I was going to pick the girls up on Friday evening after work but I still wasn’t packed and Deeya and Frank were preparing to leave to go to Europe Saturday morning so I decided to just pick the girls up on the way to head to Kentucky.
I spent Friday evening digging out camping supplies and stuffing into the truck as efficiently as possible. I had made a huge checklist earlier in the week and worked on checking off each item until about 11:00 P.M..
I got over to Courtney’s around 10:00 a.m. Courtney loaned me an inflatable mattress. We crammed all of Azure and Zarah’s stuff into the car. Along with some snack that Courtney had packed. I gave Remi a container of Cotton Candy. She said “What is it? Play doh?” ….
Courtney took a couple of pictures of us before we headed south.
Somewhere near Seymour I noticed my low fuel light was on. I stopped and got gas and we all made a pit stop. I remember noticing out loud to the girls later that we made in and out of that Truck stop without buying anything inside…Miracle.
The girls played with the tablet and watched videos most of the trip.
When we arrived at Shepardsville we went to the closest Wal-Mart and bought the girls some “water shoes”
The girls went swimming in the Camp Pool while I set up the tent.
I recently bought a $200.00 dollar tent for $25.00 (After $125 discount and $50 gift card) It is much bigger than the tent the girls and I usually use. However I didn’t tell the girls about it because I wanted to surprise them.
So I managed to get the whole thing up before they came back from the Pool. Zarah loved it. She said. We have the biggest tent in the campground. That probably wasn’t true but I am glad they liked it. The top of it was about 9-10 feet high. I had trouble hanging the Ceiling Fan and Light the girls got me for my birthday.
I managed to get the mattress blown up that Courtney loaned to us. It was really nice. It felt like a hotel room mattress. We slept like babies each night.
I had to hand the fan from a bungie cord just so I could reach it without standing on something.
I decided to go back to the pool with them. It was about 2:15 on Saturday and as we neared the pool I saw a Tie Die T-Shirt craft session going on. I asked the girls if they wanted to participate. They both said yes. We went to the Campground General Store, See in background of pic below. We bought two white tee shirts for $8.00 each.
Zarah did hers really quick, Azure was a little more meticulous getting her shirt ready.
Both Shirts turned out really good. We hung them over a handrail to dry in the sun. We went to the pool and swam. The pool was crowded today but the water was absolutely bathwater.
Around 4:00 we went over to the free put put in the campground. Zarah won, Azure came in 2nd, and I came in last. IT WAS SO HOT IN THE SUN.
After that I wanted something cold to drink, and was too hot to make a lunch so we drove to Shepardsville about 3 miles away and went to Subway. We all decided to save them until we got back to the campground.
The girls relaxing in the tent. We were under a huge shade tree with two fans. The tent felt super comfortable all 5 days.
Later the girls went over to a big rubber bubble that was sticking out of the ground. The girls loved jumping on this and went over to play on it at least once everyday. (The park deflated it at 9:30 every night.
Azure got a big kick out see these pictures that I took.
Relaxing for a while.
As the day cooled off, we decided to make smores, They turned out great. The Hershey bars were gooey from being in the hot car. I tried to record this memory into my mind. We had a lot of fun.
The park showed “Flubber” on a screen outdoors at 9:30 p.m. We walked over and there were about 30 people sitting on blankets and lawn chairs. There were quite a few kids playing on the nearby playground. The the girls and I got on the swings and stuff. Azure and Zarah made friends with a few of the other kids.
Around 11:00 we went back to the tent to get some sleep.Azure wrote in her Journal/Diary and asked me a few questions about songwriting while Zarah and I tried to watch a movie.
I didn’t tell the girls we were going to Kentucky Kingdom until we got up the next morning. They were super excited. We drove headed to Louisville at around 9:00 ( it was about 15 miles from the camp to the park. ) I decided at the last minute to stop at a Wal-mart to buy a water proof container for my cell and CC. Card and ID. SIri got me turned around a few times and we finally made it to a wal-mart in Louisville. Once inside we couldn’t find any water proof containers. Zarah finally saw them in an unexpected place.
