Could it have been b/c Mom spoiled me the entire 8-days and it felt like a vacation??? Quite possibly, yes :)
She was indeed super Mimi and met Chris on Monday of the previous week so the big girls could have a few days all to themselves in Ohio. They swam and went to Kings Island! A huge/fun/special day that they always look forward too.
And then the little girls and I arrived Thursday, and she took all 6 of these kids to the pool all by herself on Friday & Saturday! Packed them up to and from, came home, unpacked, fed them supper (plus Dad ;), put them to bed, got up in the morning, fed them breakfast and did it all over again! It's not an easy feat!
All so I could have virtually 2-days to myself and an overnight trip w/girlsfriends... super special and I am so grateful.
(hair down again :))
Here she is occupying the littles while the big kids waited out front to spend the night at Aunt Ashley's house!
the donkey's never did come out :( but the distraction worked!
A vacation + childhood memories that I got to share w/my girls = priceless. The whole thing. From creeking, to Hiltbrands, to the DAV for a wedding reception, swimming, jumping off docks, playing with cousins for hours on end, riding horses...
I felt so much emotion, happy & sad, that I wanted to take these pics just after we left on Thursday morning. I knew I wouldn't have the exact words, but I just felt (and still feel) very blessed to have had this amazing and special time with so many relatives & friends and experience and share so many special things with my girls.
Several times I drove to Donnie's house, parked and ran on this road. This is the end of Cotton Run, where the William's lived, where Sara Mainous used to live, and it turns into Mill Road. :) Maybe it's b/c it reminds me of Iowa... but I love it.
So peaceful
I listened to the song, "Southern Comfort Zone" by Brad Paisley, and though I'd insert the word 'Ohio' for 'Tennessee' it's exactly how I felt as I drove away from my 'sourthern comfort zone.'
Here I am looking south towards Mom & Dad's and Donnie's
North towards Mill Road
A few tears (all happy) and we were on the road. Didn't have to stop until Maquoketa, Iowa for gas??!! I'm not sure how Dad does it, so I took a picture to prove it. One tank of gas, 450(!) miles and still almost a 1/4 left... unbelievable.
So thanks Mimi & Pap for an amazing trip. We all love you so very, very much.
Officially our 'last' day in Ohio :) Mimi was scheduled to have Koontz kids again and it was decided that we would go to Ruby's pool that afternoon.
Carson being nice and letting the girls play the bee game with him :)
No pics of the day, just a lot of video! I have failed to mention how awesome Lydia is doing with swimming! I feel like it never fails, spend a week in Ohio swimming with no zero-depth entry, and they come back swimming like fish! I want to say Lauren & Lindsay were both 5 when they started to swim with floaties and then 6 without.
Surfin'... just practicing for Alabama :)
Last jumps... and Ruby talked Lydia into jumping in herself and swimming to the side, which she did GREAT the first time! Ruby commented on how much further down she went than Josie had ;) I fully believe Lydia has 20-lbs on Josie - ha! Anyhow, she did great the first time, then quickly went back for a 2nd and it was just too much. So the end of this video looks scary, but she was completely fine. Should have made her stop and catch her breath before she tried again.
At home we ate supper and then headed back down for a bonfire and to roast marshmallows..
Was a little chilly!
Look how grown up they are!!!
July 7, 2009 - 5-years ago!!! Elle was 4-1/2, Lauren 4-2mo, Lindsay 2-10mo & Carson 2-5mo
I just LOVE their hair down!!! The little platinum blondes that they are ;)
hard to believe...July 2009
back to the present...
Headed back into the house and THIS TIME I felt ready to leave in the morning... as much as I truly didn't want to leave, I knew it was time.
The plan was to leave on Tuesday to be home on Wednesday for Fontana classes, but the big girls assured me they were fine missing and that we should stay on Tuesday... I mean, why not? Mimi had the Koontz kids that day, we'd find something fun to do. Dawn, Gina & I had talked a few nights before about that waterfall that was on Mill Road, and had I ever been? Didn't think so... though maybe with Candy & Jeff Williams I might have? The William's were Dad's Aunt & Uncle and his first cousins. They watched Donnie & I growing up when Mom worked for Uncle Jim at his pharmacy. Pseudo grandparents in a way... I have a lot of memories from that house which is just right down the road from here. The weather was cooler on this day, but sunny, a perfect day for creekin' and they were still up for it!
