Kentucky Trip - May 2009

We took a trip out to Paducah, KY to visit Chris's Grandma and the rest of his mom's side of the family. J.D. was already making the trip and, since we hadn't been back in almost 5 years, we decided to tag along. We felt like we needed to go before Grandma Great McKeown gets too much older - she's quickly closing in on her 90th birthday. Grandma and Aunt Jackie opened their home to us and made us feel extremely comfortable. The girls were in heaven with the big playroom and never ran out of things to do. Ry was very sick before we left, so I made sure to get her on antibiotics so she would be well by the time we got to Paducah. She ended up being very sick for the first half of the trip and did nothing but sleep and lay around. We could hardly get her to eat for several days and Chris kept saying that she had swine flu. It eventually got to the point where I was ready to take her to the out-of-town doctor, but after 7 full days of being sick, she finally got better and was back to her old self. The next day I woke up sick as a dog, and was laid up for the next 72 hours. Maybe it was the swine flu, after all. :)

We were in KY for 10 days and it rained for all but 3 of them. We even had a tornado warning at one point. The funnel touched down just 40 minutes away from were we where - we ended up going to aunt Jane Ann's basement, just to be on the safe side. I have to say I have never seen a storm move quite like that before - it was a bit scary.

In spite of the bad weather and illness that seemed to follow us, we kept very busy with family and had plans almost every night. Even so, it still wasn't enough time and we wished we could have spent more time with everyone. We really had a great time and hope to make it back before another five years goes by.

Ry didn't know GG Mckeown well enough yet to fully enjoy these hugs.

Cousins Caroline & Emily

Grandma Great McKeown

Lovin' From Grandma Great

Elle LOVED her Great Aunt Jackie.

300 here I come

BFF's

We love our bowling, but...

This is about as serious as us girls get while doing it.

One of Elle's MANY dress-up outfits throughout the trip.

Getting rained out at the family picnic.

Mommy & Daddy love us...

...but fish fear us.

As close as Ry would get to the GREAT uncle Al.

Check out that whopper!!!

Yes, she is petting a fish.

Elle insisted on petting every fish that was caught.

Elle actually caught this one (with some help).

Ry landed this lunker all by herself.

A walk with Daddy @ the cabin.

Climbed the tree house only to find out there were too many bugs for these girls.

Check out the expression on Ry's face.

Mommy was too sick to do anything except take the pictures.

Who needs to buy tokens...

...when you can just fish for them.

Daddy hit the jackpot with the free tokens.

Daddy found this baby turtle while out golfing and Ry named it Turty. Later that night we set it free at it's new home at the pond in Noble Park.

Ryleigh with cousin Griffin and his dog.

Visiting the Habacker's in Nashville, on our way back to Phoenix. Steve and Shelia not pictured.

Cousin Shelia's beautiful backyard.

Smooches from Nashville

My favorite Ellie picture.

My favorite of Ry.