Patton Museum

Location: Patton Museum   Ft. Knox, Kentucky

Ages: all but read below before visiting

Cost: Free

With my military brother visiting for the holiday weekend, we visited the Patton Museum at Ft. Knox. In addition to highlighting Gen. Patton's life and war sagas, there is a nice tribute to ROTC's throughout the country, including an old picture from UofA's ROTC! There is a full size movie theater inside showing a movie about Patton that my boys loved.

In speaking with the soldiers stationed there we learned that the museum is in the process of being moved to another location. Consequently, there were fewer tanks and other displays there than my brother remembered from the last time he was here.

After the move, the current Patton Museum will be a hands on tribute to all branches of the military. They will have bunkers for the kids to climb down into, fox holes to explore and other hands on activities for kids and grown ups to enjoy. The new museum will be opening next year so if you plan on seeing it, you would do better to wait until next year.

Still Waters Campground

Location: Still Waters Campground, Frankfort, KY

Cost: $3 per car

Ages: All

What an amazing, picture perfect day!!! The family went to Still Waters campground in Frankfort for the day and it could not have been better. Our kids have already begun making plans to go back and camp. Some of the specific highlights:

• lots of soft grass to play in and picnic in
• we were the only ones in the creek
• the kids enjoyed finding the fish and crawdads (ok, only a couple of them enjoyed the crawdads. The others took some convincing that they were harmless)
• alternating shallow and semi deep water. Plenty of room for beginning swimmers but other places for older kids
• bathrooms and showers on site
• picturesque and peaceful!

We had a great time and would recommend this spot to anyone, young or old. Great hidden find!

Cemetary

Location: Various Local Cemetaries

Cost: free

Suitable Age: any

Are we weird for enjoying a stroll through a pretty cemetary? There are so many small cemetaries here! Every time we turn around there is a small cemetary on the side of the road. There is one in the median not too far from our home with only two or three plots in it. I guess back in the day people would bury their loved ones close to home. Years later the city simply planned streets around the graves so there are lots and lots of little cemetaries. The oldest date we have found so far is the early 1800's. Since the kids like to do family history, this is a fun hands on activity. They get to see how long a person lived and (in typical little boy fashion) create a cause of death for each person we come across. So far, the people we have "met" in the cemetary have been run over by trains, fallen out of three story buildings and eaten by bears. Guess we will never really know how they died and I sure hope they don't come back to correct us!

County Fair

Amish neighbors

tractor at the county fair

Lake Cumberland Park Pool

roadside farmer- she works barefooted all day at this roadside stand

typical view driving down the road

Location: Southern Kentucky, includin Lake Cumberland Park

Cost: County Fair was $8/person for parking and all the ride you wanted

Suitable Ages: Any, so long as long car rides are not a problem

One of the best parts of being in a small town is the "small town feel". We experienced that this weekend when we traveled to southern Kentucky for a county fair. With 120 counties in Kentucky, there is always a county fair to be had somewhere throughout the summer. The fair we went to come complete with a tractor pull (powered by souped up lawn mower engines), carnival rides and of course the animals.

Along the road to the fair, the family stopped by Lake Cumberland park and had a swim. It was a clean pool and it wasn't too crowded.

They also stopped by a roadside farmers market. The funny thing about Kentucky is that you can drive for 15 miles without seeing a soul then all of a sudden you come across a person on the side of the road trying to peddle their wares. I have no idea how they make a living doing it because the roads are so rural that nobody ever goes down them! Even so, I love the fact that they do it because it makes life here so much more interesting.

You never know what you are going to run into.

Shillito Park

Location: Shillito Park, Lexington (Reynolds Road)

Cost: Free

Suitable Ages: All

A few weeks ago my youngest son turned 8 years old (insert sniffle here). We didn't want to have the party here at our home so we took the kids to Shillito Park. It was perfect! There is plenty of room to play and the weather was made to order. While we only used the playground and took advantage of the ample grassy areas, there is plenty of other things to do at the park. There is a public pool, baseball fields, soccer fields, basketball courts, frisbee golf and miles of walking trails. Ramadas are available but with so many shady grass areas, we felt it was best to simply bring a folding table and camp out under the trees. I would highly recommend this location for any get together.

Upcoming Summer Events

Every Monday night we get together as a family. It is a fun time filled with music, games, a short lesson and of course, food. With summer break quickly approaching, we used our Monday night meeting to plan out our summer activities. There are so many more activities and things to see than we have time for! Here is what made the list:

• Salato Wildlife Park


• Friday Night Flicks (of course!)


• Ride the Duck


• Elizabeth town and the Coca Cola Museum


• Kings Island


• Hiking at High Bridge


• Mammoth Cave


• Tour of Frankfort


• Land Between the Lakes and Natural Bridge


• Blueberry, Pancakes and Daylilies Jubilee in Paris


• McConnell Springs


• Hiking in the Daniel Boone National Forest


• Shop at the Longest Yard Sale (127sale.com)


• A trip to Washington D.C.- but that doesn't really count because it isn't in KY.

Of course, we will also have a large helping of trips to the local libraries and public pools. We also didn't pencil in any star gazing, firefly catching, fishing in our pond, lemonade stands, or fireworks on the 4th of July. I also promised my kids I would take them to the cemetary down the street so they could do some rubbings of the headstones that are too old to read. (Kind of creepy I know, but hey- what the heck?)

So there you go- our summer plans. What are yours? I can't wait to get started!

Newport Aquarium

Location: Newport, KY (on the KY/OH border)
Cost: Pricey!! $140 for my family of 8
Suitable Ages: All

Last weekend we went to Newport to visit the aquarium. I read online that it was a good aquarium but not worth the price and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. It was a fun day and I am glad we went- once.

First for the good points:

• The animals were all easy to see


• The sea turtle and sharks were awesome!


• The jellyfish display was fun and interactive


• You can pet sharks, rays and sea stars


• The shark tunnels were neat

Now for the list of downers:

• PRICE! PRICE! PRICE!!!! Did I mention it was expensive? Totally not worth the cost.


• CROWDED!!! There were times when we literally couldn't walk because of the mass of people. I got clausterphobic on a number of different occasions.


• The penguin show was a joke. They hyped it up to be an amazing show but in reality it was one middle aged woman dressed in a funny tuxedo costume talking to an animated penguin on a 48' screen television. Don't waste your time waiting for it.


• The staff was rude. We literally got yelled at by some 19 yr old kid for not reading a sign. Had there been less people, I might have been able to SEE the sign but some brilliant designer put the sign at knee level. So if you DO go, FYI- DON'T STAND ON THE LEDGE !!!

I would NOT recommend going to the aquarium. You won't be missing anything worthy of $25 admission, that's for sure! There are plenty of other aquariums more deserving of your money.