Big Summer Trip #1- Ohh, Ohio

We just got back from our first big trip of the summer. We headed off to Ohio but of course, being us, we had to make a few stops along the way.

The Clabber Girl museum was small but interesting.

And then pics next to "that big guy"

Once in Ohio, we spent most of our time visiting family. I think Lucy and Jonah were a bit overwhelmed by the number of cousin they were introduced to. They don't have any first cousins and only knew about a couple second before this trip but at Saturday's bbq there were cousins everywhere! At one point there were 5 generations of people from my mom's side of the family there. It was great catching up with so many family members but it took a little while for the kids to be more than 6 inches away from me.

We also did a bit of genealogical sightseeing. My dad drove us by some buildings my family had owned (or empty lots where buildings had been). This was the house my mom grew up in.

And the next day we found this picture of her, her parents and all but one of her siblings in front of it. (My mom's the one sitting down.)

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After driving down "memory lane," the kids were happy when we made it to Malabar Farm for some hiking. I picked this fun hike because it was short, shady and had a cave. Turns out, the very idea of a cave freaked Lucy out and she got upset when the men-folk tried to go close to it. She warmed up to the idea by the time we finished the circle so we went back and this time, Ben and Craig were "allowed" to check it out. Jonah was very proud of himself for being brave enough to go to the entrance and watch the big boys go in. Not brave enough to go in himself but that's brave enough for three.

Then our private wagon tour of the farm- because we were the only ones there that morning! Sometimes it pays to go sightseeing on a Monday :-)

Apprently this area has several Shawshank Redemption filming sites. This is the "Shawshank tree." I have yet to see the movie (Craig is attempting to remedy that soon) so I'm not completely sure what that means but I guess it means something. 

We still had lots of downtime at my grandparents' house. This is my granddad's hunting trophy area. The mountain lion in particular used to completely freak me out as a kid. His glass eyes would reflect light and I would run through the room to get to the backyard if it was even a tiny bit darkish outside. So of course, seeing as my kids have long distance fears of caves, I thought I'd better prepare them. But this didn't bother them at all. Jonah really liked petting them! They keep me on my toes, those kiddos.

Happy to hang with my Oma.

Slackline practice with Grandpa and Uncle Ben. It's harder than it looks! (At least for the grown-ups)

A Cicada selfie of Craig's. Not shown is Jonah playing with his cicada friends. He only liked the dead ones. 

Who is this guy?

 Grandpa? Okay. I think I like him.

Wait, I thought that was Grandpa? Who is this then? How many of these "grandpas" do I have? Three!?

Family Picture Time! Jonah didn't really want to be in it but Craig bribed him with m&ms. 

The day before we had to leave, Craig, Norah and I headed off to hear Karen Glass speak and I got to catch up with another AO mom I know.

Grandpa and Uncle Ben took the kids to explore the Children's museum and ride the Carousel. I remember my mom and grandma taking me to ride that same Carousel when I was a kid.

Jonah had one too many wardrobe malfunctions so they also hit up a boutique next door for some snazzy suspenders. 

Jonah loves them!

We had hoped to tour the old prison for some more Shawshank Redemption tourist spots but Norah refused her morning nap and fell asleep right as we got there. With several hours driving to go, it seemed prudent to let her sleep. Sorry Craig :-(

But then I got to meet long time internet friend Karen! It was a great end to a great trip. Now I gotta go do some laundry. 

Random sidenote: "Oh, Ohio" come from an episode of Arthur which may seem a bit random but when my little brother was a preschool he was really into Arthur and every morning my mom would get up and run and I would babysit by sharing a couch with him while we watched it together at 6:30am. And we both started saying it whenever we heard the word Ohio. I don't even know if he remembers that but I still think "Ohh, Ohio" in the same tone as that show.