I though we had arrived at the park about 20 minutes after they opened but it turned out they were just opening the doors as we walked up.
We high tailed it to the water park to get a locker for our clothes and a couple of lawn chairs under the big umbrellas. I figured out how to work the park, last year and was ready to take advantage of that, this year. We got a great spot and played in the water for a little bit, Azure wanted to head back over to Kentucky Kingdom. She was anxious to try and tackle a roller coaster to get over her fear of them. We started off easy and went to the Model T car ride. Azure and I went in one and Zarah went by herself in another car. Zarah really likes that ride.
Then we got in the Egg Beater thingy…. For some reason Zarah was allowed to ride in all of the biggest roller coasters but was too short to get on this ride…. odd…..
I got 3 brown bread pretzel with cheese for seven dollars and we each got drinks. Drinks were free for both days. That probably saved us 50 dollars. Then we rode on the Carousel. Zarah had to be on the Zebra.
Then we walked over the Storm Chaser. It was a big wooded coaster. I don’t really like wooden coasters for two reasons. 1. They knock you around like a rag doll, which usually hurts my back. (This one was no exception). And number 2. Wooden roller coaster are made out of WOOD…. Wood rots…Not a big fan. Anyway the girls wanted me on it so I agreed. Azure demanded I sit with her because she was nervous. By the end of the ride she was smiling… As you can see in the pic.
Zarah and I rode a big red steel roller coaster later that had several loops. Azure refused to get on it and kinda teared up about her fear. I told her its ok. I told her that when I was little I didn’t like roller coasters either. I said as you get bigger kids may try to goad you into doing things you don’t want to do. I said if you don’t want to get on a roller coaster and someone makes fun of you, Ignore them. They are not your friend anyway.
. My phone Died about this time. So I decided that when we got back over to the water park side I would take it to the locker and put it on the extra battery to let if charge for an hour or two.
I told Azure I don’t especially want to ride this particular coaster either but Zarah really wants to, and is too short to get on it by herself. I don’t mind steel roller-coasters no matter how loopy they are. I was surprised that they let Zarah on it but they did. As we neared the coaster I could see Azure back at the entrance looking kinda bummed.
Once Z and I got in the ride it cranked its way up to the top and the took off.. It was FAST. Loops and rolls and zig zags….. Zarah immediately stuck her head down as low as it would go towards her lap and scrunched her eyes shut.. Holding on for dear life she didn’t move again until the ride came to a stop..I said to Zarah…”Whadja think?” .Finally she looked up at me and said with a lot of conviction: “I am never going to do that again”… I cracked up… I said yeah that is bigger than the kiddy rides…. We walked back to Azure, went over to the Lazy River and rode around it twice..
Maybe I am over thinking but sometimes I think Azure feels inferior because Zarah tends to be less apprehensive about doing somethings… So while we were on the River Ride I whispered over Azure “Zarah didn’t like that last ride”..
We went back over to the water park for a while since it was so hot. Zarah wanted to get on the Ferris wheel. Azure didn’t want to. I said maybe later. We decided to head out around 6:00 we had fun but were hungry and tired. The girls took another turn on some of the kiddy rides on the way back to the car.
Azuze and Zarah went on a couple of Kiddy rides.
After we left the park I asked the girls what they wanted for dinner. We all agreed on Pizza. We finally found a Pizza hut via Siri.
I ordered a large cheese pizza and 3 drinks/ The guy said we will bring it right over to you.So got a table and sat down. We waited and waited. Azure said something to me a couple of times about it taking so long. I said be patient it won’t be long. Then after about an HOUR. I went up to the counter and said something to the cashier. He walked over to the carry out warmer and handed me the boxed up pizza. He didn’t say sorry or give breadsticks or anything. In fact he didn’t say a word at all. I was very Irritated (And I even gave them a $4 tip in advance)The pizza was drying out from the warmer and cardboard…I couldn’t decided whether to get my tip back or just let it go, but I said there and ate mad about it. … Finally we got done and we left. Azure wanted to clean the box and stuff. I said forget it, they did a terrible job and got a tip anyway so we left.
