Goodbye!

Goodbye!!

Cheryl John Joe!!! :) 

Day Without Travels!

Today we went to the pool. It was sunny unlike last time. Before that, we he had to go to a doctor's appointment for my mom. I will blog next travel! 

There is a new page that shows our travels.  Our Travel Map

Frankfort Bound

Frankfort- Finally our first day trip!

Mom's Point of View

So, last night , finally, we went to Nicholasville to pick up Brian's truck which means I get my car back and my summer back or that's how it feels anyway.  Thank goodness I had a little extra summer this year.  On the drive back home all I could think about was getting out of the house the next day but there were two problems; we had to be back by 4 for a baseball game and I had very little cash to spend.  I knew the weather was going to be nice so I wanted to go somewhere outside to enjoy it. (Once the weather gets hot I can't stand to walk around outside in the heat-I'm kind of a wimp that way!)

I decided to today we would visit the 

□ Vietnam Veteran's Memorial (http://www.kyvietnammemorial.net/) &

□ The Salato Wild-Life Center (http://fw.ky.gov/navigation.aspx?cid=130)

Getting the boys up after a few weeks of sleeping in was a real job. Well, okay, okay maybe I was the one who didn't want to get up.  Yes, I planned to get up at 7 (which is really sleeping in for normal people) but I turned off the alarm instead of hitting snooze, by accident, I think. So we had a bit of a late start. My bad!  

I printed out directions before we left even though our new car has navigation-which I have yet to totally figure out, and I was so ready!  (It is so sad that I grew up in this area but can count the number of times I have been to Frankfort on one hand.) I have to say that I am really proud of myself because I got there all on my own.  Boy, that is so liberating!  I know that sound silly, but having the boys with me added a little pressure to find some random place on your own while being responsible for their safety... but I digress..

Our first stop was the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.  I don't know if you have ever been there, but wow, what an amazing place! I have been here a few times with my high students-which means that I cannot get the full experience-but I do feel a personal connection there. I know everyone knows about Brian's service but my dad was in the National Guard as well.  In fact, I come from a long line of servicemen, mostly not famous, but I am related to Jimmy Doolittle (Okay, before you get out your history books, just know he was very important during the 2nd world war.)  I also want my boys to understand how deep their connection is since they come from two strong lines of servicemen.  Besides their dad and grandfathers serving on my side, Brian's brothers were both Marines and his great-great grandfather was in the Civil War.

Joe trying to figure out the mathematics of the sun dial.

John walking across the names, year by year.

In front of the capital.

I really wanted to sit quietly on one of the benches and absorb the atmosphere.  It's a solemn and sad place when you actually see all the names and I am always awestruck at the the beauty of the dial as it sweeps its shadow from name to name.  Its meaning is not lost on someone who has not personally lost a family member to war.  In fact it serves as a reminder of what I do have to lose when Brian leaves and serves.  As a wife and mother it is easy for me to internalize what all those names actually stand for.  How many tears were shed, husbands lost, sons who never returned.  It is all so much when you are standing there.  I tried to get the boys to understand, but to them it is not real, and that's not their fault.  I am glad its not.  John is a little more sensitive to the situation and read name after name as he traveled in the circle and while Joe, the analytical one, tried to figure out how the sundial actually worked.  Meanwhile I tried to keep the lump in my throat from coming out in sobs.  

Rubbings  made by the boys.  The memorial provides papers!

I had the boys do a couple rubbings of some names before we left.  We don't actually know anyone who has their name there so I had them find their own names among the lists hoping that would give them a small connection to take with them.  They have really common names so they were easy to find.  In fact Johns name appeared over and over. I then let John shoot some photos with the camera. He always manages to capture emotional scenes-Just his gift. John took a picture of part of the verse that encompasses the memorial.  It reads..

"For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven."

Enough said...

