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Red River Gorge

We took a quick (if anyone would call 4 hours one-way "quick") trip into Kentucky this weekend to vacation at Red River Gorge.  If you counted, you would notice that there are 10 kids in this picture. . .there were 6 adults there to account for all of them!!!
My sister's family:
Her good friends and neighbors:
And, of course, this Bell Bunch:
We met up Friday night. . .later then we thought because our drive was longer then we thought it was going to be.  After a wrong turn off the highway and a couple "pull off and consult the map" stops, we finally arrived about 8 p.m. We had the burgers, buns, and condiments part of dinner so we pretty quickly got the grill heated up and dinner out. 

We had a chalet that slept 14 but the kids were pretty good sports about sleeping 3-to-a-bed and there were sofas too.  Saturday morning I got up to this:
Of course this was on the other side:
We did finally get them out the door and drove through this:
It was a long, one-lane, hand-dug tunnel through one of the mountains!  Tom ran into somebody who said it was dug for a small railway to bring logs out "back in the day".  It was pretty cool.

The hiking spot wasn't far from our chalet and the kids were off and running!  Lots of fun pics:
 Miss Margaret
 Yes, that's Frederick hiking in crocs.  He's something else.
 Thomas
 AVJ getting a helping hand from Daddy
 Beautiful Miss Marie
 What a great gang of kids!
 How I love these guys :)

Water break/rest stop!
Unfortunately, earlier that morning Marie had said she didn't feel well so I gave her a little Advil and she was ready to go. . .until we got about 2-3 miles into the hike. . .and she crashed.  I hadn't brought anything with me. . .and then it was extremely difficult to keep her going.  Tom would let her piggy back when it was flat. . .
Oops. . .my vertical pictures aren't posting correctly. . .oh well.  For some reason (cold? slow pace? kids finding out we took a wrong turn?) everyone was exhausted after 5 miles. . .seriously. . .


O.K., really, though, Marie was asleep.  The kids were commenting on her snoring.  Poor girl.  Guess how many are in this pile?
Three.  One is hidden in the middle. . .and another "pile".  Ridiculous.  Definitely need to get these kids out more :)
Once back at the cabin, though, they got a second wind:
 This game was called Left, Right, Center.  It was a lot of fun! (Marie's on the left. . .shower and a little Advil sure revived her)
 This could NOT be called a "hot" tub. . .maybe warm tub?  They couldn't get it above 90-some degrees.  And it was only 40-something outside.  Burrrrrrr
 The shoes at the door cracked me up
 Dinner in front of the television.  You can tell were aren't at home!!!
 Fire!!!!
 S'mores!
 And pool too.  Needless to say, lights were out and kids passed out by 10 p.m.!
This morning, believe it or not, we woke up to this:

Yep.  Snow.  Ugh.  But we soldiered on. . .




After this quick hike we loaded 6 kids up for a 4-hr drive home.  Yep!  I'm the fortunate aunt who gets to have her nieces, AVJ and Susan, ALL WEEK!!!!  I'm so excited. . .we're not doing anything "special" really. . .just a "normal" week. . .time with them is priceless.  AVJ is Marie's age (they are 3.5 months apart) and Susan is 6.  This is their spring break and they wanted to spend it here :)  My sister and brother-in-law are in for a quiet week. . .I think it will be anything but here. . .ha!

Although hiking trips away (especially in the COLD) aren't really my "thing", hanging with friends and family sure is!!! 

Comments

  1. Sounds like you had a wonderful wknd! I think I would have had a claustraphobic attack if we had gone thru that tunnel! Thanks for stopping by and for your encouraging words abt Emma...I really appreciated it...it is a tough time to be sure. We did a a wonderful time w/our little grandson..he was so good...I think I'd take a handful of toddlers to one mixed up teen!

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  2. Those are some terrific memories! You did a great job catching so much in pictures, too.

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  3. What an incredible trip! Thanks for sharing your pictures. I really love seeing what's happening in other Company Girls' lives. :)

    Have a wonderful week!
    -Melissa

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  4. hey jenni! Thanks for stopping by over at my blog. Your little getaway sounds so nice! Love all your pictures. Reminds me of that movie, Grown Ups. only better, and no nasties!
    Hope you had fun making a list of things you love about your hubby :)

    Jac

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  5. What a great trip, I love hiking and so does my kids. I hope your daughter is feeling better and that you get to have a good time with your nieces.
    Thank you for visiting my blog and if you ever come to Norway you are more than welcome to come and stay with me for a while at our summer house.

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