Kentucky Roadtrip 2007

We are back from our visit to the Beggs, all the way to Kentucky. The girls were fantastic. I'm so proud of them. We had 1,300 miles of driving over the course of 5 days. They loved their vacation and were so happy to play with all of their cousins.

I think we've finally crossed a hurdle with the baby stage. No more travelling with two packNplays, booster seats and strollers. We didn't have to bring any babyfood or bottles. We fit all our stuff into an economy sized rental car. Yay! We're feeling a lot less overwhelmed with the amount of equipment needed to manage little twins. And it is so cute to hear their little voices chatting away in the back seat.


The driving went well. We divided the 10 hour drive into two days so that the girls wouldn't get overwhelmed. They were happy as clams eating Doritos and watching DVDs the whole way. Here's Elsa looking pretty relaxed.

The hardest part of driving was dealing with the bathroom habits of the newly potty trained Lily. She's figured out that she has a trump card. So, she'd cry "Poop!" at regular intervals whenever she got bored. You don't exactly want to play chicken when your two year old says "I've got to poop NOW!." Mark and I kept having conversations like "Should we stop?" "I think she'll forget about it. Let's make it to the next rest area." "Fine. Then, you're cleaning up any accidents." "Deal." It made for a long drive down the Pennsylvania turnpike. But, we played our cards right and avoided any accidents. But, we saw many many bathrooms along the way. And Lily wanted to check each one out thoroughly. She is completely fascinated by all the different kinds of flushing mechanisms. The automatic flushers really got her attention.


Here they are at the hotel. (E, L) The girls were pretty darn excited about swimming in the pool and sleeping in the big beds. Sharing a bed with each other lasted approximately 5 minutes before they started fighting. Then, they both wanted their OWN queen sized bed. So instead of sleeping on the floor, Mark and I both bunked with a girl. My bed buddy was Lily. At some point in the night, she turned sideways with her toes in my ribcage and screamed every time the blanket touched her. Mark thought he got off easy until the last night when Elsa pulled the same stunt on him.

On Saturday we arrived at Mark's sister Laura's house for Haley's first communion celebration. Grandma and Grandpa P, Aunt Ruth, Cousin Amy and Little Ava were also there for the party. The girls were SO excited to see all their cousins in one place. Laura and Mark have a great spread in the hills across the river from Cincinnati. The house has wrap around decks, panoramic views and 5 acres for the kids to roam and play. It was kind of like going to a resort. Our girls chased their older cousins around like little puppies. It was so cute. I think everyone was pretty impressed to hear the girls talk-talk-talking. They weren't really talking very much at our last trip back in August. They also had Aunt Ruth and Cousin Amy in hysterics with their fighting. Ruth said it was completely unexpected to see such cute little girls suddenly start physically attacking each other. It just cracked her up. (And to think last week, I was bragging about how much better the girls were getting along!)

Laura and Mark were amazing hosts, especially considering there were 7 little ones (4 extra) running underfoot I'm so impressed by all the food. We had beautiful meals both nights and had treats like homemade cheesecake and cinnamon rolls. Wow. It was so nice to have a relaxed visit. Usually, we're rushing back and forth at various family events.


Lily, Brian (3), Elsa and Leah (5)


At the kid's table with Brian.


Lily swinging with Leah. (at some point during the weekend Lily became a nudist again).


The girls with their Grandma and Grandpa.

More pictures of the trip here.

The drive home went uneventfully. The girls were very sad to return the car and get back to civilian life. They told me they had such a great time.