Weekend in Kentucky

My good friend Lindsey moved to Lexington, Kentucky a few months ago and I was really upset over it. Lindsey and I met in our daughters' swimming class a few years ago and we became fast friends. There are so many similarities in our lives and it's a blessing to have a friend who understands me like she does.

As I sat in bed sobbing the night before she left Minneapolis for good, Andi graciously offered to fly the kids and I to Lexington for a visit. Suddenly, things didn't seem so glum and gloom; there was a date on the calendar to look forward to seeing Lindsey and her kids again. That date was this past weekend when Tory, Aden and I hopped on an airplane to Kentucky while Andi was in Mexico for work.

Tory, Aden and I left Minneapolis late Thursday night. The only daily direct flight from MSP to LEX on Delta was at 7:50pm which is so not ideal when traveling with kids. In fact, Aden is usually asleep for the evening by 7:30pm, so I crossed all my fingers and toes for a smooth night of travel ahead of us. An hour before we left for the airport, Aden awoke up from his nap with a deep barking cough. Honestly, he seemed fine before nap time and afterwards, BAM. He'd suddenly come down with a nasty cold out of nowhere. Craaaaaap. After some quick texting back and forth with Lindsey, I decided to push forward with traveling to Kentucky. Our flight was set to depart in less than three hours.

The 1 hour 45 minute flight to Lexington went ... okay. Aden was wiggly and fussy for most of it. He wanted down on the floor and off my lap and, of course, that wasn't an option. Luckily, there were three other babies and toddlers on the late-night flight so my baby boy wasn't the only one making noise. Tory, my awesome little traveler, kept busy and quiet playing on her iPad. The minute we deplaned Tory said, "I can't wait to see my friend!" We were both excited to be there, but ready for bed as it was already close to Midnight EST. Ooof.

When Tory is overly tired, she is a manic in her sleep. Thrashing around, crying - even sleepwalking. Unfortunately, Thursday night was a really rough night of sleep (ahem, as in, there was no sleep) between Tory's crazy antics and Aden's coughing and cries. I was exhausted Friday morning (and Saturday morning, to be frank), but charged on to maximize time with Lindsey and her girls. Not the first time my children slept like garbage while traveling, and likely not the last ....

We spent most of Friday at the Explorium in downtown Lexington. It was a fun small-sized children's museum set up perfectly for our kids' ages. The museum was busy at first, but cleared out about 30 minutes after we arrived and then we basically had the place to ourselves. Tory, Ashley and Taylor loved playing in the water feature and Aden loved the enclosed baby area with blocks, books and toys.

All four kids took a two hour nap Friday afternoon - a quadruple nap! - so Lindsey and I had plenty of time to catch up on life. We spent the remainder of the evening hanging around her house, watching movies and playing with the kids.

Tory and Ashley played princesses all day, every day.

And, played "airport" ...

Saturday, we bundled up the kids (temps were in the low 30's) and headed to Evan's Orchard and Cider Mill, not far outside of town. On the way there, we took time driving through Kentucky's countryside to look at all the horse farms along the way. I'd never been to Kentucky before, but it was exactly as I pictured it -- rolling hills, picket fences and horses everywhere. The landscape was really beautiful. I wish I'd gotten some photographs of the gorgeous farms.

There wasn't another sole at Evan's Orchard when we arrived. It was perfect! I suppose the weather was chilly by local standards (not for us past/present Minnesotans!) so we let the kids run wild in the play area. There were swings, a corn pit, tires to climb, a giant slide and more. Later, we walked over to the barnyard to see the pigs, goats, alpacas, chickens, turkeys and rabbits.

That evening, we ordered pizza and watched Frozen (my first time seeing the movie!). I loved how our weekend was filled with some activities around town and plenty of chill-time at home.

Sunday morning, I packed up our things and headed to the airport. Our weekend visit was a quick one, but so wonderful to see our dear friends in Kentucky.

Until next time ....