Belle & the Monkey: 2010 Annual 4th of July Kentucky Trip

Each year we start this vacation out with Kelly's family in Northern Kentucky where they throw a heck of a 4th of July party. This year I missed the fireworks because Gabrielle had an accident and I had to take her back to the house to get cleaned up and by the time that was done we'd pretty much missed them. Morgan stayed and watched the whole show for the first time. She even said she liked them. Lets hope she still feels the same next year when they roll around! First up on any trip to Aunt Minni's is White Castle or Gold Star Chili, so of course we hit White Castle for dinner Friday night after we arrived. Saturday was a lazy day with a trip to Gold Star for lunch then back to Aunt Minni's to get ready for the annual BBQ and fireworks show.

Sunday we went to see Uncle George and Aunt Maryann for an afternoon BBQ. Emily came over and brought Baby Taylor who is so freakin cute! Uncle George and Aunt May gave the girls' their birthday gifts, a stuffed Eeyore and a Winnie the Pooh book for Gabrielle (she calls him Theodore) and a stuffed Tigger and Winnie the Pooh book for Morgan. The girls enjoyed ice cream sandwiches and discussing pine cones with Uncle George and cats with Aunt May.

Monday we went to the Children's Museum in Cincinnati with Stephyne, Chris, Cadence and Cailyn. It was not at all what we expected it to be! It was like a giant play room. All three of the big girls had a blast playing with balls, looking at dinosaurs, pretending to be vets, working in a grocery store (Gabrielle got to fulfill her dream of being a cashier girl!), working at a dinner and as a construction worker. Cailyn seemed to enjoy watching everyone around her. We then headed to the mall for a bit where the girls got to ride the carousel and play in the play area. After that dinner at Smokey Bones. If you ever have a chance to eat there GO! The wings were AMAZING! Morgan will adamantly tell you that Smokey Bones is her favorite!

Tuesday was the Annual trip to the Newport Aquarium. Awesome place! Morgan freaked out a little at first about the big plexiglass tunnels you go through but was fine after a little bit. We got to see a ray shark being feed by a diver and it was pretty cool to watch. Morgan got her face painted with a huge pink dolphin, Gabrielle refused, she said she was scared. The following day, Gabrielle asked if we could go back to the Aquarium so she could have her face painted. Kids. :)

Wednesday morning we headed South to Pappaw's house. Of course upon arrival, Mammaw had prizes for them, pig, bunny, and chicken Webkinz, Littlest Pest Shop play sets and coloring books and crayons. While we were there Pappaw let the girls pick roses from the bushes out front and talked to them about the flowers. He keeps bees and sells the honey every year and let me tell you, its some YUMMY honey! Gabrielle was very interested in them and had him show her the supers. We took it pretty easy for the rest of the week and headed home on Saturday morning.

Aunt Minnie and Cailyn

The girls playing on Cadence's 4-wheeler

Cadence playing on her slip and slide. Morgan was the only other one to play on it (and she just ran down it and the flopped on her belly) until Tonya and Joe's sons played on it. Gabrielle wanted no part of it!