Derby Weekend

Growing up in Louisville, the Derby is a major holiday for me. I've had parties some years since moving away, but friends in South Carolina and Tennessee never quite fully grasp the true splendor of the first Saturday in May.

I only went to the Derby once during my growing up years—when I was fifteen, with a friend whose family friend owned or trained a horse running in some race that day (did you know there are twelve other races run on Derby Day, besides the Derby itself?) and so we got to sit in the bleachers on the "back side," across the track from the iconic twin spires, over near the barns. Nonetheless, I've always celebrated Derby. The Kentucky Derby Festival runs two weeks prior to Derby Day, people are off work and school the day before (Oaks Day), and the television coverage runs morning to night on Derby Day. It's a big deal, even if you don't go.

All that said, I was THRILLED to actually go to Derby this year! My parents, aunt and uncle, cousin, and Matt and I had a box in the clubhouse area, donned our hats and had a great day.

One cool thing about working for a Louisville-based company now is that we get Oaks Day off, just like I did growing up in school! And, I took an extra day off to pack and prepare—actually, I spent that day in doctor appointments and therapy with BGC, then surprised the big girls by breaking them out of school early and going to the zoo! An impromptu family fun date was a great way to kick off the "holiday" weekend.

Friday, we headed up to Louisville, and Matt and I took advantage of the grandparent babysitting to go on an all-too-rare date night. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant on the hipster strip, Bardstown Road, then walked off the heavy pasta with a three mile stroll down to the church where we got married, and back! (was wearing the same 3-in. heel wedges I would wear to Derby the next day--good for walking!)

We ended the date with what might seem like an odd excursion (to Kroger!) but I can't believe I'd never made it part of my Derby celebration growing up! The Kroger floral department makes the blanket of roses that is laid on the winning horse, and you can go watch it being made the night before and all through the night!

Race day cometh, and we took the big girls to spend the day with a dear childhood friend and her two kiddos. (BGC stayed with another foster family, back in Nashville.) They wore their own hats for the occasion!

 

We got to enjoy a nice brunch at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium before walking over to Churchill Downs. (My cousin, aunt, uncle, and mom pictured below.)

We arrived at the Downs just before the fifth race. (The Derby is the eleventh race of the day.) I rushed to place a bet on "Jessica's Star" before even finding our seats, and won a quick ten bucks—almost the price of a mint julep, which ran $11, in the non-optional commemorative glass.

As it turned out, Matt and I were the only members of our party to come out on top in the gambling department. At the end of the day, my family members were quite in the hole, but we'd won $84 on $66 of betting, for $18 net. One-and-a-half juleps, in other words.

Actually, our profit was a total accident. Matt wanted to beat the rush by placing his Derby bet earlier in the day. "Can I bet now for race eleven?" Matt asked the betting window guy just before race seven. "Yes," the guy told him. So Matt shelled out $21 in support of horse #1, Vicar's In Trouble (perfect name for an irreverent pastor, eh?)—or so he thought. Turned out, the guy registered his bet as for race seven, so Matt unwittingly had almost two juleps' worth riding on horse #1 in that race, 20-1 filly Street Girl. Wouldn't you know, Street Girl won and we won $64!

 

It was a great day to be with family, dress swanky, drink all day long, and participate in a great Kentucky tradition.

Playing Catch-Up: Thanksgiving

I don't know why I've been blog-averse lately. Averse to posting on my own blog, that is. I still love checking my reader and seeing what's up with everybody else!

It is such a wonderful, fun-filled time of year, though, I've got to share a bit of what we've been up to, even if I don't feel up to sharing anything insightful! So, here's Thanksgiving and the week or so before it.

 

 Made these little turkey sweets by frosting mini-brownie bites and sticking the last of the candy corn in them. The eyes are Nerds :0)

One morning in late November, we made waffles for breakfast, and I don't know why I was compelled to take pictures, but I managed to catch some of Kate's kooky antics.

 

For some reason, these pictures make a line from Miley Cyrus' recent appearance on SNL come to mind. Someone asks her, "What's up with sticking your tongue out like that all the time?" Miley responds, "I'm having a bunch of tiny strokes, yo."

For Thanksgiving, we went up to my parents' in Louisville. Popi made pine cone bird feeders with the girls, and we played with Legos (Duplos) a lot, and tried to avoid their mean cat who seems to resent my family for making ourselves at home in "her" space. I was around wayyy before you, Cali-Cat. 

 

Mom made a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner, of course, though right about the time it was ready, Kate conked out on the couch.

"What should we do with Big Sister, Mommy?"

We managed to get her up to eat a bit of dinner, and then the pumpkin pie she'd been talking about for weeks. We weren't quite sure she'd ever tried pumpkin pie, so the enthusiasm seemed premature, and sure enough, she did not like it.

 

BGC did not care for much of Thanksgiving dinner, either. Her feeding therapist suggested we try some of the creamy table foods that would be at Thanksgiving dinner, since she gags at any minor chunkiness to her food. She's 14 months old and still mainly eats Stage 2 baby food, thus the feeding therapy (among her many other therapies and doctor appointments—she has the busiest calendar of any one year old I know!) She did okay with the sweet potato casserole, but didn't just gag on mashed potatoes and corn pudding—she barfed all down her bib, twice.