The only problem, if you want to call it that (b/c we obviously didn't think it was ;)) is that the property is lined with signs saying, "No Trespassing." So, we found a way around that (or so we thought), Dawn knew someone on the road... we could park on their property. AND the creek (we decided) was state property, so technically, we were not trespassing :D Like our rationale, yes?
it was quite the entrance we made...
but we found our way to the creek!
First steps in! The little girls were really unsure of this whole 'walking in shoes/socks that are wet-thing'... but they got over it fairly quickly :)
over-dressed for sure!
It was so. cool! Can you see how flat the rocks are? It was like that the entire walk to the actual falls... flat, the perfect amount of water... it was just gorgeous.
Mimi feeling better after she put her phone down :) oh yes, and everyone quickly stripped to their suits... we left a trail of clothes so we could find our way back!
how happy are they?!
Gorgeous little place... we weren't even to the actual falls yet!
At this point, we were already planning our next trip back - ha!
And then we heard them...
So surreal!
This gorgeous paradise right up the road... And so you can swim down below, or that's what Dawn & Gina used to do... and Dawn wanted to get in SO bad! Mimi was a little nervous about that and Gina talked her off the ledge ;) We were already scheming that when we came back, we'd bring life jackets :D
Also at the falls we found picnic tables, hanging swings, a hammock, and people looking down on us who also sent their dogs down :)
We weren't too worried really... they were nice dogs :)
Can you imagine swinging on this?! This pic, along with SO MANY others made wish so badly I had carried my big camera down...
Walking back, Dawn said, "oh Lydia, that looks fun! You're making mud-pies..."
and she said, "no, I'm decorating." :D
We found a live crawdad but couldn't catch him.. we used to be good at that!
Gina & LeaAnn and their game :)
Kids found all kinds of cool fossil rocks... and then we decided we should probably head up...
And who was waiting for us at the top? Two Butler County sheriffs?!? As it turns out, these nice gentleman told us that in fact, the creek is state property, but not if you touch the bottom... then it's 'his' property... what?! Yes, you read right, the sheriff told us that if we tubed, and never touched the bottom, we would 'legally' be on state property. They walked us back to our vehicles, which were surrounded by two cop cars with their lights on! Kids were pretty impressed!
Lucky for us, these were two exceptionally nice guys who made a point to tell the kids that they were 'good guys' and if they were ever in trouble they should find someone who looked like them. They even offered for the kids to get in the car and take pics... but by that time, the kids were ready for break ;)
And our dreams of going again were crushed... and we really didn't want this fun day to end, so we decided to repack snacks, pack a cooler this time (good thing we didn't have one earlier!), grab Carson his swim trunks and go somewhere we knew we wouldn't get in trouble ;)
4-mile creek at Dave & Kathy Hiltbrand's!
BIG creek... a current and lots of HUGE rocks!
very different than the falls...
So a little more treacherous than our gentle/relaxing walk on Mill Road :) but the kids loved pretending they were fish and swimming up the stream... there were some serious rapids! Would be fun to tube down... maybe next year that's what we'll have to do.
When we finally decided it was time to head back, we were loading up and Dave & Kathy both pulled in their drive! (I should have taken a picture of their driveway, it's almost a 1/2 mile long and we were parked at the end) We got to talking and she said, "you can't leave until you at least meet Bones." Bones would be the horse she'd like to give us :) and I do so hope that maybe Bones will become a resident at our house :)
So the kids jumped in the back of Gina's truck and we drove down the lane to Kathy & Dave's house... a drive that I used to make all. the.time. I worked for Dave & Kathy in high school, I grew up camping on the 'flat-rocks' that are even further back than this house, I used to ride 4-wheelers down this lane, this is where Dad would help Dave with his pulling tractors and Donnie & I would beg Dad to 'stop talking' :) SO many fond memories of my childhood... right down this exact drive...
And the kids were not disappointed :)
Bones & Stich... the kids had so much fun leading them around...
Everyone got a turn riding on them
Loving every minute :)
How cute would this be if I were not in it!
And then she got Karen Anne's show heifer out :)
Lydia 'leading' the heifer ;)
LeaAnn leading the heifer!
pretty sweet...
And needless to say that this super-fun day that we did not want to end, really didn't until 6pm! We finally got back to Mimi & Pap's and I said, "mom, I can't leave tomorrow!" I had not packed a thing... and so we stayed :) Thanks to Mimi, Dawn, Gina, Dave & Kathy who all made this amazing day happen!
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