Spring Break 2019
For spring break this year we decided to do some local things that we haven't been able to try yet. Our week started in Lexington, we bought a tour from Thoroughbred Heritage Horse Farm Tours that started at 8:30 in the morning about an hour and 15 minutes away. We met the tour van at a Embassy suites and met our guide, he was a local guy who knew everything about horses, racing, breeding, and every farm we went to or drove by he knew the family or corporation that owned it, their horses names, how old they were, and if they had run in any races. He drove us to Keenland Tracks and explained the training process of a racehorse, and how the betting process works. He then drove us to about 4 different horse farms and we were allowed to pet the mares and baby's all we wanted but the males could sometimes be testy and bite so we were told to not touch them. The first farm we went to there were about 6 mamas and babies in a field in the most beautiful picturesque farm. He stopped the van, and we walked toward the fence and a baby foal came right up to the fence to greet us. A cute little black baby horse, she was so sweet and let us pet her for about 15 minutes, and when we left she still stood by the fence as we drove away. The kids were so enamored by her. At one of the farms they had black fences and yellow forsythia bushes planted all along the fence, the flowers were just starting to bloom I bet it is gorgeous in full spring and summer. We saw a baby that was a day old, and a colt that was worth 80 million dollars! He breeds 3 times a day with a $250,000 breeding price! Our tour guide was very tactful and funny as he was describing the breeding process, it’s a complicated and intense business! The tour was about 3 hours long, the kids could have used less talking and more touching horses, but Scott and I were very entertained with all the information.
We had lunch in the car, I had made some French bread the day before and bought some salami and cheese to go with it.
We drove to the Ark Encounter, a Noah’s ark replica. It was huge and built true to size, the inside had sections of what it might have looked like inside with all the animals' cages and watering, waste removal, & ventilation systems, I seriously thought it was way more complex than it probably was. They also had living quarters and animatronic people, and a touristy snack station every 100 yards. They also had visual displays of what led up to Noah and the ark as well as the creation and some of the info was a bit off from what we have always interpreted in the church. There was a picture of Adam and Eve frolicking with dinosaurs...Maddy was like, “What the heck, I doubt dinosaurs and Adam & Eve lived at the same time.” We had some good gospel discussions with our kids about different interpretations of the Bible. We enjoyed it, it was fun to see but we probably won't go again while we are living here because of the high cost, and when you see it once you don't really need to see it again.
Day 3: We slept in and had breakfast in our room from the stuff we had bought the night before, yogurts and smoothie drinks. We cleaned up our room and checked out and headed to downtown Cincinnati for a Reds game. We parked and had time to kill so we walked around an outdoor shopping center that was nearby. They had a Barnes & Noble and the kids, of course, all found something they really wanted. Maddy found a drawing book, Ian found a book that was half comic and half write in journal responses, and Rylan found a Star Wars book. We didn't want to go back to the car so the kids said they didn’t mind carrying their books. We parked near the aquarium that we had been at yesterday which is technically in Kentucky, but across the river is Ohio and the Great American Ball Park where the Reds play is right along the river and there is a bridge you can walk over on. We thought that would be fun and it was cheaper to park away from the ball park anyway. We got some lunch, found our seats and had a great time watching the game. We were 8 rows up from the 3rd baseline above the opposing team’s dugout. They were playing the Milwaukee Bruins, and lost 0-1. They almost scored at the bottom of the 9th inning, it got really exciting there for a moment, but they got 3 outs before the Reds on base could get to home plate. Ian was reading his book a lot of the time, which made us laugh, I bought him a Cincinnati Reds pencil so he could fill out the journal portion. Rylan put on sunscreen but totally missed his nose and forehead, and the top of Scott’s hands got burnt too. Welcome spring! We walked back to the car and headed home, 2 ½ hours with a stop in Louisville for dinner.
We were going to go down to Red River Gorge and go hiking (about 2 ½ hours away), but there was rain in the forecast, and we were just happy to be home. So we decided to hike locally instead at Bernheim Arboretum which is about 20 minutes away. They recently added some large wooden sculptures of these enchanting giants. There are 3 of them hidden throughout the park and we got a map and walked all around and located them all, we also hiked some of the off shoot trails and just took our time exploring. The longer we were there the busier it got with tons of people. We had packed a lunch and ate it at the van and we all decided to head home. Scott and Maddy wanted to go on a bike ride and Rylan joined them. Ian was bummed he couldn’t go. As they were packing up to leave I said to him, “Ian I know you could learn how to ride your bike, you already know how to balance pretty good on the scooter. Will you let me try and teach you?” He said, “yes!” We took off his pedals so he could work on balancing himself with his legs. I held on and ran beside him kind of pushing him and he also took some turns just pushing with his legs. He was getting good with that, so before Scott left with M & R he put the pedals back on. They left for their bike ride and we went up to the top of the culdesac and went down the street 3 times with me holding on to the middle of the handlebars. He got better and better and I was letting go for longer periods of time like 3-5 seconds. I thought I need to get this on video, he almost has it! So I grabbed my phone and attempted to record it, before I pushed record I asked him if this time it was ok if I let go completely, and he said yes (we had worked on how to stop previously as well). He did it, the smile on his face was so cute. After he did it a couple more times, he said to me “I didn't think I would learn so quick! Can I go on a bike ride with dad now?” YES!!! That was his motivation, not missing out on anymore bike rides. Our neighbors a couple houses down were outside planting and they have a 4-5 year old boy who was cheering Ian on, it was so cute! We went inside for a little bit then they came back from their ride and Ian showed them what he learned and everyone cheered for him and he was so proud.
Ian's dream came true a couple days later, he was able to join the big kids on a bike ride. Our first official family bike ride! We went to the sports park it has walking trails in between soccer, baseball, and football fields. We thought that it would be fairly easy for him to maneuver. He did pretty well, but we did go off the path on to one sidewalk area that had a sharp turn and he ran into a big garbage can. He cried for a little bit then was good to go and got back onto his bike.
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