Family Time

This is the house my family stayed in on vacation last year. We all (all 25 of us) went to Brown County Indiana and stayed in cabins at the state park. We hiked, swam, rode horses, cooked out, shopped in Nashville, IN, and ate a vast amount of really good food.

I believe the house was called Ames house. My Grandparents and Inkling's extended family stayed there and it served as home base for games, meals and general family time. It was such a wonderful experience. I wish we could do it again this year, but alas, Indiana's new governor has reserved the Ames house for State use only. Ours was the last "civilian" family to stay there. I think that's a crying shame.

Ames house has at least 5 bedrooms, a living room, den/office, kitchen, dining room, eat in kitchen, enclosed porches, and a full basement. It was huge. There was plenty of space to spread out. There were even 2 cribs for the babies. The yard was huge and had a stone patio with a fire place. We played Boccie (?) on the lawn, tossed washers, played badmitton, and had an all around fabulous time.

I got a call shortly after #1 Son was born to reserve Father's Day weekend 2 years in the future for this trip (it takes that long to get reservations). I wrote it down, then forgot about it. Inkling's mom Aunt D did most of the organization (I think). It's been so hard to get our entire family together since we all started getting married and having kids. Work and family schedules never seemed to line up. We had never had the entire family in one place at one time before that trip. It was so much fun to be together in one place with nothing to distract us. Just family and fun. That's it. Even Axl's 16 year old cousin had a good time, and she didn't know most of us from Adam (I think that's saying something...when a 16 year old girl can have a good time with a group of near strangers...).

I highly suggest Brown County State Park in Indiana if you're looking for a quiet get away. There is plenty to see and do. Pony rides for the kids, horse back trails for adults, nature center, miles of trails, family cabins, sleeping cabins, shopping less than 5 miles away (fabulous turoisty shopping), a huge pool, and maybe a golf course...but I'm not sure on that one. We saw deer and turkeys and were visited by an over friendly raccoon who wanted us to share our smores one night.

Aunt D, thank you for making the reservations and arrangements. We had a blast. My kids still talk about "our vacation house" and the looks we get from people at that phrase are priceless...yes, we keep a vacation home... #1 Son named his lovey horse 'Macaroni' after the pony he rode at the park, and Baby Girl asked me just last week if we were going to "that house where we stayed and no one lived there."

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On a side note, last night I took the kids to pick up some medicine for Baby Girl and we stopped by Buck and Busha's on the way home. We were listening to Veggie Tales on the way there when Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho came on. Baby Girl was belting it out in the back seat when we stopped at Busha's. She informed me she was "singin' this song to God." When I opened the van door and the music shut off I hear, "Dear God, That's it! Amen."