Episode 2: Ohio Trip- Saturday

Saturday was one of the biggest days of the trip. I was going to see my college friend Missy and her baby at the mall, and then come back for a get-together party that Matt and Jamie had planned for us. Seeing Missy was great! I hadn't seen her for awhile, and this was the first time I got to see her baby Daniel, and it was also the first time she got to see Jonathan. They are only about 4 1/2 months apart in age, Daniel and Jonathan. I didn't get any pictures at the mall, there were a lot of things that distracted us... like me thinking I lost my phone and going all over the mall trying to find it, then finding it still in the car. Or when we were leaving (Missy was coming to the get-together party for awhile as well) Missy had forgotten to turn off the lights on her car and her battery died. So we spent a full half hour, maybe more, blocking a whole parking lot aisle of a very busy mall trying to jump her car. That was fun lol. Just more evidence that once you have a baby your brain goes out the window... on BOTH our parts lol.


Missy and I


Missy and I and Daniel


Missy and Daniel


Daniel

The get-together was so great, it was nice to see all the family we had missed. And it was great that they missed us too as evidenced by them running to hug us and oohing and ahhing over Jonathan! It was fun to be able to visit everyone. I'm so glad that Matt and Jamie decided to have this get-together at their house!


Brad (cousin)


Yolly, John (Nathans uncle and his wife) and Grace (cousin)


Jonathan with his Grandma :)


Jonathan and Matt (Nathans brother)


Doug and Janet Kohler (uncle and aunt)


Julie (cousin) and her daughter Jasmine


Megan (cousin)


Robin (cousin) with her daughter Gwenna


Janet with Jonathan


Beth (cousin)


Beth and her husband Ryan


Grace (cousin)


Dougie and Robin and Gwenna (cousins)


Pregnant again! Robin due in Jan. and Julie due in a week!


Gabe (cousin) and Kathy (aunt)


Goofball Becky :) (cousin)


Ed (uncle)


Jody (aunt)


Rachel (cousin) with her niece I think, and Janet and Brad in the background

Later that evening Nathan and I went over to the Kohlers for a bit to visit a little more. That was fun to have a little extra time to see them since we are pretty close to them.


Ryan & Beth, with kids Tyler, Ryan Jr. and Kaylee (cousins)


Beth reading to her son Tyler


Ryan holding a sleepy Tyler


Marshall & Julie and Jasmine (cousins)


Gabe (cousin)


Megan (cousin)


Doug and Janet (uncle and aunt)


Greg (cousin)

So it was a very very busy day but lots of fun too :) And that wraps up Episode 2! :)

Episode 1: Ohio Trip- Thurs. and Fri.

On September 25th we got up VERY early to get to the airport. We left by 2:30 am; my sister drove us to the airport. I was so worried about getting thru they security checkpoint, but I shouldn't have been. I had water in some bottles just in case Jonathan was hungry before we got to the airport and I was going to dump them before we went thru security, but I forgot. The tsa people were actually really nice (for once lol) to us and said we were fine. Apparently we didn't look like the terrorist type! Oh and there was no line so we were sitting there for at least an hour and a half waiting to board. Jonathan did so well on all the flights.

We had a layover in Denver and then went on to Pittsburgh where Kathy (Nathan's mom) and Becky (cousin) picked us up. Then we drove to Matt and Jamie's (Nathans brother and sister-in-law) house where we were staying for the trip. Truthfully, I can't remember what we did that evening. Jamie got home from work and we all just sat around and talked I think.

Nathans' cousin Greg was coming into town from Tennessee that evening too, so Nathan went with some other cousins to pick him up. Jonathan had a little bit of trouble adjusting to sleeping in a play pen rather than his own crib, so that was fun... :) The next day, we hung out for a bit.

Cute close up of Jonathan!

Matt and Jonathan playing

Jonathan with his Grandma

Playing with the air vent

He loved the air blowing on him!

Then Kathy wanted to watch Jonathan and Matt, Jamie, Nathan and I went to Mespotamia to the End of the Commons amish store and to the B&K Salvage store which is also an amish store.

I took pictures and stole the souls of some amish people... (Thats what they believe; they don't like their pictures being taken. But I had to take a few!)

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of the actual store. Oh well. I love that store though, you can get a lot of things there you wouldn't be able to get at a regular store, and a lot of the things in there are cheap. There are also a lot of tourist type things you can get there, from magnets and shot glasses to pure maple syrup and candy, to little toys and amish dolls. One of my favorite things to get there (but were out of when we were there) are bags of Lucky Charm marshmallows, you know, from the cereal. But its just the marshmallows. Oh I must say that they buy things in bulk a lot and then repackage them in smaller amounts, thats how they can be cheaper than other stores. We were talking about those bags and marshamallows and Matt was saying that they have an little amish boy in the back taking out all the marshmallows from the cereal and putting them in bags. It was a funny thought! :) And my favorite thing to get at the B&K Salvage store is cheddar cheese powder to put over popcorn. YUM! And its hard to find that stuff anywhere else. Although when I came back home with it, my sister said you can find that around here too... I will have to look, but if not, I can always get my Mother-in-law to send me some! :) After we went to these amish places, we decided to go to the mall and look around. Matt and Nathan only got as far as the video game store, so Jamie and I decided to abandon them and look around at the rest of the mall. Its not a big mall, but it has some interesting stores in it. They have a Steve & Barry's store there. I really like that store, it has cheap clothes and jackets there. But the nearest store from Salem is in Seattle Washington. I think there is one in Nampa, Idaho too. But anyways, I think we spent an hour just looking around, and found Matt and Nathan in the other video game store. They were playing the same game in both stores (Rockband), even though Matt has that game at his house! We finally left the mall and went to get Kathy and Jonathan and go out to dinner. We went to the Olive Garden. It was good. I didn't know that when they give you salad and ask you to tell them when they've put enough cheese in it, you can just wait, and make them put in A LOT! Yumm! That was the best salad! She had to go get more cheese to grate too. But our whole group loves cheese so everyone was happy.

Jonathan with Matt

Jonathan with Jamie

Jamie and Nathan

Matt and Jamie

Kathy eating...

Jonathan- He is really good at restaurants!

Jonathan being goofy!

Leaning way back to drink his milk

After Olive Garden, we went back home and Matt and Nathan played Rockband and the rest of us watched. I played, or rather sung, later on the trip. Jonathan really liked listening to the music!

Nathan and Jonathan playing with the rockband guitar

Jonathan trying to help Nathan play :) So cute!

Jonathan sitting on Grandma watching the boys play Rockband

So that is the end of "Episode 1" of our Ohio trip. I will blog about the rest of the trip later today or at least in the next few days!