we finally got headed in the right direction. 

We passed many lakes and rivers on the way. So with lakes and rivers comes bridges. I am not a fan of bridges. I close my eyes and pick up my feet. I don't know why. I've been asked what happens if I put my feet down and my reply is always "I don't know, but I don't want to find out."

I do better on open bridges than enclosed bridges. I'm weird, I know. Back to my post.....

We drove and drove and drove and drove and finally arrived. I told Tara she need whipped for moving off that far. It felt like we were never gonna get there. 

We met at the church and then went to see Tara and Reuben's house. 

We visited awhile and then went back to the apartment to unpack and get some rest. 

Amelia thought sleeping on a couch fold out bed was the coolest thing ever. Apparently she has never done that before. 

The next morning was church and we were all dressed and ready to go by 9. We thought we would head out for breakfast before people started coming in. We were wrong though. People were already there and it was awkward. Ha ha. We went to McDonalds and I ordered us biscuits and gravy. They looked at me like I was nuts. They don't have gravy.  Never have had gravy there. I thought that was so odd. Not sure what the North has against gravy. 

My kids were dressed all festive for the 4th. 

We dropped the kids off at their classes and then Maynard and I headed for the sanctuary. We loved Sunday School and the worship service. There was such an awesome spirit there. They sang and preached about our freedom to worship God. 

After service the church was having a dinner and another short service at their campground. They had canceled their evening service. 

We stopped at the store once again to bring something to the dinner. I can't go somewhere empty handed without feeling guilty like that. I felt bad enough bringing store bought food, but had no other choice. 

It was gorgeous weather at the campground. We ate outside under a huge shade tree. My kids made friends almost immediately. 

Amelia and the youth pastor's daughter were almost inseparable. Josiah played with the pastor's son and Titus played mostly with Reuben's dad Frank. Ha ha. Our kids fell in love with Frank. He played with them nonstop. He was crazy about Amelia, but y'all know how she is. She can take ya or leave ya. I think he finally won her over towards the end. 

Since there wasn't any church that evening Reuben had made plans for us to go to an independent baseball game. My boys were super thrilled to do that. 

There was too much going on for me to watch the ball game. I'm a people watcher and would forget to watch the game. 

We knew our kids would beg for concessions and such, but that can get costly. I bought some Gatorade and snacks to smuggle in in my big "purse". 

It worked perfectly. We were gonna eat supper afterwards so I didn't want to spend a fortune on snacks. 

Amelia just wanted to go play on the inflatables as you can see in the background. 

Gorgeous sunset. 

Titus wanted to catch a foul ball so bad. 

There were fireworks after the game. 

I got to sit next to a baby so I played with him mostly. I think the mom was relieved to be sitting by someone that a baby wouldn't bother. 

After the game they called for all the kids to come run the bases. Mine were begging to go, but I was nervous about them getting lost. Finally, I said "Go, on!"  By then the gate was locked. Instead of giving up my kids jumped the gate.

 Ha ha. They wasn't the only ones. Other kids followed them.  

Lined up ready to run. 

Here's the link to YouTube of them running. 

http://youtu.be/z_9Z9_A2Ajg

Because they never got a foul ball Tara went in the gift shop and bought them each a Crushers ball. This was as good as gold to them. 

After the game we headed to eat at one of Tara's favorite restaraunts, Blue Sky Diner. We had a brief delay of being pulled over for our license plate light being out and were soon on our way. 

It was so late to be eating, but we were all starved. We got back to the apartment around 12:30 and everyone went straight to sleep. Then 2 out of 3 kids got back up with belly aches from eating so late. 

Monday morning we slept in a little later and then got all our lake gear together. We met Tara and Reuben at McDonalds for Lunch/breakfast and then went to the lake. Everything was so beautiful. The water was clear and you could see all the way down. The only thing not pleasant was the sand. It was more like mud instead of white sand at the ocean. 

There's a lighthouse in the far back. 

It was really overcast and we barely seen the sun shine.  However, everyone managed to get sunburned. 

 We swam for awhile and then Tara was wanting to take us to her favorite ice cream shop. 

Tara was having a cookout at her house and we all had to hurry home and get showers. We didn't want to show up smelling like dead fish. 

We ate and then played some corn hole games. The kids played softball and football in the field. Then we walked over to a school where they played basketball and played on the playground. 

The only pictures I thought to take was of the kids playing with sparklers. 

We helped clean up and then it was bed time. The next day we were leaving. Everything seems to go so fast. 

We packed up in the morning and drove to Tara's one last time. 

Before we left we said our goodbyes to Tara's mother-n-law there at the church and her father-n-law. Which is Frank. The kids sure was gonna miss him. He was Titus' new best friend. Ha ha

He told the kids to always honor and respect their parents and other good wisdom they needed to hear. Then he prayed with us for safe travels. 

We got to Tara and Reuben's and they had ordered pizza for us for lunch. 

We ate and then had to say our goodbyes to them. 

It was bittersweet to leave. We had a great time and they were such great hosts that we will have to come back for sure!! Next time we want to spend more time at the lake. It's hard to cram everything in in just a few days. 

We got back on the rd and headed for Elizabethtown. The kids were supposed to attend my neice's party at a waterpark on Wednesday, but it got canceled due to the weather. They were so disappointed, but Mamaw made it up to them by scheduling cousin time. Kamden got to spend the night with them at Mamaw's and they got to play with Cameron and Emma the next day. We made plans to go to the Patton Museum in Fort Knox, but we got a late start. You had to get permission to even go into Ft. Knox. By the time we were gonna get approved the museum was gonna be closing. So we decided to go back another time. My Dad made plans for us to go to Jailhouse Pizza. It was the old Meade County jail made into a pizza place. It was so neat. 

It was on the river front and had a pretty view. We were 8 miles from Indiana. We pretty much covered Ohio, Ky, and Indiana in one day. We were only 100 miles from Michigan while in Ohio and only 30 mins across the lake was Canada. 

From the window at Jailhouse Pizza. 

Our table was in an actual jail cell. 

Mom and dad wore the appropriate color to dinner. People would walk by and I asked them for bail. I said $30 should do it. Well, at least it would pay for our pizza. 

We had an escapee!!  

True story. He later fell and is still complaining today that his neck hurts. 

The electric chair. 

The food was really good. Took awhile to get it so I recommend an appetizer or salad to occupy the kids if they're really hungry. We put the kids in the cell behind us. At one point we realized they were eating bread and water. Ha ha. I was already creeped out and there was a hole in the bottom of the wall where I was sitting.  Titus reached through and grabbed my leg and scared me to death.  

We said goodbye to my parents and we were ready to go home. Maynard had to work the next day and we wanted to get home at a decent hour. Well....that didn't happen. 

I offered to drive home and then I noticed my van was swerving all over the road. I thought it was the wind. We then realized we had a flat. 

Maynard put the donut on, but he said we wouldn't make it home on that. We called tire shops, salvage yards, and everyone was closed. We drove passed a house that had a Body Shop sign in their yard. We pulled in and they were having a cookout. They told Maynard to go to Walmart and buy a tire and to come back and they would help him put it back on. 

We didn't even know you could do that, but apparently you can. 

We bought the tire and drove back to their house. 6 men came out to help change the tire. A lady came and talked to me at my window. These were the nicest people ever. I feel like the Lord allowed us to find them for the help that we needed. They refused to let Maynard 

pay them. We were back on the road and home by midnight. I was so thankful for a safe trip and that we had a flat in a familiar area on our way home. 

Vacation was fun, but it sure feels good to be home.