Kentucky Horse Park

On Saturday we all decided to hit the road and go to Lexington, well just outside of Lexington, to the Kentucky Horse Park. What a good decision that was. We had to much fun. I know I have said that alot in these last couple of posts, but oh well. The park covers 1,224 acres of Kentucky’s famous Bluegrass. Let me tell you... we went in November and it was beautiful, so I can only imagine what it is like in the spring and summer, beautiful besides the obvious HOT!. We walked through the many buildings and read alot about a horse. I learned quite a bit about horses that I found really interesting. We went on a wagon ride, which takes people all around the park. Many of the places that we saw on our ride we walked back to, such as the Hall of Champions, Legends of the Park, and the Parade of Breeds.

Our fun and informative Horse Pulled Tour

Here are some other pictures of the day:

Man o' War

The great Man o’ War, the most famous Thoroughbred race horse of the 20th century, is buried at the park in a memorial with a statue dedicated to his life. Buried with him are some of his offspring, including Triple Crown winner War Admiral, who was upset by Seabiscuit in their famous match race in 1938.

Interesting FACT: Traditionally, most owners bury only the head, the heart and the hooves of a horse, and have the rest of the horse cremated so that the ashes can be scattered over the farm. The head represents the horse’s intelligence and personality; the heart represents the spirit or will to win; and, the hooves represent their speed or agility. Horses at the Kentucky Horse Park are buried in their entirety.

How many "Hands" are you?

A horse is measured to the highest part of his back, the withers, in 4 inch units called “Hands”. In the old days, a man may have placed his hands, one above the other, from the ground to withers to determine height. As a man’s hand is about 4 inches wide, this measurement was taken as standard.

Thanksgiving in Kentucky - Day Two

While my mom and dad were out visiting us for Thanksgiving, we took advantage of showing them some of what Louisville Kentucky had to offer. We went to the Louisville Slugger Museum. This is a pretty fun place to go to.

We had a lot of fun. In the Louisville Slugger Museum they give a tour that walks you through the whole process of making the famous Louisville slugger baseball bat. No pictures are allowed in the tour, so you'll have to just take my word for it. It was super fun. After the tour they give you these souvenir bats, "Louisville sluggers".

Thanksgiving Day in Kentucky

This year we are so lucky to have had my mom and dad come out and spend Thanksgiving with us. We were so excited to have them come. They flew in Wednesday, I was at work, so Rob picked them up at the airport. The three of them spent the rest of the day relaxing, shopping for Thanksgiving dinner, and prepping all the food for Thanksgiving dinner - Amazingly by the time I got home Wednesday night they had prep almost all of the dinner. When my mom called to tell me that they had purchased their tickets to come for Thanksgiving I wanted to make her something to show my appreciation. I made her an apron that had all the grand kids hand prints on it, and I made their hands into turkeys.

Here is my mom and me just after I gave her the apron.

My dad and Rob making Thanksgiving dinner.

On Thanksgiving morning we put the turkey in the oven and then we were off to the races.We had a great day at Churchill Downs. Surprisingly we were not the only ones spending the morning at the horse races. We had a great time walking around and exploring the grounds. Then it was back to the house to eat our Thanksgiving dinner Yummy!

My mom and dad out front of Churchill Downs!

Here we are in front of one of the horse statues inside the Downs!

Waiting for one of the races to start.

Look at the horses go...

My dad messing around. Note: We did not bet on any race!

Finally our Thanksgiving Dinner. It was so delicious.

Churchill Downs

(Photo taken from the In-field)

Today is Memorial day and that means no work, so we went to the Churchill Downs Race track. This is the very location that the Famous Kentucky Derby is run. The Kentucky Derby is run the first Saturday of May. Never imagined that it would be so large. We went with some of our good friends the Shepherd Family. (No pictures of them unfortunately) We had a really good time, the weather was beautiful. We pretty much explored the grounds. There were a couple races going on that day. We think this would definately be a fun place to take our visitors.

A nice shot of all the people that came out to watch the races.

Here are the famous Spires of the Kentucky Derby

Snapshot of a horse race

This is taken out in the front plaza of Churchill Downs.

Getting the horse's ready for the big race.

All the jockies, owners, and horses getting ready

Thunder Over Louisville 2006

Thunder Over Louisville is so much fun. Thunder Over Louisville, the annual kickoff event of the Kentucky Derby Festival, is an air show and fireworks display held in late April in Louisville, Kentucky. It is the largest annual fireworks display in North America. Thunder lasts throughout the day, and the fireworks display last for around half an hour, along with a synchronized soundtrack through PA and radio. An average of 625,000 people have attended each year since 1997, lining the banks of the Ohio River in Louisville, and across the river in Jeffersonville and Clarksville, Indiana. Eight 400-foot barges launch the fireworks, from both sides of the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge (Second Street Bridge), and more fireworks are launched from the bridge itself. This year we met up with Mark and Jen Hancock and their family. It was amazing. The weather was beautiful, and the place was packed. I think that Mark came out early in the morning and pitched his tent, and marked the area. Rob and I went out early in the day for the whole experience. There was an amazing airshow and lots and lots of people. (which was pretty insane) Actually what is insane is the traffic when the night is over. Rob and I lucked out (not counting the $10.00 parking) cause it only took us 30 minutes to get home. It took Mark 1.5 hours to get home. Just hanging out at the Hancock campsite. Rob and his little shadow. We tried to get the picture taken at the fireworks finale, oh well.