Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vacation. Show all posts

November 16, 2017

Spring Break 2017 - Cumberland Falls Kentucky

This year it just so happened that Marley was on spring break the same time Mike was scheduled for a week off work. We decided to take a little trip. We didn't want to go to far and Mike's not big on touristy places so we settled on Cumberland Falls Kentucky. It was about a 6 hour drive which wasn't awful and the kids did great in the car so that helped. We went down on Wednesday and came home Friday night. We were also going electronics free. No video games, no tablets, no facebook, no movies. We did have our phones to take pictures and in case of emergency though.


We rented a super small cabin at Sheltowee Trace Adventure Park which is about 5 miles from the falls. Sheltowee is a campground that has RV sites, tent sites and several cabins. Since it was off season and we went during the week, there was 6 other people there besides us which was awesome. Our tiny one room cabin fit us perfectly and was so stinkin' cute! It had bunkbeds, a full size bed, and a countertop with a microwave. That was it. The bath house was a minute walk away.


We arrived on Wednesday afternoon and checked in. Within 30 minutes of being there, maybe even less, Marley was already asking if we could come back next year. That made me so happy. I thought for sure she would be complaining because we were going electronics free. The kids actually didn't ask to use electronics one time. They played outside when we weren't doing other things and at night they read books and we played games.

On Thursday morning we headed to Cumberland Falls. I had no idea it was so big. I've never seen a waterfall like that. I am used to small ones from a small creek. This was massive compared to what I've seen before. We walked around the falls a bit before heading to the other side to do the trail to Eagle Falls. It took us a few hours to hike to the falls and back but it was an easy hike and the kids enjoyed it. After that we headed back to the cabin and loaded up the kayaks and headed to the Cumberland River so Mike and Marley could do some kayaking while the boys took naps and I read a book. Finding the spot to put the kayaks in the river was quite an adventure. First I backed into a tree when leaving the cabin. Then we drove around for maybe an hour looking for the spot to load them in. Asked a couple locals and they had no idea where the place was that we were talking about, but we finally found it. We drove past it several times and just overlooked it apparently.  They went off down the river and I drove to the pick up spot and waited.... and waited... and waited. About 2 hours later I had to go to a different spot and pick them up because it was taking way to long to get where I was waiting.  We loaded back up and headed back to the cabin. I made dinner while Mike and the kids flew the drone around. They did that for a while until the wind caught the drone and took it up into a tree and that was the end of the drone. It was getting dark and it was up about 50 feet so the drone is gone forever.






Friday morning we loaded up to drive home. We took a different way home so we could stop in Burkesville where I have family and my grandpa's old family farm is.  We made it there and stopped to collect some bombshell rocks as we call them. Then we continued on our way home. We stopped to pick up our dog on the way and made it home right at bed time.

It was a short trip, but one of the best ones we taken honestly. It was nice to just relax and unplug for a few days.  We will most likely take other little trips like this in the future.


August 8, 2014

Vacation Day 7

On our last day of vacation we ate breakfast with Mike's family and then headed home. 


We drove to Port Clinton, Ohio to stop at the African Safari Wildlife Park. I had purchased cheap tickets on Groupon and it was only about 30 minutes off our route so we stopped in and it was a nice break to get out of the car for a bit.  


They have a walk through zoo part with monkeys and birds and other animals that you can't feed. Then, they also have the drive-thru part where you feed the animals from your car. 



Marley loved it. Mason was a little scared at first, but we went around twice and he got to sit up front the second time though and was fine. 






After the safari we finished the 3 hour drive home, which got us home right at bed time. We were exhausted, but had so much fun on our trip. 


Hope you enjoyed coming on our vacation with us. 

You can read all parts here, here, here, here, here, here and here

August 7, 2014

Vacation Day 6

On our final full day of vacation we didn't have a plan so we just stopped and picked up some pamphlets from the gas station and found something local to do. We ended up at Six Flags America. 

