We drove 800 miles to and from Kentucky this past weekend to visit Noelle, Jeff, and their baby Rachel. We were also able to visit with Brennan and Tammi who were there at the same time. Driving in the van for 13 hours with Nicholas and Michael was surprisingly not too bad! We are fortunate enough to have a van equipped with lots of bells and whistles(DVD player, Sirius satellite radio, AM/FM radio, outlet plug, etc.), and we were all able to keep ourselves entertained throughout the ride. Now if only there was a way to exercise while riding in the car....
Rachel is just as Noelle tells us she is - cute, adorable, lights up at any mention of her name or whenever someone points a camera at her! She is a very agreeable little baby, and loved it that we were there to hold her, snuggle with her, and play with her! I'm sure that she misses us now that we are not there anymore!
This is what we did while we were in Kentucky with Noelle and Jeff:
Saturday - we arrived at 6:30 p.m. and went to a Boy Scout dinner, and then to a friend of Noelle's and Jeff's for chocolate fondue treats - yum!
Sunday - Noelle, Nicholas, Michael, Brennan, and I played a special number on our violins(Noelle at the piano) in Sacrament meeting - "The Lord is My Shepherd". The speaker was very impressed that Nicholas and Michael played the violin so well at their ages(Nicholas is 11 and Michael is 7). After church services, we went to Jeff's parents' house for dinner. He has a very nice family - we enjoyed getting to know them better. That night we stayed up late for some fun Karaoke!
Monday - We swam in the hotel pool - Rachel's first time swimming! she loved it! then we went to the nearby park(Tom Sawyer park) for a picnic lunch. After hanging out at the park, we said goodbye to Brennan and Tammi. : - ( They had to get back to their family.
Tuesday - We went to Churchill Downs for a museum tour and a backside tour of the race track. It was very cool seeing the horses, trainers, and other staff getting ready for the Kentucky Derby on May 3.
After lunch we went to the Louisville Slugger Museum, where we got to see how bats are made, and we each received our own little bat as a souvenir. Tony, Nicholas, and Michael tried their hands at the batting cages. We won't discuss their scores here, but they had a lot of fun! 
Nicholasand Michael both said that going to the Louisville Slugger Museum was the best part of the visit for them.(Nicholas says he also likes the riding crop he got from the Churchill Downs gift shop too!)
Tony loved seeing the final season Shea Stadium bats being prepared at the Museum.
That night, Jeff, Tony, Nicholas, and Michael all went to play miniature golf, and Noelle, Rachel, and I went to Noelle's chorus rehearsal. Noelle's chorus is a Sweet Adelines barbershop chorus named The Pride of Kentucky. They just won a huge upset at their regional competition which they were very excited about! After hearing them sing, and learning of the history behind the regional competition, I can understand better why they were so excited! I got to sing with them, and I thoroughly enjoyed it!Wednesday - we woke up at 3:30 for our return trip, and after 12 hours of smooth sailing, got caught in a slight snarl at the George Washington Bridge that made our trip last longer than we were hoping. We reached home at 6:45 and our dog Copper was very happy to see us home!
