Vacation (Day 2)

I have a previous post today about Day 1 of vacation that may help explain where we were while on vacation.We left our hotel in Corbin, KY and headed to Natural Bridge State Resort Park, in Stanton KY.  I had heard several of my colleagues with UK talk about the Staff Conference held at this park and how beautiful it was.  The park presented several challenges.  The first was 90+ degrees with lots of humidity.  The second was to see Natural Bridge you must hike 0.75 miles one way.  The third was carrying the girls that far.  We were determined to seee it so away we went.

The original trail was supposed to be the easiest hike, but the hike was thousands of steps up hills.

Jenna hiked the flat parts of the trails and she worked up a mighty sweat.

Shelby slept in the sling the entire way up.

When we got there, I was slightly disappointed.  We were directly under the bridge and we really couldn't see it!  The view was amazing, but we spent all day Saturday looking at tree covered mountains.  On the right hand side of the picture, notice the sandstone pillar.  That is one side of the base of the bridge.

The trail continued, up more steps, to climb to the top of the Natural Bridge.

That was an interesting experience to walk across the top of the Natural Bridge.

The bridge was made out of sandstone.  The top layer of sandstone was a very hard standstone, while the lower level was a very weak sandstone.  The years of wind, rain, and weather wore away the lower portions of the sandstone - forming a hole -which made a bridge.  From the top of the bridge, we saw the spot that would have allowed us to actually see the bridge.  After hiking across the top of the bridge we saw a sign for the outlook, it was another  0.4 miles.  We decided it would be worth the hike!

It definately was!  Through the trees we could see some of the sandstone that formed the Natural Bridge.

Can you see the little people on the top of the bridge?  They may put the size of the structure into perspective.

In true Bob Rentchler fashion, we decided it was silly to come and go the same way, so we found a different route back to the truck.  It was called Rock Garden Trail.  There were steps winding all over a huge rock formation.

The Rock Garden Trail had beautiful scenery...

and lots of steps!

It was a beautiful hike down.  While at the look out point, we saw the darkened sky and heard thunder off in the distance.  Fortunately, we made it back to the truck just ahead of the storm blowing through. 

We found out that we were not far from Clay City, KY.  Since we own a farm in Clay City, IN we thought it would be neat to see what Clay City, KY had to offer.  For those of you who know the size of Clay City, IN, I would say KY is not much bigger.

They had an elementary school, a couple banks and a few restaurants.  This was a really neat building across from the Dollar General.  It was functioning as a museum.

We left Clay City and got on the Mountain Parkway and Interstate 64.  We made it to Louisville and the girls were both getting restless.  We stopped in Clarksville, IN at Falls of the Ohio State Park and let Jenna run off some steam before supper and fed Shelby.  We loaded back up, stopped for supper, and headed home. 

The girls did excellent with traveling, which made it a wonderful trip.  If we could only find time to get away more often.... 

Vacation (Part 1)

Lance asked me on Thursday evening (last week) if I wanted to get away for the weekend.  I said "sure, why not.  Where do you want to go?"  He said "how about Eastern Kentucy and the Appalachian Mountains?"  So, Friday after Lance got off work we loaded up and headed east.  We arrived at our hotel room at roughly 1 am.  It was a very peaceful drive, because both the girls slept the majority of the drive.

Saturday morning we were all dressed, fed, and out of the hotel by 7:30 am.  The agenda for the day was to drive through the Appalachian Mountains, visit Moonbow Falls, the Original KFC, and see where the day took us from there.  We stopped at a pretty neat overlook off the side of the road, with beautiful scenery.

It was a beautiful day, but was supposed to be VERY hot.

Our first stop was Moonbow Falls.  This park was handicap friendly, which meant it was stroller friendly! 

Jenna decided she was so full of energy that she should push Shelby. She actually pushed the stroller the majority of the 0.2 mile hike, while Daddy served as the steering and brakes!

Moonbow Falls were about 68 feet tall and 125 feet wide.

They called it "Moonbow" because of the bowed curvature of the fall and the beauty of the fall by moonlight.

We left the falls to travel into Corbin, KY--the home of Colonel Sanders -- the most famous Kentuckian!  This was the Original KFC, Sanders Cafe.

Inside the KFC, of course there was everything you would have in a traditional KFC. as well as the original kitchen loaded with the original gadgets used by the Colonel.  They had the original cash register, books about him, and his original table where he ate his breakfast.  It was like a little museum in the restaurant or was it a restaurant inside of a museum...  The girls and I posed with a concrete statue of him.

We left there and went hiking.  We needed to work off the "nutritious" lunch we just ate.  There was a park with a nice overlook.  I don't remember what it was called.  Here is a picture of me and Shelby.  This is how Shelby was carried thoughout the rest of the vacation.

Lance and Jenna at the outlook.

