Keeneland 2013

Dear Abigail,

This past weekend we went on our annual trip to the Keeneland Thoroughbred Races in Lexington, KY and stayed with Tripp, or as you call him, "my friend," because for some reason you refuse to remember what his name is.  If you recall (I assume you don't since you can't remember his name!), but the last time you two were together, we had the incident with the sunscreen and ended up opening all the windows because the house was full of fumes.  So yeah, you two get along very well.  We arrived on Friday and you two immediately went about your business playing hide and seek and destroying his room.  Friday night, the 'dults' went out to a fantastic dinner at a winery and we got a babysitter for the kiddos.  We were on Eastern time, so I wasn't too worried about you staying up later, or as late as Tripp, because if it was 9:00 there, that's only 8 our time.  I mentioned to the sitter that you may or may not want her to lay down with you, but that you did need to go to bed in Tripps room (he was sleeping in his parent's room).  Well... after a fun night out, I came home at 11:30 (eastern) and you were still awake!!! Tripp was out, but the sitter said you were waiting until I came home to go to sleep.  AHHHHHH!!  I immediately dropped everything and put you to bed, and fell asleep too :) 

The next morning was early, or at least earlier than usual and earlier than should have been considering your bed time the night before!, but it's what we had to do.  Mr. Roy and Miss Jenny made a little purchase a couple weeks before we came up.  This little purchase was our golden ticket to the races - an RV!!!  That's right, they bought a motor home and other than a small weekend camp out they did, it was their first time really taking it out.  We were all super excited, and could not wait to get on the road.  We got our things together and packed that bad boy tight, or well, not really because it's huge, but we took lots of stuff because, well, we could!  You and Tripp settled in at the kitchen table, with seat belts and all!  Shouldn't be a shocker, but you were thrilled to not be sitting in a car seat.  They said that for some reason you don't have to have a car seat in RV's, and since we weren't going that far, I was okay with it.  Still nervous, but you were buckled!  

We made it to the race and set up our fancy tailgate!  It was so nice to just pull these out of a fridge, and have extra clothes because it was quite chilly, oh, and have a bathroom right there for us!  You and Tripp got settled by eating lots of snacks and people watching.  Sooner than later (time crept up on us!) we changed our clothes (yep, that RV is awesome!) and headed to see the horses.  We found our seats and you immediately said "I think #4 will win."  When asked why you responded with "Because I'm four." as if that should have been a given.  Tripp's answer was always "I want whoever is going to win, to win."  This did not help his Daddy at all, but your Daddy actually took your advice and put money on #4 and won!!  It was the only time he won, too!!  Can you believe it.  You knew what you were talking about.
While it was a beautiful day of sunshine, it was pretty chilly, but we brought blankets and kept warm.  You enjoyed watching the first several races and then that late night decided to catch up with you...

We tried to go pet the 'friend' horses (these are the ones that take the race horse to the start line) and enjoyed the sunshine (our seats were covered so we didn't get the warmth of the sun!)...

But none of the horses came our way, so after a couple more races, Miss Jenny and I decided to take you kiddos back to the RV to rest.  On the way, we spotted the horse barn and finally got to get really close to the actual race horses!!

You seem all brave and all, but when it came time to actually touch the horse, you would back up.  I will say, a couple times, one of the horses got a little spooked and made a little jump that even scared me, so I can see why, but they sure were some pretty horses.

Back at the RV, we changed back  into play clothes and had some chocolate cake!  Delicious for sure!!

Sista went down for a nap (another RV trick!) and you and Tripp shut yourselves up in one of the bunks and were supposed to be watching a movie.  However, when we checked on you, you two had your faces at the window and you kept saying "we're watching them dance!".  We were parked beside a bus of folks that were having a Sorority/Fraternity Reunion, and, well, one day you will understand why this probably wasn't the best thing for you to be watching!  Eventually you guys came out and joined in on the dancing, impressing everyone.  And then Miss Jenny had some friends stop by and you two convinced one of them to play hide and seek with you for a long time!  When it was time for her to go you said "We should go to her house"!  She was sweet, and doesn't have kiddos of her own! The Daddy's met back up with us after all the races were over and we all enjoyed a fun afternoon tailgating. Finally it was time to head home (after all the traffic left!) and you and Tripp got comfortable!

What's kind of funny is Mr. Roy made like 10 checks on everything, making sure things were put up, latched up, set up correctly, you know, to make sure we were ready to roll.  Well, we started going and the door popped open!! HA, he checked everything but the actual door!  Mommy thought that was funny, until half way home, you and Tripp twirled around in that seat you were in and were facing door that once flew open!  Miss Jenny kind of got scared, but it wasn't nothing once we turned you back around!
On our way home, Mr. Roy took us through the Horse Farm and man alive is it not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen.   I could  have just rode and rode and rode.  Well, except that I had two kiddos that were WAY ready for bed!
We got home, warmed up pizza and headed straight to bed, Mommy included!  We were all exhausted but it was SO fun.
The next morning, we got our stuff together to head out, but made one last stop at a delicious breakfast diner, which got us to drive right back through that horse farm.  Love it!  And loved this breakfast.  One of the best I have had.  And of course, you found one last horse to pet!

We said our goodbyes and promised we'd come back and actually stay the night in the camper for a football game.  You have asked 200 times when we are going back to 'my friend's' and I've had to tell you 200 times, not until November!  I think you had a blast.  No doubt.  We all did.  It's such a fun tradition that we do and gets better every year.  And we need to convince Mimi to buy one of those RVs!!!
Love you!

PS - This picture makes me smile...

And this one makes me laugh.  We told you we were going on an airplane and you informed me that all these friends HAD to go with you on said plane.  We will see.  Hopefully by then you will have forgotten.  Ha, who am I kidding...