We went back to the park and apparently I didn’t take anymore pictures until the next morning. We had a new neighbor on the campground, She was an older lady and her white bearded husband were from Tennesee in an old white van. She had no teeth or dentures. (Kind of a ma and pa kettle type) She said how tall is that tent. I told her the story about how I got it for $25.00. She laughed. She was nice.
Then the girls and I went to the pool to cool off. Several other kids got in the pool shortly afterwards. I found a hacky sack that someone left by the pool. Me and a little boy in a floaty ring played catch in the water. He was about 6 and said he didn’t know how to swim. Azure and Zarah played with a couple of the other kids that he was with.
They kicked us out of the pool at 9:00 pm. We walked back to the tent and discovered that the kids we were playing with were our new campground neighbors. They said that they were going to Kentucky Kingdom the next day. We said we were too. It was getting dark soon so we got in the tent and changed into our pajamas.
We tried to watch “BFG” by Roald Dahl. But we were super tired and turned it off about half way through.
The next morning we got up around 7:00 am. We made pancakes using the Gas Camping Stove the girls had gotten me for my Birthday last month. We all liked how well the pancakes turned out. It was a beautiful morning and we were excited to head back to the park.
Azure and Zarah hanging out with the ROY ORBISON
Today was Monday July 17th and since it was a weekday we figured the park would be less crowded. We tried to leave a little early to improve upon our beach chair positioning from yesterday.
We were right about the being less people but we were wrong about the time the park opened. We got there an hour early. We ended up in the very front of the parking lot which was nice but we had to stand in the sun for 45 minutes waiting for the park to open.
Our neighbors from the park arrived shortly after us. You can see them behind Azure and Zarah in the picture below. She is wearing the Pink T shirt wand the multi-colored “Kentucky Kingdom” bag. The husband with the white beard is right behind her in the Blue and White baseball cap. He is talking to two of his grand kids in Camo clothes. Behind them is the Daugher and son and law (The son in law is sitting on the ground in a blue t-shirt). Sitting beside him is the little boy I play catch with at the pool the previous evening.
We were THE FIRST To the WATERPARK Today… We rode 6 rides in the first hour alone… We killed the water rides over and over bebore the park even started getting crowded Azure and Zarah and I rode the “Toilet bowl” Ride (That was our name for it) 3 times in a row.
After while we headed back over the Kentucky Kingdom side and Azure and Zarah got in the Bumper cars. They rode did this 5-6 times during our 2 day visit.
My phone died around noon and even the spare battery couldn’t bring it back to life today…So I didn’t get anymore pics until I could charge my phone in the car.
We stayed in the water park until they closed it at 7:00. and went back over to the Amusement park until they closed it at 8:00. We hit a few more of the rides and then we got Pizza Slices at the pizza place near the entrance.
We left that park and headed back to the campground.
I had originally paid for Tent Camping for two days and got an air conditioned cabin for the 3rd night. However the tent was so comfortable and we liked out neighbors so I went down to the office and asked if they would credit the cabin and add another tent night… I was surprised when they easily agreed. That put 45 dollars back on my card so I thought well that will pay for even one more day here. So I decided to stay until wednesday morning. We were having fun and didn’t want to leave… after I did this we went
back to the Campground and went swimming… Again….BATHWATER.
After we got done swimming our neighbors from Tennessee invited us over to their campfire to make smores and have hamburgers. After the three of us took showers we went over and visited with them until about 11:00 pm. It was still too dark to take any pics so I didn’t.
