48 Hours in Ohio

I decided that while Craig was gone at scout camp, I would go visit Rachael in Ohio.  I do better when I have another grown up to talk to, and was worried I'd get a bit stir crazy with Craig gone and four kids to take care of.  But THEN, our wonderful bishop told Craig that he would be spending Tuesday night at scout camp, so if Craig wanted to go home for a day, he could.  That was awesome for two reasons-- one, it was nice to have him come home for a bit.  Two, that was also Craig's birthday, so it meant we could celebrate together!  But the (very minor) downside was that I couldn't really leave for Ohio until Wednesday.  So that made for a very short trip!

This was just me taunting Craig with the birthday dessert I was making for him while he was still at Scout Camp-- mint brownies!  Yum!!!

We had beautiful weather in Ohio, so Rachael took me to some of their fun parks and their awesome library...  Marietta is a great town!

Okay, so technically this park was in West Virginia, but whatever.  Nice and big and fun, right?  Wild and wonderful, just like WV!

Same park, opposite side of it.  Those are my boys on top of that thing.

Ian snapped this great shot of Nolan and Colton together!

My kids LOVE sitting in their cousins' awesome chairs!

And, of course, we had to get ice cream!  This place, Cone N Shake was AWESOME!

Except Camille couldn't eat her cone fast enough, so once it got too melty I just threw it away.  Which made her sad.

The next day, we left Kendra in charge while Rachael's kids were napping, and Rachael took me on a tour of her brand new house which they have bought but not moved into yet!  It was AMAZING-- a 100-year-old house right on the main street, featuring four fully finished levels!  It was so big and old and full of character (in a really good way!), so I was really excited to get to be the first sister to see it!  Can't wait to visit again once they've moved (on Tuesday)!


We were supposed to drive home the next morning, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I would rather just leave that night and get home really late at night, rather than getting up in the morning and driving all morning with the sun in my eyes.  So while Rachael was cooking dinner, I was helping her but also yelling at my kids to pack up their suitcases and sleeping bags.

And then, while I was changing my plans, I figured that I might as well surprise Craig by beating him home, so then I went into full Sneak Mode: I had Rachael and Ian fill up my tank and paid them back cash.  When I stopped in West Virginia to fill up again, I used my Mom's credit card (and paid her back!).  And when Craig called to say Hi, I lied through my teeth.  He'd ask, "What's that noise?" and I'd say, "I dunno, guess my headphones are being weird."  When Colton started crying, I said, "Oh no, Colton just came up crying!  I'll call you right back!" and then made Kendra (my awesome co-pilot!) take care of him.  And once we were home and the van was all unloaded, I moved it to a different street so Craig wouldn't see it.  Bam!

Pretty clouds on the drive home

When Craig and Bentley walked into the house, we all yelled, "Surprise!" and got to see them truly jump and then be really excited to see us, so that was awesome!

It was nice to all be home and together again.  But I sure was glad that I could escape to Ohio for a little bit of that time!

Thanks for hosting me, Rachael and Ian!!!