I thought I'd finally blog about the vacation we took last month.

It was sorta a spur of the moment vacation.  We had planned to go to a wedding in Indiana, but at the last minute, we were unable to leave in time, so we left a day late and sorta winged the vacation.  It was one of the best yet!

We drove up to Northern KY to spend the night and the next morning, we visited the Creation Museum in Petersburg, KY.  It was our 2nd time visiting there and was wonderful again.  This time was actually better because it was a Sunday and the place was virtually deserted!   

From there, we drove North and stopped near Columbus, OH.  We went to the Columbus Zoo (having read that it was ranked something like the 6th best zoo in the country!)  For only a few more dollars over admission price, we were able to get a year pass that is reciprocal at other zoos.   It was a great zoo and we spent most of the day there!

That evening, we had sleepy kids, so we drove quite a ways to Eeri, PA. 

The next morning, after enjoying our free continental breakfast, we drove into New York and spent the whole afternoon and early evening walking around and seeing Niagara Falls for the first time!
It was pretty impressive, as we expected it would be.   Since we had just gotten all our passports in the mail for another trip we're planning on taking next year, we had those and decided to drive into Canada.

They were not the friendliest welcoming committee however.  At the border gate, then said, "You have too many people, you will have to pull over into the customs office."  The border guard there was a rough lady who didn't know how to smile.  She drilled us on where we were from, to which my husband replies, "Flori...I mean Kentucky."   Good going.....let's raise suspicion even more.  She asked what his job was, what mine was, if all the kids were ours, did we have firearms or weapons, why were we in Canada and how long were we staying."   At that point I was feeling guilty of a crime I didn't commit but surely felt I must have and just forgotten.    Finally, after 5 minutes of questions, she handed our stack of passports back and let us go.  No "Welcome to Canada!" nothin!   We drove and saw the Canada side of Niagara...it was much prettier though too citified comparted to the US side.   It was $14 to park and cold outside, so Chris just let me get out with whichever kids really wanted to see it up closer.  We took a few pics and hopped back into the van.  We drove an hour in Canada so our children who hadn't left the country yet could say they did, and headed on through the US border patrol, who were MUCH friendlier, despite a SCREAMING baby.  

We drove back to Eeri, PA that night again.  The cool thing is the WHOLE trip, 5 nights, we were never once turned away at a motel !  That is unheard of for us!  Usually we hear speeches about "Fire code" and how we need to get 2 rooms, but every place we stopped, despite the fact that we won't lie, let us have 1 room.   On the 3rd night it was MY turn to face the motel police.  It was 10pm and went like this:

Me..."How much are your rooms?"

Them (2 unprofessional but pleasant women):" $ 69...would you like smoking or non?"

Me..."Non."

Them: "How many in the room?"
Me: "Just me, my husband and kids."

Them:  Okay (filling out computer screen)

Them again: And how many children?
Me " Um...seven"

Them: "Oh My G__, you're KIDDING?"

Me: Smiling not saying anything

Lady #1 looking at lady #2:  "She's NOT kidding!!!"  I don't know if we can put that many in a room.

Me: "I know we get told about Fire Code all the time, but they are all young and we have sleeping bags."

#1 to #2  "Just put down 2 kids."

Me: "Thanks!"

Them: "You don't look old enough to have that many kids....you must love children."
Me: Thank you...actually I love MY children.'

Them: God Bless you, you must have the patience of a saint.

Me: "God gives me what I need, when I need it."

All that to say, we got the room!   LOL

The next day, we drove to Mason, OH outside Cincinnati and stayed at Great Wolf Lodge.  That wast he most awesome vacation place yet!!! It has huge rooms to sleep us all and an indoor waterslide park.  It was awesome because Gilead enjoyed himself, the big boys loved it and even me and Chris rode every waterslide many times.  It's hard to find a place the whole family enjoyes but this place is it!!!  We checked in and slid til 8pm, then again the next day til 3pm.  (You can stay and play all day on checkout even though you have to checkout by 11am)

After that, a trip to Sam's Club and home.  An adventure filled 5 days, with 7 kids and LOTS of miles, but we made lots of memories!!!

arrived on Nov. 24 at 8:13 am  weighing in at 7lbs 7oz, measuring 19.5 inches and she is beautiful!!!!   She is such a good baby.  It's amazing how much you can love someone you've just met.  I can't imagine life without her.