Farewell Summer!

As I may have mentioned a time or two, this summer my brand new computer crashed.  It started acting up in late June doing funky things like shutting down automatically while I was blogging, facebooking, searching the web, etc.  In the end, we skipped shipping the computer to Texas for diagnostics and repair and just asked a good friend to scrub it clean and rebuild it.  VOILA…I’ve got a new computer with upgrades that are better than the stuff originally installed!

Which brings me to my point…when we left for a family vacation in mid-July, I was hoping praying that the computer would sort of fix-itself by not being used for several weeks.  In fact, the computer was even sicker upon my return and basically couldn’t even be turned on.

Fortunately for all of you me, all of our summer vacation pictures were backed up to an external hard drive.  Whew!!!  So as a farewell to summer, I thought over the next few days I would share with you our fantastic driving trip through the southeast portion of the United States and our return trip home.

Enjoy!

Day 1:  St. Louis, Missouri to Shelbyville, Tennessee

We left Kansas City and stayed overnight with my parents in St. Louis.  St. Louis is a good jumping off point for us when we travel east.  It allows us to shave almost 4-hours off of any trip we take to the South.

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My kiddos with my mom.

 

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My mom and me.

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My kiddos with my dad.

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My dad and me.

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Mary on an authentic, old-fashioned teeter-totter (or if you prefer, see-saw).  She loved this!!!  Ben was terrified and would not sit on it.  This play area was part of a rest-area in Kentucky.  It was really beautifully landscaped.

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This is the reason why the packaging on Crayola Markers says, “ages 3 and up”.  Notice very little marker on the COLORING BOOK  pages!

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I’m thinking about allowing Ben to do his own make-up for Halloween.  He is quite the make-up artist if you give him a couple of markers!  This is his “street fight” look!

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Does this house look familiar?  It might if you’ve ever seen the movie, The Green Mile.  This was the Warden’s house where they took John Coffey to cure the warden’s ailing wife.  This home is located in Shelbyville, Tennessee.

 

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A view from the street.  The reason the above-picture is crooked is because I quickly snapped the picture.  I didn’t expect our hostess to actually drive UP the homeowner’s driveway, and I was laughing and screaming that we needed to get off of their property before someone really did come out with a shot-gun…this is the South ya know!

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Our hostess for the night, Miss Sheila, provided an exciting evening of entertainment for our little ones.  Her sister owns a horse farm and graciously allowed for our kiddos to have a horse ride. She also raises peacocks which delighted both Mary and Ben.

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Mary wasn’t too hip about sharing her horsey ride, but did smile for the camera!!!



Comments

  1. We never have to fear that anyone comes out with a shot gun over here :-) :-) :-) but perhaps an angry dog or two :-9

    Love peacocks but they sure shout a lot and loud. I grew up near a park and they had a lot of peacocks there and sometimes at night we could hear them shout from a long distance, sounded a bit scary if one didn´t know what it was :-)
    Have a great day now!
    Christer.

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  2. Hi Christer.

    I know what you mean about the peacocks...truth be told, Ben was a bit frightened by them (Mary loved them). They really are noisy and LOUD!!! I had no idea.

    I've only seem them in captivity (read "the local zoo") and never so many just roaming a property. We were hoping for a dropped feather from their plume, but apparently they drop mostly during mating which had occurred earlier in the day. Oh well, one less "souvenir" to truck home! LOL

    Have a great day!

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  3. I vacation in wisconsin...the resort we go to has tons of peacocks that are free to roam. They wake you up at all hours :)

    Looks like a great end to the summer.

    Janet

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  5. Hi Janet.

    Wisconsin is beautiful! I've only traveled through the Osh Kosh/Green Bay area once; I've never been to the Dells or to Door County, but my parents have and love it.

    We frequent the western side of WI as my husband's grandparents live in Prairie Du Chien. That part of the Mississippi is so beautiful!

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  6. It looks like your trip started off great. I bet your parents loved having the Grandchildren around to spoil and cuddle. The little cowgirl was very gracious to share her horsey ride. Not all big sisters would be so kind! Can't wait to see more!

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  7. Hi Valerie--
    Ken and I took a trip too the Southeast two summers ago. We'll have to trade stories when we get together.

    Have a great day!!!

    Melinda

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  8. Sares,

    Mary had the time of her life on this 20 minute horsey ride! The next morning we had the pleasure of visiting the Tennessee Walking Horse Museum in Shelyville, TN! Mary was in heaven. Especially, getting to see those beautiful blankets of roses that they drape across the winning horse's back and those gorgeous winning ribbons.

    Hopefully, folks won't get too bored by the future posts; I'm really just blogging my vacation pics for me so that I don't forget anything before I can get my pics scrapbooked!

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  9. Melinda,

    We are addicted to visiting the southeast! While the drive to Florida was a bit much, we are huge fans of the Gulf Coast and panhandle of FL. It is a much more doable drive with babes in the car!!!

    Yes, we must swap vacation stories (you know...great places to eat, shop, adventure to...the important stuff!)

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  10. Hello!

    You got a lovely place....

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  11. Cool- a real teeter-totter! I haven't seen one of those since I was a kid! I wonder if any playgrounds still have those merry-go-round things that you spin?

    It looks like you guys had a great trip!

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  12. Hi Butterfly,

    Welcome! Thanks for visiting and joining From Our Front Porch Looking In.

    I only have a few minutes as I'm trying to get dinner ready for the little ones before the sitter comes. I promise to visit you tomorrow when I have more time to blog!

    Blessings,
    Valerie

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  13. Morgan,

    We've got one of those merry-go-round thingies at the town park!

    We must plan a play date for out little ones soon!!!

    Blessings,
    Val

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment. Your kind words are appreciated! As Mother Teresa said, "Let us always meet each other with smile, for the smile is the beginning of love."

Valerie

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