We went to bed and made another attempt at watching “BFG” But we still didn’t make it
The next morning we decided to go to some flea markets and antique stores… We drove south about 30-40 miles and wound up near Fort Knox. The girls didn’t know anything about that and I tried to explain it to them. We were within about 6 miles of it so I took a detour from our trip path and head to Fort Knox to see it. We got there and I accidentally got in the lane that actually goes inside the base… I was like ooops wrong lane. We were stuck in the lane on all sides..There was a guy beside us in Camo’s and had Green paint all over his face…. Just as we were about to get to the gate I managed to whip it around and drive away…lol…
For some reason I must have forgotten to take pictures for most of this whole day…. We drove past this place called “Peddlers Mart” and I asked the girls if they wanted to go in. They both said YES…. we went in a looked around it was a big place with a lot of stuff. Azure was looking for a particular doll. Azure found a puppet that she liked but put it down still looking for a doll. Zarah picked it up and asked if she could get it. It was $4. I said sure. Azure never did find a doll but we had fun looking around. We went to Little Ceaser’s to get a Large Pizza. Zarah wanted to go in with me. She insisted on taking her puppet. I said what ever….. Several people asked Zarah about her little friend.
Near dark we were back at the campgrounds and already Zarah’s puppet had paid for its self….
We made a campfire and chilled…. I didn’t get bit once the whole trip by a mosquito… I wondered if they sprayed the camp ground. I found out later that Azure did get a couple bites though.
Wednesday…July 19th…We got up and took showers tore the tent down. None of us wanted to leave the weather and time spent together had been perfect. We decided to take one more swim before leaving….. We had the pool to ourselves. It was really quiet and picturesque
Yesterday I had found out that there were about 12 Peddlers Malls in the Louisville area. So we decided to stop at a couple of them while on our way back to Indiana. Azure was still looking for an 18inch. And I was looking for a copy of Stephen King’s Pet Semetary
We stopped at 2 Malls and didn’t find anything. Then Zarah said that she was hungry. We decided on Pizza. Soon we found a place called Gatti’s, I had never heard of it before but thought that we’d give it a try.
We got in and it was loud with Music and Kids dancing. It was like a Chuckie Cheese. I was glad we stopped here.
I paid 25.00 for the 3 of us and was kinda irritated that the girl that was saying she was so hungry (Zarah) couldn’t even finish 1/2 of the food on the plate above…. grrr….We stopped at a couple more Peddlers Mall flea markets. I found my book and Azure found a doll. They had fun playing with their dolls on the way back to Cicero.
Azure read 30 pages of Pet Semetary and Zarah read a whole Roald Dahl book during the trip back…Azure was amazed and somewhat disbelieving that Zarah could read a whole book. Azure quizzed Zarah on the contents of the book and Zarah kept answering correctly. Azure kept saying; “Wow Zarah, I am impressed!”
We had to be back Wednesday because Azure had to get registered for School on Thursday. We started talking about School and the Schedule. Zarah said; “Azure and I start School the day before tomorrow”. ….. I said that’s today silly…… Azure and I thought that was funny and started laughing about it….. I said “You mean the day after tomorrow!”.
Azure said that she is going to try out for the School Golf team this year. We found a $20.00 set of Clubs. We were barely able to quish them into the car with all of the other camping gear, but we finally managed.
I also found a $2.00 copy of my Cub Scout book that I used when I was about 10 years old… I instantly recognized the cover when I saw it. I used to love reading that book and doing all of the projects in it…..Flipping through it now, it is amazing to see what a simpler time it was back then….wow. I also bought Zarah the complete set of Roald Dahl books for $5.00 which included the “BFG” story. Like the movie we didn’t finish two nights in a row.
We got home around 7:00. I immedietly threw all of the clothes, towels and sheets in the washer and unloaded all of the stuff from the trip out of the car. I had the whole week off but decided to go to work Thursday and Friday so that I could save a couple days off for the end of the year.
The girls were kind enough to fold our washed laundry. We FINALLY Finished the “BFG dvd. The girls watched silly videos and we went to bed about 10:00 p.m.
I took them home the next morning on the way to work. … I had such great time with them. Keeps me going…………………..
