Now I Remember Why We Stopped Taking Family Vacations...

Sep 07, 2005 13:28


Alright, so we had to go down to Kentucky for my Gran's funeral. We drove down on Sunday. Mom, Dad, Annie, Devin and I all rode in Mom's car, and Aaron and Stacie came in his. Aaron sucks with directions so he had to follow us all the way down there. It was alright at first. We stopped in Toledo and had breakfast at Denny's, and then hit the road again. I was kind of oblivious for the first hour and a half and just sat there with my pillow listening to Fall Out Boy. Then of course, we had to make numerous other stops because of Devin (he hates his car seat, and he's always gotta be fed or something). At one gas station, Annie and i went in and got gum, Fun Dips, and Laffy Taffy. When we started driving again, and were eating our Fun Dips, Aaron and Stacie pulled up next to us and started making faces at us, so we made them back. My tongue was black from all the different flavors of powder, so i stuck it out at them and crossed my eyes, and Stacie snapped a picture of it. It was by far, the weirdest picture of me that i have ever seen in my life. When we got to Harlan, we had half an hour to get dressed and then went to the church. Now, keep in mind that tho we do visit Kentucky every summer because that's where my mom is from, i have a ton ( and i do mean a TON) of relatives that i don't know because i've only met them once or twice when i was little. So the entire 3 hours was spent either standing there and looking at my Grannie, or meeting random cousins and aunts and uncles. One thing is for sure...if i had grown up in Kentucky, i wouldn't have ever been lonely. I have a lot of cousins that are right around my age. Adam (who lives in MI too) is 17, Cory is 16, I'm going to be 16, D.J. will be 16 2 weeks after my birthday, Matthew and Megan are turning 16 in January, Tash is 13 and Taylor is 13. It's some crazy stuff man. Anyway, after the showing, we were all starving (we hadn't eaten since Denny's) and there was this really nice steak house that stayed open past their actual closing time so that we could eat. My entire extended family that lives in MI were all there, and then the waitress ran around and took pictures of us.



Jimmy, Me, Annie, The back of my dad's and Chrissy's heads. I think Jimmy and i were in the middle of a " let's see who can take the most" contest with jalepeno peppers...not our smartest idea ever.



Way down at the end, you can see Grandpa Jim, Uncle Lee, Aunt Shelia, Adam, Jimmy, Me, and Annie. Aren't we a lively looking bunch?



Annie, Mom, Dad, Chrissy, Uncle Terry, Aunt Donna, Gran's head, Adam, Jimmy, and Me again...poor Annie looks like she's on crack in this picture...then again, she always acts kind of hap slappy ( and yes i did say that on purpose).



Chrissy, Uncle Terry, Aunt Donna, Granny, Grandpa Jim's head, Aunt Shelia, Adam and Jimmy's heads...



Grandpa Jim, Aunt Shelia, Uncle Lee, Adam, Uncle Terry and Chrissy's heads...Chrissy was having a good hair day and all, but we seem to have an excessive amount of pictures of the back of her head...



These people are some of my cousins that live in Kentucky. Going from the left, is Michelle, Andy, Tony, and Darla.



And this is, once again, Andy. Sweet kid, really. You can kinda see his wife, Michelle's face...haha.

