The Heflin Kids at the Survivor Picnic 2015

The Pediatric Cancer Survivor Picnic is something that the nurses at the University of Kentucky Children's Hospital put together every year for all the children who are currently receiving treatment or have beaten cancer. This is an over the top extravaganza that we put together so that these kids can just have an awesome day and forget about all the horrible things that cancer has caused them over the years. I am always excited when this day arrives because we get to see our patients outside of the hospital walls. They are such amazing kids and young adults. This year I told Brinley that I was going to take her to meet my friends (co-workers) and the kids that I take care of at work. I made the mistake of telling her this a few days before the actual event. This was a huge mistake because everyday she woke up she asked if it was the day to see my friends. Well the day finally arrived and we packed up the kids and headed out to Keeneland for the day. Jennifer spent the day running around with the kids while I made sure things were running smooth out on the front lawn. I was also able to catch the kids playing at a few spots during the day.

The kids loved the petting zoo area. Both of the kids loved this camel.

They also loved the kangaroo.

The kids saw other people pulling up grass and feeding the goats, so they decided to try it out too.

Brinley trying out one of the inflatables.

Landon trying it out too!

Getting a ride on the train. This was built by one of my co-worker's husband and it has been a big hit at the picnic for years.

Brinley thought she was such a big girl for riding in a cart all by herself.

Who wouldn't love to get their face painted by Tinkerbell!

The face painting turned out great. Brinley also enjoyed her snow cone too.

Landon playing Blinko with Grandma.

Landon getting his caricature done.

Landon mining rocks with Uncle McKinley and Grandpa.

Doing some arts and crafts with Uncle McKinley.

I decided to try out the zip-line. It was pretty awesome.

Uncle McKinley also tried out the zip-line.

Brinley riding the horse. You can tell that she is a little Kentucky girl - she doesn't have on any shoes!

Landon got to take a ride on the horse too.

Brinley giving a hug to a person dressed up like Dorthy from the Wizard of Oz.

Brinley wanted to feed the goats again. She was terrified of the llama and she even said that it was mean. We have no idea why she thought this about the llama.

Olaf also took a picture with the kids.

Brinley even saw Minnie Mouse.

The kids chasing Uncle McKinley around and hitting him with their balloons.

We had a dove release as a type of memorial to all those that lost their battle to cancer over the past year. The man in charge of the birds let Brinley touch one of them.

Landon didn't want to miss out on all the fun. He got to touch the bird too!

This day was amazing and the kids both had a good time meeting some of the kids that I take care of at work. They were so excited to play on everything and were so excited that they completely skipped taking a nap for the day. It was such a great day and I can't wait to start helping plan next years event. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Alaska - Finishing the 50 States

It seems like as you get older in life and have more responsibilities that it becomes more and more difficult to get everyone's schedules to coordinate for family functions. Jennifer and I were both working at the hospital and Andrea was working in New York. Somehow all the stars alligned and we were able to make it all happen in the summer of 2010. We were all able to get together for what ended up being one of our last family vacations before we started having kids. We all packed up and headed to the Northwest to Seattle, WA to board a cruise ship to our last of the 50 states - Alaska!

You can't visit Seattle without visiting the Space Needle.

We finally made it to Alaska! The Heflin's had now been in all 50 of the United States of America! Our first stop on the cruise was in Ketchikan, Alaska. It is also considered the salmon capital of the world. We took a walk around the city and even got a few pictures of salmon jumping out of the water.

We even caught a lumberjack show while in Ketchikan. We enjoyed a show that pitted the Americans against the Canadians in a battle of lumberjack activities.

We also made it out to the Totem Bight which was a huge collection of totem poles. It was interesting to see the workmanship and to hear about some of the history and stories that the totems were carved to represent.

The boat also made a pass through the Tracy Arm Fjord. It was a truly amazing sight. We took this huge boat through what seemed like such a narrow pass. The boat went all the way in until we reached the glacier and then the boat turned around and then we headed back out. 

In Juneau we took a trip to a fish hatchery and along the way we spotted a couple of bald eagles. 

A trip to see the massive Mendenhall Glacier was also a sight to see. These pictures don't give any justice to how big this glacier actually is.

The boat provided us not only a place to sleep and eat, but it also gave us quite a few memories. We enjoyed dressing up for dinner each night where we were taken care of by our waiters Joel and Allen. McKinley and I also enjoyed playing some ping pong and Andrea also joined us for some running on the top deck because we were all getting ready for our half marathon that we were all going to run in about a month after our trip. We even participated in family feud contest one day, but were unable to come up with all the correct answers.

In Skagway we hopped aboard a train and traveled across the White Pass and Yukon Route to the Yukon. The scenery proved to be very enjoyable and we even spotted a couple of bears on our trip.

The ship stopped in Victoria, British Columbia on the way back down to Seattle. We took a tour of the Craigdorroch Castle during our stop. It had some really neat features throughout the house including the statue light fixture with rose shaped lights. The picture on the bottom right is a scale model of the castle.

Some more fun on the ship. A round of mini golf and some more ping pong. My siblings and I out on the deck. Jennifer and I about to enjoy some Baked Alaska.

After the cruise we did a little more sightseeing in Seattle. This time we headed down to Pike Place Market. This is the place where they are famous for throwing fish around. We watched that for a little while and then headed down to the restaurant where Tom Hanks ate in Sleepless in Seattle.

