October 20, 2011

You're Going to Hollywood

When Brett first suggested Chapel take Acting Lessons at the newly established Charleston Acting Studio, I was hesitant. Acting lessons? What will they teach her? Would she actually learn how to act? I took Chapel for a quick tour and immediately knew this was a great fit for my little girl who is always singing, dancing and putting on skits for us at home. What really convinced me was the fact that at the end of the 8 week session, she would actually be in a performance!

Once classes started, Chapel looked forward to it every week. She was cast as Boxcar Bill in The Buckaroo Banjo of Hamelin's Butte - a country/western version of the Pied Piper. The play took place yesterday and we were all surprised at how professional the kids were - their hard work was so evident and payed off! Chapel has already said she will return next week for the second session of classes. I can't wait until the next performance and who knows, one day we may see this little girl on the big screen!

There were several song and dance numbers.....

Chapel delivering her lines to "Dolly".
Another song and dance routine. The hat was too big and kept slipping, however Chapel just went with it and kept on singing and dancing!

A captive audience. Chapel insisted I bring along her two favorite cats, Snowflake and AJ to watch the performance!

October 10, 2011

....It's Just A Family Tradition.....

Our road trip to Kentucky for the annual Fogle Family Reunion was a trip down memory lane for me and a chance to make some new memories with Brett and the kiddos. I can remember as a little girl making the 12 hour trek with my own parents - who usually chose to drive the entire 12 hours straight thought - almost every summer to visit my dad's family in Louisville. I haven't been back since I was in college and had not seen my much of my family since my wedding.

My aunts, cousins, uncles and extended family really only know my own little (or actually rather big) family through cards, pictures and well, I guess, this blog. My granddaddy Jake visits my dad yearly, so he is really the only exception. There is no excuse for it except to say it is a long way away and many of my cousins are busy raising their own families and my dad's sister all work and life is, as the cliche goes, busy. So it was with great excitement that we ventured off to the Bluegrass State.

Here we have arrived at the Kentucky Welcome Center (don't be fooled, still many hours of driving left to get to our destination).

Unlike my childhood trips to Kentuckya, as Eli calls it, when you travel with Brett you make lots of interesting stops along the route. Our first point of interest along the route, the Colonel Sanders KFC museum. This was the original KFC - at first a hotel with a little restaurant where he started cooking up the secret recipe.




Second stop - the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. Wow!
They have encapsulated the cabin within this monument so that it will be forever protected at this National Park.
The cabin inside. Turns out carbon dating a few years back proved this was not the actual cabin he was born in but who REALLY wants to know that?? For all intents and purposes, it must have been a really similar cabin....
Chapel and Eli made us all so proud, answering questions, gathering info and earning their Jr. Ranger Badges.
So we finally make it the country where the reunion was held on my uncle JP's farm. And it is waaaayyy out in the country. Seriously, our only neighbors were Amish - my kids loved, loved, loved watching them going by in the horse and buggy. I was pretty amazed as well. Me and Brett and the kids stayed in this awesome A-frame my uncle built. Chapel kept referring to it as a dollhouse.
Enjoying the reunion festivities.
Daddy and his sisters with Jake.
Kids enjoying a hayride on the farm.
Eli took this pic of me and Brett walking around on the farm. I LOVE IT. It looks so Roswell and freaky with the wheat cut and the sky behind us. And our sunglasses totally add to that Men In Black vibe....
With my Grandpa Jake and Aunt Donna the morning we left to head to our next stop....Nashville.
And just as there were two stops of interest on the way in, there were two on the way out. Starting with our second National Park of the weekend, Mammoth Cave. And it was mammoth. And cold. And really kinda freaky to see and walk in. That whole spelunking thing is lost on me, I was perfectly happy to just see the entrance.
As you can see, Conor was not so happy to see the entrance.
And finally, Dinosaur World. I don't even know how to summarize except to say there was no lack of large putt-puttesque dinosaurs embedded in the woods in the middle of nowhere in KY. And we, of course, stopped. The kids loved it and ran around yelling "meat eater" and demanding photographs.

Next stop, Nashville......