Our Trip to Berea, Kentucky

Nicholas and Celia looking at the two puppies in the neighbors yard

Celia loving the puppies

Princess Celia

A bumblebee on a flower in Great-Grandma and Grandpa's backyard

My Grandma Helen (Nicholas and Celia's Great-Grandma) out on their patio

Celia kissing Daddy

Two sweethearts holding hands

Celia looking at the different plants

Celia looking out the patio door on Sunday Morning

We had a lovely time in Berea visiting my Grandma and Grandpa Russ. They have a beautiful home. They used to live in Virginia Beach, VA and in the last 2 years moved to Berea, KY.
But first, lets discuss our drive TO our vacation. Thinking that Nicholas and Celia would prefer to be forward-facing in their car seats, we turned them around. They seemed to like it at first. Celia was giggling because she could see forward. As we were nearing the Illinois border she threw up and about 30 seconds later Nicholas threw up. Oh great. Thankfully I had caught it in a blanket and there wasn't much to clean-up (sorry Grandma Maus- she hates these details). So we were thinking they were just a little carsick and they seemed better.
So we are driving along and soon we realize MapQuest directions have taken us THROUGH downtown Chicago. As we are going through Chicago at rush hour Nicholas gets sick again and about 30 seconds later so does Celia. So we pull off the freeway in an emergency stopping area to clean them up. The carseats are wet and we have to change their clothes. So now we are thinking if the trip is going to be like this and we still have about 8 or 9 hours to go, do we keep going? I called my mom for advice and we all thought we needed to switch their car seats back to rear-facing. Poor Jason is trying to find his next exit out of Chicago and as I am helping Nicholas and Celia we miss our road to Indiana. So now we are pretty flustered. I called my Grandma in Kentucky thinking we might not make it!
So, we decided to pull over and switch car seats. We cleaned up as best as we could, turned the carseats around and tried again. Thankfully the trip went smoothly from that point on. However rural Kentucky is pretty much winding narrow hilly roads. I am extremely prone to motion sickness and it looks as though Nicholas and Celia have inherited that from me. We were on a winding road about 5 minutes from our exit at Berea to getting to Grandma's house and Celia threw up within about 2 minutes from their house. This one was the worst. Jason and I almost lost it too. What an arrival that would've been with 4 puking people in a van?
Once we pulled in their driveway we pulled Celia out, stripped her naked in the grass, wiped her down with a washcloth and took the kids inside. Thankfully Grandma had the washer ready and Russ and Jason went and pulled the carseats apart and washed those too.
Okay, so now we can relax! We had a great time there. The house is very open so Nicholas and Celia were so happy to run around. Their house has such beautiful wood and tile floors so they liked that. They played outside in the backyard a lot too. It was pretty hot in Kentucky so we northern people kind of melted a few times!
On Friday we took a trip to a Natural foods store to look for motion sickness remedies for children. We were trying to stay away from medicine if we could. We bought Spearmint tea to make into iced tea for them to sip on (which Nicholas loves, but Celia doesn't). We bought Hylands tablets called 'Nux Vomica' (same people that make teething tablets). We went to Rite Aide and bought 2 Sea Band bracelets with the little knob on them which pushes on your pressure point on your wrist to avoid motion sickness (ack! they were $9.99 each).
As we took a nice ride through Berea (it is a small college town and a dry town and also full of artist and also into environmental preservation - pretty neat actually) I could tell Celia wasn't feeling so well - but we took a break at a nice park so they could play.
We went on home and had a lovely dinner!
Oh yes, our fear of them not sleeping well at other people's homes is gone! The first night they woke up a couple times, but that was it. The other nights they slept straight through just as good as at home. However, they had their own room and they couldn't see us when they woke up, so that helped. But, it was wonderful to be able to sleep on our vacation!
Anyway, the kids preferred to play at Grandma's house vs leave the house. We took a trip on Sunday to see some homes in the country and those bracelets and the nux vomica tablets didn't work for Nicholas. He threw up too.
So we returned the bracelets and bought Dramamine. They aren't 2 years old yet, but we did the 2 year old dose (1/4 tablet every 6-8 hours) and it worked on the way home (The bonus is it makes them a bit sleepy so we were able to travel more with them sleeping).
Nicholas and Celia had some moments of moods and not listening to mom/dad, but I suppose it happens more on vacation away from their norm. There were some time-outs when they weren't listening or getting defiant. They both were happy to sit on Great- Grandma's lap for bits of time. Great-Grandma gave Celia a pretty necklace that she LOVES and she gave Nicholas some match-box cars that he LOVES.

Also on Saturday we met my friend Jennifer Thomas from Knoxville, KY and her husband Charles and their twin boys Ethan and Eli (who are born 1 day before Nicholas and Celia). Jennifer and I are part of our twins message board group and also read each other's blogs and e-mail each other. We met 1/2 way between Berea and Knoxville in the Cumberland Falls Park. It was funny because it felt like we were on a blind date for families. :) But, Jennifer was just as I thought she would be. She is super friendly and kind. And for having a long recovery on her ankle she was walking so well (looked like normal to us so she is healing!!). We looked at the Cumberland Falls and then let the 4 kids out to run on the grass. They didn't interact a whole lot and Nicholas and Celia were kind of on the crabby side of things. But it was fun. Ethan and Eli are very sweet little boys. Charles is super nice too and Jason really liked chatting with him. We mentioned that the housing costs in Berea were outstanding (excellent costs for new homes vs Wisconsin) and maybe we should move to Berea (only if my family comes along of course- kind of a package deal or something like that).

Above: Ethan, Eli, Nicholas and Celia on Park Bench at Cumberland Falls Park

We ate at the Cumberland Park restaurant. We just had the buffet so the kids could eat right away. Jennifer shared a placemat and bib set each for Nicholas and Celia. I think if the kids had more time together I could see Nicholas and Eli hanging out (they were sitting across from each other and were copying each other and giggling). We will definitely meet again - hopefully for a longer visit next time.
Here we are at the restaurant together. Our poor waitress had plenty of food to clean up from Nicholas and Celia - she was tipped well. :)