Kentucky!

Do you remember that scene in Home Alone where Kevin is at home with all of his family, there are people everywhere, and it's just absolute bonkers? Well, that's kind of what it felt like last week at Jill's house in Kentucky (but in a very good way).

Let's be honest, I (Ben) am the second child of three. There aren't a lot of us. And so being in an environment where there is family everywhere is just...different. As busy and full of people as it was, it was awesome. I had a ton of fun with all of Jill's family (er, my family now, too, I suppose). You think I'm obligated to say that because it's mostly her family reading this. Folks, if I didn't enjoy it, I just wouldn't have mentioned it in the first place :)

For a video blog version of how our week went, check it out here (or just go to the bottom of this post where I gave in and just posted the video on to here). For you readers out there, let's get to it.

We started off the week by waking up at 5 o' stinking clock in the morning on Tuesday. Follow that up with a flight to Texas, mixed with a layover, and continued on with our last flight to Cincinnati, and it sure as heck beats driving.

Day 1 was travel. 'Nuff said.

Day 2 involved driving even more hours to get to Mammoth Cave. For those who don't know what Mammoth Cave is, it's a cave. And it's big. Really big. Mammoth, even.

That's not the cave.

Unfortunately we had to pay to see the cave (unlike some people...). Anyway, we began our three-mile lantern-lit tour by descending into the depths of despair...er, darkness, rather, and from then on out continued in lantern light. It was a really interesting tour, because as we went deeper and deeper into the cave, there was less and less touristy stuff from the old days (old as in 1800's days), and more and more...empty cave. We saw some old writing/images on rocks and walls that, according to Mr. Tour Guide, dated back about 2,300 years ago. Some chump Nephite making his mark on the world.

Our tour guide.

Following the cave we saw where good ol' Abe Lincoln came from. That was also worthy of a picture (mostly as proof that we actually went).

Friday was the day. That is, the day we had the Kentucky version of our wedding reception. It involved lots and lots of lemon-flavored food (which was so good), and a lot of standing and seeing old friends. Well, Jill saw all the friends. I just stood there and looked good. I guess that makes me the trophy husband, amIright!?

Yes, I am.

But it was fun. Jill knows a lot of very nice people. Some were even Irish! And Canadian. And there were some Americans there, too, I think.

But lucky us, we got lots more free stuff! And money. We always need more money. We are so blessed to have been the recipients of such great generosity!

Especially the Star Wars gift. That one wins (obviously).

Look, Star Wars!

We went swimming on Saturday and we all tried to slide the fastest down the slide and yeah anyway, that was the week in a very small nutshell. Basically I love Kentucky. It was a little humid, but nothing worse than the Philippines, so it's all good. And green. Lots of green. But the best part was the people. Sure the house was full and the people were crazy (you know it's true), but that was by far what made the trip as awesome as it was. I'm grateful to be part of that large and crazy family. People apologized to me a lot throughout the week for the chaos and what was said and what people did but don't worry folks! It didn't phase me. I loved every minute of it.

But that doesn't mean we're not moving to Canada :)

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Here's the video I mentioned earlier. It's different content (sort of), so enjoy!