Traffic, family & murder in KY.

This is how each family member feels about traffic… 

Hitting traffic on a 12 hour car ride is as inevitable as finding a comfortable sleeping position on a 12 hour car ride.  Our steady 0 mph speed resulted in watching ridiculous youtube videos & taking some pretty funny photos of double chins & goggly eyes. We would also take turns blurting out "shake your butt baby! WORK IT SMOOCHIE!!" and boy oh boy did my father find it hilarious.  If you don't know what youtube video I am referring to, you have lost my respect.  

Normally family reunions are awkward because all of these people know you & you would really rather hide in a corner than talk about yourself or hear about 'funny' stories that took place 20 years before you were born.  When I say 'normally'  I mean that is how I felt about family reunions when I was too young to understand the importance these people had in my grandparents, aunts', uncles' and mom's life, back when I had no interest in any of these people or any of their stories.  However, somewhere between a 3 hour breakfast and watching my Papa break down into a puddle of tears while watching a beautifully put together video of the Frederick family through the years, it was more than just being there because I knew I needed to see these people and spend time with them.  These were the people that my mother was surrounded with growing up, the people that knew her the best as a child, teenager, young adult and now mother of 3 grown children.  That is special.  Plus having my awesome cousins & RIDICULOUS uncle Mark cracking jokes the whole time made for a good ab workout!  Did I mention how bummed I am that I didn't get the pretty Frederick glass blue eye gene?  

Hillbilly Heaven y'all.  If I were a serial killer this is where I would go to have fun. I was convinced we were going to get murdered in this cabin.  Hillbilly Heaven was going to be my resting place & there was nothing I could do about it.  It took 3 gravel roads and an uphill battle (Suburban vs. hill) to reach our cabin. The beautiful cabin overlooked a private lake and was surrounded by unbelievably green Kentucky trees.  After plotting out how we would escape if someone came for us we enjoyed lots of hiking, zip-linning, star gazing, games of CLUE, fishing, story telling and laughing.  The cabin was inspirational & truly indescribable.  The bugs I could have done without, but everything from the sky, grass, trees, clouds & smell was so alive & fresh.  

That was our little adventure to Kentucky! We also stopped off at Mammoth Cave & that was a whole experience in itself.  I slept in 4 different beds last week, after that NOTHING beats coming home & resting my head on my own pillow!