Staycation in Louisville

We decided to do a mini vacation in Louisville this year. There are so many things we want to do when we go to my hometown for a visit but usually have too many family obligations to do them. So this year, we took a couple of extra days and went up as tourists.

My cousin is a horse trainer at Churchill Downs and I was best friends with his daughter growing up, so I spent many hours at the track with them. My uncle on the other side now has some horses being trained by my cousin and has developed a love of horse racing. He invited us to the backside (the barns) for the morning workouts. The girls got to pet the horses and feed them peppermints.

The girls had their own race on the track.

Friday we hit Holiday World and Splashing Safari.  Aunt Barbara watched Owen and we just spent the day with the girls. Katelyn is a roller coaster fanatic. I think I got whiplash on one roller coaster, but she had her hands up the whole way. Ellie had a great time, but was a little short for many of the rides. 

Saturday was spent at Huber's Orchard where we stained up all our hands picking berries, but boy were they good. We brought home a ton to eat and freeze. My kids can eat some fruit!!

And then the highlight of the weekend for Alan---the World Cup USA vs England. We had a birthday party to go to at my Mema's, so Alan and I headed over there early so he could watch the game while the girls were swimming at their cousin's. Fortunately USA didn't lose--they tied, so hubby was bearable for the evening at the party. Saturday night finished off with a sleepover with cousin Emily whom the girls adore. 

We headed home on Sunday exhausted, but having had a fun time.