Louisville Part 1

From Illinois we drove to Louisville for the AP Reading. Susie spent the week grading AP exams, where we she was promoted to oversee four tables of readers. While she was working hard for her money, Rach and Jackie were being tourist bums.

We spent our first day in town just lounging around. Jackson is a big fan of hotel living and he and Lovie made themselves right at home on the plush pillows.

We had a huge construction sight right across the street from the hotel, so Jackson took all his meals just like this. After his nutritious breakfasts of either baked beans or chicken lo mien, Jack could catch up on his reading. Apparently he's into romance novels, just like his mama.

The next day we were all caught up on our R and R and ready to hit the town. Nana and PawPaw arrived that afternoon and we all headed out to Churchill Downs to play the ponies.

Jackson really loves horses, so while we were at the paddock he wanted to take a few pictures of them. He commandeered Nana's camera but had a little bit of trouble with photography skills. To be fair, the camera was a different model than he's used to.

Susie joined us after the reading, and we placed a few bets. We lost almost every race, but we still had fun cheering our horses, and after the race they would all walk right by us, so Jackson would get a good view.

The next day we went to the zoo. Jackie and Rach got in free because we are zoo members, so while Nana and PawPaw were paying, Jackson plotted out his preferred route on the map.

First stop, the orangutan. He and Jackson got a good look at each other. They think they might be related.

From there we went to the penguin house. This was by far Jackson's favorite stop of the day. He loved to watch them jump off the rocks and swim around. For the rest of the week, whenever we would say penguin, he would say "jump."

We wandered our way through the zoo and hit all the major sights. Jackie-boy posed for super cute pictures all over the place. Isn't he a doll?

On Sunday, we lounged around and played in the pool until Susie finished her work for the day. Then Nana and PawPaw took the boy while the mamas had a night out on their own. Jackson got to go on his first-ever carriage ride.

Suz and Rach got to go see the musical Spring Awakening. The story was so-so, but the music was fantastic. You can click on the link above to see a sample of the songs.

Nana and PawPaw left on Monday, and as always it was bummer to see them go, but we look forward to repeating the vacation with them next year :)