Boon Center Military Vehicles

We called Brian from the memorial to see if he would meet use for lunch.  He has been working at the Boone Center in Frankfort since January.  I have wanted to see where he goes four days a week for a long time now.  We met him for a short lunch at Staxx Bar-b-q.  (Let me insert a YUM-OH right here..delicious!)  We had a few minutes to spare so he loaded us into one car to drive us over to the base.  I don't have my military ID yet so I can't drive in to see him.  I gave John the camera and asked him to shoot the entrance and the building Brian worked in, but all he could focus on were the military vehicles.  That's the single picture he took.  We dropped Brian off back at his truck and had just enough time to head to our next stop before heading home to our baseball game. 

Our LAST STOP of the day was at  

The Salato Wildlife Preserve.

 

The Wildlife preserves is on a huge compound in the middle of the capital city.   There are picnic areas, a lake and lots of green grass.  I had heard of the place before and looked it up briefly on line.  The boys had been there on a field trip.  You have to drive all the way to the back to get to the educational building.  I stood at the desk when we entered, wallet out waiting to pay only to find out its free.  Yeah- my favorite price!  There are a lot of educational activities inside.  There are aquariums full of native fish, frogs and turtles.  There were bee hives-real ones that had a funnel to the outside.  There was even a flying squirrel, which was sleeping- they are nocturnal.  The boys spent a lot of time on the inside completing the educational activities.  I know, what kind of mom am I to make the boys learn during the summer?  I believe John's quote was something like, "Mom, I am not in school, I am on vacation!"

John learning about conservation

Out of school math practice with fish eggs

Joe learning about Shock Fishing.

 

The boys going on ahead.

Our adventures continued outside.  I had no idea that it was actually like a zoo.  Thank the Lord it was such a gorgeous day with little humidity which is perfect for me.  I am not much into heat or any type of weather extreme for that matter.  There is lots of shade as well, which I am thankful for. It was a pretty large area and we walked and rested, walked and rested, walked and rested- okay the boys ran ahead while I rested.  Its nice to have the boys at an age where I can say, "Go ahead and go see it, I am going to rest here!"  I did eventually make it around the entire park.  Some of the animals, like the buffalo and elk are pretty far away, but other animals are so close you could almost touch.  The eagle sat only a few feet from me.  What a gorgeous creature he is!  All the animals are indigenous to Kentucky.  We saw a black bear-oh my he was huge close up- and he was less than 5 feet away with only an electric fence between us. We saw deer and wild turkeys as well.  The boys had honed in on a baby turkey, it was so cute.  We saw a bobcat, which is also called a Kentucky Wildcat (this variety did not have a unibrow.)  Haha, I made a funny!

baby wild turkey

bison

fish under the waterfall

There were also skunk, not sure if their skunkers were intact, but they were sleeping so we were safe.  There were also marshes with birds and different types of dragonflies. There was a neat waterfall with an outdoor aquarium full of catfish and longnose gar.

There were also some outdoor activities the boys could participate in so they weren't just walking around.  One which promoted the non-mowing of prairie grass was a tad odd.  Its premise that we need to protect wildlife and I get that, but I don't think the boys did.  In this area you have to travel from the eggs of a grouse though an open field with tractors to the other side which contains the food source without getting eaten by the large eagle flying overhead.  Hmm, questionably scary at best. 

Boys emerging from their grouse eggs.  Wonder if they are experiencing deja-vu?

 It was about that time that our camera died; Its batteries were dead and so were mine.  I knew it was time to go.  I was sunburned and exhausted.  I love animals, but even I had my limit.  I wish there had been a petting zoo.  Someone said there was, but I never saw it.  i was too sore and tired to go on anyway.

It sure was a great start to our summer adventures.  My favorite part??? It was all free; the memorial, the Wildlife Preserve, and even the Frostys from Wendy's on the way home! (Shout out to "Jean" who hooked me up at Wendy's when I couldn't find my wallet in the drive thru!) 


We can check Frankfort off our list now...


Where do we go next?

Rainy pool day

Today we went to the pool. When we were there, we were in a pop-up shower. It was really fun!!!

rainy pool day!

today we went to the pool and then it started raining. I thought it was awesome!

Week 1 disaster!

This week we did not go anywhere because our dad had work and used the car all week. He couldn't use his truck's transmission was busted. We will start traveling next week!