Friday, Popi and I took Kate and Claire to see "Free Birds," which was very cute. Kate didn't like it because it didn't have any princesses. (Arggghh! It's like I'm fighting a losing battle against this Disney-girl culture!) Actually, though I intentionally chose "Free Birds" over "Frozen," I hear the latter is actually very good, so maybe we'll see that around Christmas. There was also a teeny bit of shopping on Black Friday, at about 5 pm, so it hardly counts.

Saturday, we helped Nala and Popi decorate their Christmas tree!

And then we toasted marshmallows and made s'mores around the firebowl before heading back to Nashville!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving too, and that your Christmas (Advent) season is off to a beautiful start!

At the Old Ball Game

We went up to Louisville last weekend to see my parents. The main event of the visit was going to a Louisville Riverbats game with some long-time family friends—the kids' first baseball game and a fun gathering of three generations of friends. I was in utero when my mom met a new friend and her little red-headed toddler daughter, who would become my best friend in late elementary/middle school. It means so much that Lindsay and I can reconnect whenever I'm in Louisville and our kiddos are all getting to know each other.

Jack and Kate get along famously, and I'd be lying if I denied that the words "rehearsal dinner slide show" go through my head whenever I take pictures of these kids together.

Popi and the kids watched the game while most of the rest of us chatted and tried to keep toddlers from eating popcorn off the cement floor.

Said toddlers weren't quite to the age they could play together, exactly. They're only six months apart in age, but it's a big six months, socially! Claire didn't quite reciprocate Emmalea's efforts to hold hands. (I may elaborate on this in Claire's 18 month post tomorrow, but I keep remembering Kate at two and how much development happens between 18 and 24 months!)

Claire was intrigued by the girls in the next box, though! She and Emmalea both tried to climb over the wall to see what was going on over there!

There's a nice carousel and two playgrounds at Louisville's ball park (it's a great one—relatively new and much nicer than either Nashville's or Louisville's older one, where my parents and I frequently went to see the Redbirds play when I was a kid). I had one of my guilty "just enjoy the moment" impulses and didn't take the camera down to the play area, and Lindsay and I were both kicking ourselves; the dads and kids were so cute riding around together on the carousel!

The evening ended with fireworks after the game, and though threatening rain meant the kids didn't get to run the bases after it was over, we still all had a great time. We asked Kate what her favorite part of the game was, and she said, "seeing Jack." :0)

It's always fun going to see Nala and Popi, and reconnecting with one of my favorite cities and some of my favorite people in the world!

Holidays in Brief

I'm pretty behind the curve in getting any sort of "Christmas recap" out there, but I did want to share some of the sweet pictures and stories from Christmas 2012. I had illusions just now of summing it all up in something cute like "12 Pics of Christmas," but I just can't keep it to just a dozen. I'm still going to try to let the photos tell most of the story, however.

Behold, slightly more than twelve pictures from the Kelley family Christmas celebrations, 2012:

On the 22nd, we had dinner and opened presents at Granna and Opa's house. Kate's big gift was a collection of gymnastics gear: a new leotard, warm-up suit, bag, and water bottle.

The 23rd was Sunday, and filled with our regularly scheduled church services. On the 24th, Christmas Eve, we also had two services, but managed to squeeze dinner with some of Matt's extended family between them. Kate began the day in her new leotard, doing somersaults on the couch (a daily occurrence). The kids and I stayed home and went to bed after the family dinner, while Matt went back for the 11:00 candlelight service.

Back home by 8:30 or so, things were unraveling fast. No cute sister pics by the tree here.

We managed to get into jammies for a reading of "The Night Before Christmas,'" however, before Daddy headed back to church. 

Christmas Day, we enjoyed gifts and breakfast together before loading up the van to head to Louisville.

Kate holding the teeny manger-Jesus up to see his birthday cupcake that we shared during our breakfast.

Off we went, to Louisville!

The one thing Kate kept saying she wanted for Christmas was "star tights," and my mom got some for her. She was so happy!

We enjoyed several more days in Louisville with Nala and Popi, playing our new games, going to the science center, getting together with old friends, and even sledding in a little bit of snow!

We had a little weenie-roast and s'mores lunch out by the firebowl. What fun memories to make!

Matt and I came back early to see his Butler Bulldogs defeat Vanderbilt quite handily on the 29th. Though Matt graduated from both schools, and I never went to Butler, we were still bleeding blue. Undergrad loyalties trump grad school, right? (and we never see Furman play, so I'll put my UK Wildcat-loving blue toward the 'Dogs!)

My parents and I met halfway the next day to pass off the girls, and by New Year's Eve we were all ready to ring in 2013. Just before bedtime, we got out some noisemakers and fizzy orange juice to do a little countdown with the kiddos.

And the next morning, we started the year off right with banana/confetti pancakes.

Hope your new year is off to a good start!