We left the outlook and went into Pine Mountain State Park.  It had a hike to go see "Chained Rock".  It was a 0.5 mile hike to go see a rock that overlooked Pineville.  At the end of the dirt hiking trail, we were faced with a huge boulder with a face that went straight up!

Lance took Jenna on shoulder, straight up the boulder.  I wasn't so sure about this.  From the top, Lance found a safer path for Shelby and I to take.  We didn't hike all that way to not get to see the "chained rock".  Wondering what a chained rock looks like?  Here you go!

Each chain link was 7 pounds.  I took a picture of my foot (size 8.5) next to the chain to put it into perspective.  The story behind the chained rock was not really clear, but seeemed to be a ploy to get people to visit Pine Mountain Park and Pineville.

Though it was scorching hot, I must admit, the view was beautiful!

We left Pine Mountain and traveled to the Pinnacle Trail in another park.  Every park, had to have steps.

Here is the state line.  The left side of the pictre is Shelby and half of me in Virginia, while the right side is me and Jenna in Kentucky.  There was literally a "state line"!

The view from the outlook was pretty!

It looked down over a city and out over the mountains!

Jenna took off walking back towards the truck.  She was throwing her hands up in the air and just babbling away!

She then realized that mom, dad, and Shelby were a good distance behind her and she turned around to "drag us along". 

We left there and had had enough hiking for a while.  We took off to drive to see the Cumberland Gap.  It was okay, but there really wasn't much to see, other than a gap in the mountains.  Lance got to drive through his first tunnel and was very excited.  This tunnel goes directly through the Cumberland Mountain.

We went through the tunnel twice (once each direction).  We drove around the Cumberland Gap Park, but were not willing to take an 8 hour hike to the gap.  There were supposed to be white rocks in the mountains down the road a way through Tennessee and Virginia so we decided to see what we could see.  Needless to say, there are no pictures, because we were somewhat less than impressed.  I think it is mostly because we had seen so many beautiful things that morning and were pretty well wiped out by time we got there.  We left Virginia and Tennessee, to go back to Kentucky for dinner, showers, and bed.  We had another big day planned for Sunday!

Portrait Innovations

Today, I took the girls to Portrait Innovations.  Jenna is just shy of 18 months, so I wanted to get 18 month photos of her.  She is somewhat less than cooperative with me, so I figured I would inlicit help.  I had also really wanted to get a good picture of the girls together.  I had never tried portrait innovations, but their prices seemed very reasonable.

Jenna takes a while to warm up to strangers, so of course, the first pictures were taken of Shelby.  This is my favorite.

Here are our favorites of Jenna...

This picture is cropped quite a bit more in the printout and the best we got of the two girls together. 

I had a very good experience and would recommend Portrait Innovations to anyone wanting professional pictures without the department store price.  We had an execellent photographer in the Evansville studio. 

Note:  I have plenty of pictures for the family, whenever I see you all again.  Please do not download and print these pictures, as they are under copyright and I didn't pay for the rights.

Doctor's Appointments

All three Hofmann girls had doctors appointments this week.  It started with a visit to the OB/GYN for a 6 week checkup yesterday.  I am happy to say that everything checked out normal.  I am two pounds lighter than when I initially got pregnant with Shelby.  This puts me back to the weight I was when I got pregnant with Jenna.  I am very pleased with my progress. 

Today, the girls went to see their doctor for shots.  Jenna didn't get height and weight checked, because we only scheduled a nurse's visit for her. She was simply catching up on one shot that was missed at her 15 month appointment.  Her shot definately made her cry. 

Miss Shelby weighed in at 10 pounds 12 ounces and 22 inches tall.  She got checked head to toe by Dr. Best and he said she looked perfect.  She got 3 shots today.  Of course, she cried, but she did not cry very long or very loud.  I have gotten to see the pouty lip quite a bit today, which is just precious.  The last several nights, she has slept 7 hour stretches...which makes mommy and daddy very happy!

Potty Training

A couple weeks before Shelby was born, Jenna starting telling us that she had went or was about to go potty.  I would wait a few minutes and go change her diaper.  I figured there was no point in trying to start potty training Jenna while I was 35+ weeks pregnant. 

Jenna has continued to let me know about going potty as I have been home with her during maternity leave.  I had been dragging my feet with getting the process started, because it seems like we are always here or there.  Besides, what am I supposed to do if she needs to potty while I am breastfeeding Shelby?  I have been making excuses, mostly because I am not sure I want my "baby" to grow up and I have no clue how to go about the process. 

Theresa, the girl's babysitter, asked me when I was going to start working with Jenna.  She thought Jenna was ready to get started.  Yesterday we went and got Jenna panties.  Today, I had my post-partum doctor's appointment and left both the girls at daycare.  Theresa called at 9 and told me Jenna had already peed on the potty!  I guess we are officially potty training, so let the fun begin!