We spent most of the weekend in the yard, cleaning up our yard and then helping our neighbors. Parts of several trees came down and there were a number of broken limbs lying around as well. Of course as we cut and raked and piled the logs in the fire pit, the kids took some time out to play and Jordan got out his go-kart. Joshua wanted a “car” too so he got to drive the lawn mower around in 1st gear.

Daddy took Sarah for a few laps on the go-kart and pushed her on the swing. She was not happy that she was too small to drive, but it seemed that some play time with Daddy was a fair substitute.

As I write, the “burn pile” (as they say here) is still smoldering, and we’re finally sitting back to enjoy the evening. The lights and computers are on and there is fresh food and hot water – and the family is all relatively happy and healthy. We’re truly blessed.

As of 11:00 a.m. on Monday, September 15th, 231,000 LG&E customers and 30,000 KU customers remain without power.

At the height of the wind event, about 301,000 LG&E customers and 75,000 KU customers were without power. Strong residual winds from Hurricane Ike caused extensive damage across the LG&E and KU service territories.

Crews are on the scene working to restore power as quickly and safely as possible; however, it is anticipated that this will be an extended outage period for customers. This event has resulted in the largest number of LG&E customer outages in 30 years.

Before the game, we got to hang around outside the park in a humid 93° and play with the other scouts. Jordan and his friends took Joshua right along with them in running around. They got a good look at a State Police display that was set up – including a wrecked car (remember to buckle up) and a display from the SWAT team which were both acclaimed as very cool. We also got to parade around the field before the game.

We took our seats and the home team hit a home run into the section next to us. We had our share of hot dogs and snow cones – which are key to enjoying a summer ballgame. After a while, boredom set in so one of the parents took a few of the boys over to the small playground which is inside the ballpark. Of course the boys all spent the time chasing a little girl around the play area.

As the game wound down, the boys were anxious for part 2 of the evening, camping in the outfield! After the game we went out and picked up our tent and sleeping bags and headed for center field (you can see the top of our tent under the Kindred sign in this picture). Once the tents were set up it was time for baseball, frisbee, and tag. We got to watch “The Sandlot” on the jumbo screen and the boys were surprisingly quiet during the movie. As the credits rolled, the games began again until Daddy and the other adults began calling a halt around 1:30 AM. It had cooled off to 90° so sleeping was oh so comfortable. Daddy got to sleep on the ground while Jordan and Joshua had camp beds, but everyone managed to get at least 2 hours of sleep. 6:00 AM came early and we packed out for home – where we all napped on the sofa during the day. It was great to see the boys just being brothers and friends as if they had always been that way.

The trip began with camping at Patriot Games V. They let the scouts camp at Fort Knox every other year and the Army brings out tanks and other equipment for the boys to play on (boys and Army trucks – fun fun fun). Jordan loved playing Army for a while and participating in the other events around the post. Daddy and Jordan camped out overnight with the scouts and had a great time. It only took 2 days for daddy’s back to recover.

Next on the travel planner was Nashville to visit Auntie and to see the dinosaurs. The animated dinosaurs used in the BBC film “Walking With Dinosaurs” are on tour in the US and we got to see them. Dinosaurs and Army tanks all in one weekend was really fun for Jordan (he seemed to like the dinosaurs a little more). We thought Sarah might be scared, but she loved the show and kept yelling “look” and pointing vigorously at them. She laughed at the baby tyrannosaurus rex and was not scared at all when the mommy t.rex came out and roared at the crowd.

Next, it was on to Gatlinburg for several days of recreation. We even found a few hours to visit with friends who were there as well. We also did a whole bunch of tourist-y stuff, like seeing the Aquarium of The Smokies (a family favorite) and walking up and down the main tourist trap shopping area. We even went to the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not Museum, which Jordan thought was freaky and Sarah thought was boring – until they found a few exhibits they could participate in. We had a very relaxing time of family togetherness – wonderful!

Of course, as it cools off for the fall, we went to look at God’s wonder, the changing leaves in the mountains.

After Gatlinburg, we headed back to Louisville – Jordan had his final soccer game of the season and we wanted to visit Mammoth Cave (although we didn’t make it to the caves quite yet – maybe another time). All in all it was a wonderful vacation for the family. We had a great time just spending time together and looking at some very cool things.

Pictures from the Indy Zoo