I am so blessed to have parents who loved to travel and especially for taking me on all these trips growing up. At the age of 25 years they had taken me to all 50 states and that is some thing that I am really proud of. Now, I might not have enjoyed all the car rides and spending every second together for sometimes weeks at a time, but I could not thank them enough for everything that they have done for me and my siblings. We have had lots of experiences and memories that we will talk about for years. I hope someday you are all able to make it to all the states too! I know that I would like to take my kids to them all too. Thanks for reading and God bless!

Hawaii

In the winter of 2010 our family decided to take a trip to Hawaii. This was going to be our 49th state as a family. Due to Jennifer and my work schedule we were not able to leave when the rest of the family did, but we came about a day or two later than everyone else. After a long flight we finally arrived in Oahu, Hawaii. One of the first things we did was have dinner near the beach and then enjoyed a night out on Wakiki Beach. We stuck around all afternoon to watch the beautiful sunset.

Wakiki Beach Sunset and a picture of the view of Diamond Head.

We took a boat ride out for a day of snorkeling.

This was the rest of the family's first snorkeling experience. 

We even saw some dolphins on our boat ride.

Here are some of the underwater pictures that we took.

I spent the most of my time making sure that mom and dad were ok. Mom can't swim really at all and she also had to take her glasses off to put the goggles on her face. As you can see she is holding onto the life preserver. She says that she saw at least one fish.

Dad also had some problems with the snorkeling. He is a good swimmer, but his goggles had a leak in them and when he went in the water they filled with water. He panicked and they thought he was drowning so they threw out the life preserver to him too. 

Pictures from our trip to Diamond Head State Monument. 

View from the top was pretty cool.

Picture at the bottom after climbing back down Diamond Head.

We took a tour of the Dole Plantation. We saw how pineapples grew and I even got to try out some pineapple whip.

Matsumoto Hawaiian shaved ice was one of my absolute favorite things from our trip. I had never before had ice cream in the bottom of my shaved ice and it made the whole thing taste amazing. If you ever visit Hawaii be sure to head over to the North Shore and stop in this little roadside store for the best treat on the island. The walls of the place are filled with famous people who have come in for a true Hawaiian shaved ice!

We went on around the island exploring everything and saw the huge waves on the North Shore.

Jennifer and I on the North Shore.

One of the few things that McKinley said he wanted to do in Hawaii was to ride a dolphin into a volcano. Mom and dad decided to make half his dream a reality. Andrea wanted to join in on the fun too. They both got kissed by a dolphin and they both got pushed out of the water by dolphins. It was really cool to watch and they said it was even more fun to participate.

We also took a tour of Pearl Harbor. It was a great memorial and it was crazy to see the site where so many men and women lost their lives. The memorial was located directly above where the USS Arizona was on the bottom of the ocean.

When visiting Hawaii you should always try to go to a luau. It was an awesome experience and we got to see and participate in some traditional Hawaiian events.We watched some dancing, took a canoe ride and I even was selected to come up from crowd and try poi! (It tasted like glue.) We would all recommend the experiences at Paradise Cove.

Dad trying out spear throwing.

Andrea and McKinley on a canoe ride.

My beautiful wife.

McKinley and I making headbands from palm leaves

The traditional roasted pig was dinner at the luau.

We made a quick day trip over to the Big Island for a trip to see some active volcanoes. It turned out to be a pretty fun little day trip.

We were unable to see any lava flowing, but we did see some steam coming up from the volcano. We also saw some waterfalls, hot springs, and some old lava tubes. 

Later in the day we took a walk out some cooled lava down to some black sand beaches. Someone in our group thought some black sand would be nice for a souvenir. It was a great idea until we were passing through airport security and they pulled my mother aside and asked to look in her purse. On the baggage scanner it looked like some type of gun powder. Mom quickly said that she didn't want it at all and she was sorry for taking it.

We also stopped at a local flower shop during our tour of the island. It is amazing the beautiful flowers that are native to Hawaii. We also found out that if you place the flower in your left side then you are taken. If on the right then it means that you are available. 

 The rest of the Heflin clan had to head back home, but we had a few more days to spend in Hawaii, so Jennifer and I caught another flight over to the island of Kauai. It was a more remote island with a lot of stuff for people who are seeking adventure in nature.

After getting off on the plane we hopped in the rented jeep and started driving around the island. Our first stop was Waimea Canyon which is considered the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. It was breath taking views.

One of the most exciting things that we did in Kauai was a boat tour of the Na Pali Coast and whale watching. Some of the stuff that we saw was amazing! The only scary part about this adventure was that the boat we were on was comparable to a huge life raft with a motor and we had whales coming right up next to our boat. We also had a pod of dolphins approach our boat and the tour guides said that anybody who wanted to jump in with them could. Jennifer didn't want to, but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. 

We also took a trip to the Fern Grotto. It was an unbelievable all the things that were growing in this lava rock that had some amazing waterfalls too!

The rest of our time on Kauai was spent exploring the rest of the island. We even rented some snorkels and did a little snorkeling right off the beach. I am so lucky to have this beautiful woman in my life. She has been such a blessing to me.

Hawaii proved to be quite a vacation. I would love to go back some day and see the rest of the islands as well as get a few more shaved ice at Matsumoto. I would have to hands down say that it is the most beautiful state. Thanks for reading and God bless!