So that was that. Then came the actual funeral. It was hard, but you know, she's in a better place, and she's with Grandpa and Uncle Alfred. The service was pretty short, and then we drove to the cemetary. On the way there, almost every person we passed by stopped, which you're supposed to do when you see a funeral procession. One guy that was walking even stopped and took off his hat. There was a motorcyclist who stopped and took off his helmet... Moving on...After that, the ladies of the church had cooked a dinner for the family, so we went back and ate, and then Mom, Dad, Annie, Aaron, Stacie (whom we were all starting to get annoyed with), Devin, me, Aunt Shelia, Uncle Lee, Adam, Jimmy, and Chrissy all went to the hill where Grannie Walker's house used to be. Jimmy, Adam, Chrissy, Aaron and i climbed up the hill and put some flowers there ( i felt so bad...i stepped on a poor little garter snake!!), and then slid back down (she lived on a moutain, so it was a pretty steep climb.) And whilst there, Jimmy and Adam decided to look and see if the little family cemetary was still there, so the rest of us were standing around and my mom happened to pick up a prescription pill bottle and looked at it. Mom found a used bottle of Viagra...which is wrong on so many different levels. Stacie goes " Ewww, that's just gross." and i said " Well, what do you expect? This is Harlan Kentucky....the only things to do around here is Moutain climb, drink, chew tobacco, and have sex so that you can have another mouth to feed at the dinner table!" After we left Gran's hill, we went to the lake and waded in the water for awhile. it is so beautiful there...i'll put the pictures in here when i get them developed. When we left the lake, we went to where Big Mom and Big Dad are buried, and took some pictures, and from there we went to Uncle Paul's house. Aaron and Stacie didn't go with us there because their car started to over heat, and we were all glad to be rid of Stacie for a little while, at least. Sitting around at Uncle Paul's ( Daniel, my other cousin, had to come get us and bring us there...we got lost) Annie and I were talking to Chrissy, and apparently, Stacie told Jimmy to shut up... and Chrissy goes " If she mouths off to Jimmy one more time, we wont' have to worry about her anymore." And Annie and i tried to pay her to beat the ever loving snot outta Stacie. By the time we left there, it was late at night, so we went to Pizza Hut, ate dinner, went back to the hotel and slept till 9:00. We got up and got dressed, went to see where Aunt Shelia and my mom's grandparents used to live, went to Macks and got snacks (hey! that rhymed!!!), went to Sonshine, and then went to Cumberland Falls, where Adam and Jimmy got me up on this HUGE rock and we were looking out over the entire place...it was beautiful. And then Jimmy had to carry me back down because i had flip flops on. When Aaron and Stacie went down to the river and Stacie was trying to walk across the rocks, Chrissy was standing next to me going " Fall in...fall in!!!" And Jimmy comes up to her and goes " Hey, babe. want to go down there and take some pictures?" and Chrissy says " I'll push her in..." After we left Cumberland, (we had already beein in the car for 10 hours and hadn't even left Kentucky yet) we started home. Annie and i started to get a little hap slappy in the back seat, and had the following conversations.

Me: Are we in Kentucky still? * said Kentucky with a southern accent* *pauses* I just said Kentucky didn't i? * says whole sentence in southern accent*

Annie: I should get a glow stick and diggle it from here.

Me: *raises eyebrow* Annie?

Annie: I just said diggle didn't i?

Me: *nods and laughs*

Dad: Man O War. You know what that is?

Me and Annie: No

Dad: A horse.

Annie: Oh. What are they, extinct?

Me: Annie....that was the horse's name.

Annie: I just got taper...*laughs*

Me: *laughs* what did you just say?

Annie: I almost said i got taper poweled.

Dad: You know how they got that horse's mouth to move like that?

Me and Annie: They put peanut butter in his mouth.

Mom: ...Surround sound

Me: *holds up string* why is this blue?

Annie: Because that's what color they dyed it...

Me: *shakes head* i dont' think i said what i meant.

After we finally calmed down, i listened to my cd player and dozed on and off, with the occasional stop. When we stopped at a rest stop, i was talking to Jimmy and he goes " Did you know that a lot of gay people stop here? i'm always afraid that while i'm using the urinal that someone's gonna reach over and try to help me hold it..." To which i could only laugh. When we got home finally, i was asleep, but i head people talking, so i opened my eyes and saw our house, and with tears in my eyes, i go " It's so beautiful..." and my mom just laughed at me. I don't even care. They don't know. I was stuck in between a car door and a car seat for 3 freakin days. So that was my lovely trip...it was alright at times, and sometimes it was horrid...but i know why we don't take family vacations anymore. I love all of you to pieces and i am SO GLAD TO BE BACK HOME!

- KaLiE NiCoLe -
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