Spring in Louisville and Derby 2021

I love springtime in Louisville. The warm weather is exciting, but I absolutely love seeing the trees grow leaves and all of the beautiful flowers blooming. Spring also means The Kentucky Derby, which is such a fun time of year. Last year, The Kentucky Derby Festival was cancelled and The Kentucky Derby was run in September without any spectators. This year, the race ran as it usually does, on the first Saturday in May. Although, it was at a greatly reduced capacity, there were also spectators at the race. Most of the usual festival events were canceled, or didn't allow spectators. For instance, we had Thunder Over Louisville broadcast on TV and the fireworks were set off from various locations that could prevent people from crowding to watch. The Great Steamboat Race also happened, but with a very limited capacity. 

We celebrated Oaks Day here at home and Grammy and Granddaddy joined us to watch the race. On Saturday, we had a few friends over, as well as Bonnie Mom, Grandpa, The Amshoffs, and The Dalys. The kids played outside and the adults supervised while watching the races on the garage TV. It was nice to be a bit back to normal. I am hoping next year we will be able to be fully back to normal. That would be amazing!

Here are some pictures that I have taken while hiking around Louisville. 

We could see some of the planes from the air show from our house. We saw the rest on TV. We could not see any fireworks from out house, so we watched those on TV as well. I really like how they used drones to make cool shapes that morphed into other shapes!

Derby Day! 

Preston's 9th Birthday

Preston LOVES his birthday. He has been especially excited about his 9th birthday, since we had to cancel most of his plans for his 8th birthday, due to the start of the pandemic. This year, we were able to have a few small celebrations and Preston had a ball. First, he planned a little party with a few of his neighborhood friends. They played outside, watched a movie in the garage, and enjoyed cupcakes. He was excited that they partied for 4 whole hours! Grammy and Granddaddy joined us for dinner and gifts, followed by one of Preston's favorite shows, AFV. On Thursday, Preston was up bright and early! He opened his gifts and spent hours playing with his new toys. That evening, we rented a theatre for playing video games. Preston was excited to play some of his favorite games and for Uncle Ron, Grandpa, and Grammy to join us. 

We are grateful for our sweet, smart, silly, and spunky boy. He brings us joy each and every day, even when he is being extra spunky. I can't wait to see what fun, adventures, and accomplishments this year will hold. 

 

Easter, First Day of 7th Grade, and Cousin Surprise - April 2021

We returned from Saint George Island on Saturday night and rolled right into celebrating Easter on Sunday. The boys enjoyed their Easter baskets that morning, but waited for Grammy and Granddaddy to arrive before they did anything else. Grammy and Granddaddy came for lunch and then we dyed Ester eggs and had an Easter egg hunt. They thought they were done, but Grammy and Granddaddy had Easter baskets too! 

On Monday, Evan was able to attend 7th grade in person! As with all JCPS schools, Kammerer followed CDC guidelines. Evan attended on a hybrid schedule, which meant he went to school in the building two days a week and did school online 3 days week. It was definitely better than school totally online. 

On Tuesday, the boys had a cousin surprise! Aunt Heather, Jackson, Caleb, and Emily came up to Louisville on their spring break and surprised Evan and Preston with visit! They were all SO happy to be together after over a year of not seeing each other in person. They stayed a few days and we got together each day. We played games, went on a hike, went fishing, etc. We all had fun and it was sad to see them go back home. 

  

Spring Break 2021 - Saint George Island

We took a road trip to Saint George Island for spring break. It was a nice little getaway and we were able to relax and have fun. We rented a house on the beach and it was so nice to be able to sit on our porch and enjoy the ocean. It also made getting to the ocean very easy. We had some days where the weather was a bit cool, but that did not keep us from enjoying our vacation. We had some really nice weather too, which was just I had hoped for. 

Due to the ongoing pandemic, we did mostly outdoor activities. That worked well, since we were on the beach and there was plenty to do outside. Evan did a lot of fishing, although he wasn't successful with shore fishing. The boys loved catching ghost crabs at night.  Despite the water being chilly, the kids played in the ocean every single day. We played games on the beach, built sandcastles, and found seashells. We also had fun going fishing on a boat. 

I am so very glad that we were able to have some nice time together. The boys keep getting bigger and are increasingly more independent. I really enjoy our family time together.

After a long day in the van and a fairly late night of catching ghost crabs, I expected that the boys would sleep in. Although Evan slept in, Preston was awake and ready to go early in the morning. The sunrise was beautiful and Preston was so happy to get to play in the ocean. 

The house had swing, which both boys enjoyed. 

Sea Song 

We chartered a boat to go fishing. Preston loved the boat ride, but he ended up falling asleep. He had been unable to sleep the night before because of a very loud storm. He went to sleep after less than an hour on the boat! 

Evan was very happy to be out on the water. 

We saw several dolphins. You can see two of them, if you look closely.

I usually just watch as everyone fishes, but I went fishing and caught a fish!

Evan also caught some fish!

Evan was happy to be back to a place where he could catch lizards. 

There was an ice cream shop nearby and we visited several times. The ice cream was delicious!

We spent a lot of time on the beach. Here are a few pictures of our adventures. 

This picture of Preston cracks me up! This is one of the ways he chose to play on the beach one afternoon. It isn't very conventional, but it is super cute!

Evan wanted donuts one morning, so we waited in a line outside the donut shop to purchase these. They were worth the wait, because they were delicious!

Evan was unsuccessful in his attempt to catch a seagull. It was interesting to watch though!

The seagulls were happy to have a snack off of our porch.