We arrived and right as we were paying we received a phone call that our dog had run away. He was staying at home and a friend was coming by and letting him out a few times a day.  He had apparently ran towards the woods and never came back. She said he had been gone 2 hours at this point. I immediately called my mom, and some friends to see if they could go over there to help look for him. I also found a photo and posted it on facebook, in several local moms groups and on my personal page. We were freaking out. We were 11 hours away and helpless. He's never done this before so we didn't even know where he might head to.  Within 30 minutes I received a message on facebook that a lady in one of my groups had him at her work!!  Since my mom was on her way to my house anyways, she stopped and picked him up and brought him home.  He was a mile away and had crossed three roads to get where he was, one of them being a very busy road.  Luckily, he was safe and back home so we could relax and start having fun at Six Flags. 


We all rode all the rides that we could as the park wasn't crowded at all so there were no lines.  Mike and I even went on a few roller coasters alone since the kids weren't tall enough. 



His head kept falling down so Mike used the camera strap to hold it up. Worked quite well actually. HAHA! 



Marley was bummed that she wasn't tall enough for the big fun rides.  She was tall enough for the skycoaster though! So her and Mike suited up and took a ride.  

If you watch the video, right when they pull the release to swing down you will see Marley's legs on the right side flip up in the air.  She almost flipped all the way over! I was video recording and when I saw this in real life I was freaking out. I don't think she was supposed to flip like that.  Mike didn't even know it had happened until I showed him the video. We both decided she's not going on one of these again until she's a lot bigger. It was so scary! You can actually kind of hear the gasps from other people that were watching. 




We finished up the day and headed back to Mike's sisters for dinner. After dinner she kept the kids while Mike and I went out for yogurt at Sweet Frog.  We got our yogurt and ate it outside in the peace and quiet.


August 6, 2014

Vacation Day 5

On our fifth day of vacation we headed to Washington, DC. 

First we went to the National Zoo. 




It was a nice zoo and it's free admission but you have to pay $22 for parking.  We only stayed for a few hours because it was so hot.  




Then we headed to White House and the National Mall.  We parked up near the White House and then walked to the museums. It's pretty far and it was still hot so it wasn't fun at all. 



Best part of the trip for Mike was petting and feeding a squirrel. 



We went into the Museum of Natural History. I picked this one because I thought the kids would like it the most and I wanted to see if it was the same as in the Night at the Museum movie. 







After we left the museum we headed back to the car since we only payed for 2 hours of parking.  However, we didn't read all of the 15 parking signs posted on the numerous poles around where we parked and you can't park there after 3:30 and we arrived at 2:30 so we ended up getting a ticket since we didn't get back to the car until almost 5pm.  OOPS!  

August 5, 2014

Vacation Day 4

We arrived in Annapolis at Mikes sisters house on Monday evening. We didn't really have any plans for what we wanted to do while out here, just relax with family. 


We woke up on Tuesday with Mason under the bed. He moves a lot when he sleeps I guess. 


After breakfast we headed out to Sandy Point State Park at the Bay Bridge. Mike and Marley went swimming and we did some walking around. It wasn't very warm out and we weren't really prepared for the beach so we didn't stay more than an hour. 



We headed back to Mike's sisters and just hung out and talked for the rest of the night.


Totally saw a cactus in Maryland- Is this normal?! 



August 4, 2014

Vacation Day 3- Sesame Place

Day two of Sesame Place was waterpark day.  We got there an hour after they opened and did all the slides before it got to busy. Then we played in the big splash area until late afternoon.  We changed and rode a few more rides before it was time for dinner. 






We had reservations for Dinner with Elmo & Friends.  It was a buffet again and the kids got more souvenir cups and lots of visits from the characters. By the end of day 2 Mason was fine with them and didn't cry at all.  





You can see in the video below that he actually ran up to a few of them and was so happy too! 


After we stuffed ourselves we got in the car and headed to Annapolis, Maryland for the rest of our vacation.