We’ve been visiting my family in Ohio! We left on Thursday and drove all the way there in one day! It took us 10 hours including stops and traffic, and I drove most of the way. It’s hard to remember that just 4 years ago I couldn’t even drive down the block!
When we got to Cincinnati, my parents met us at the hotel with dinner. It was so good to see them! My sister arrived later that night with her family, and we got to see them on Friday.
Friday morning when we woke up, we noticed the hotel had charged our credit card for a pet fee! So first thing I had to call down to the front desk. The person I reached had zero clue about service animals. She wanted to charge us the pet fee because of people with allergies, and other annoying stuff. Luckily every time she said something wrong, she was gently corrected by another employee at the desk. So we didn’t get super upset. It was just annoying overall.
My sister has two daughters, an almost 3 year old (“E”), and a 4 month old (“N”). I have never met either of them before, so it was so awesome to see them! I also have only met her husband Ranmal once before, at their wedding. So it was great to get to know him a bit better.
We went to Glendale to watch the freight trains pass, because my dad, E, and I all love trains. E was soooooo cute when the trains came! They were much bigger and louder than she expected, so she climbed up into Grandpa’s arms so he could save her. It was so funny! After a few hours watching trains, my sister’s family left to visit a friend.
My parents and Brad, Hestia and I went to a park with an 11 story tall observation tower. It was really cool! While we were up there, a boy about 10 years old came over and asked Brad “what happened?” People in wheelchairs get asked this, even though it’s not the kind of thing you’d politely ask a stranger if you’re an adult. But Brad in particular doesn’t get asked that very often, so he didn’t know how to respond right away. Before he could get anything out, the boy’s grandmother had whisked him away! Another small boy on the tower was so interested in Hestia that he almost followed us onto the elevator going down and left his family behind!
For dinner we went to a place with gluten free pizza, and it was so tasty! I got a mock-tail with blackberries, basil, seltzer water, agave nectar, lime, and mint. It was sooooooo tasty!
The next day, we went to Entertrainment Junction, which has the world’s largest model train display! It was really dark in there, so we didn’t get any pics inside. But they did have a small train we could ride outside! I got to ride with my dad and it was so fun! It was also great to watch E experience the trains. But boy it was so much!
For a while, E played in the kids section and my dad and Brad and I visited the small museum onsite. There was a 2 year old kid who kept following us and shrieking at top volume at Hestia. It was soooooooo annoying. The mom was preventing the kid from getting more than 2 ft from Hestia, but the shrieking was super unnerving. Eventually my dad said loudly “what’s with all the noise?” and I responded that it was a kid shrieking at Hestia, and the mom got the hint and got her child away. Thank goodness!
But after two hours there, Hestia, N, and E were all overstimulated and needing a break. So we went to an Italian place with gluten free pasta for lunch, which was really nice.
We relaxed the rest of the afternoon at my parents’ house. Hestia is normally a bit stand offish to kids, and she’s never really been around any for an extended period of time. So I was surprised when Hestia started really worrying about E and N whenever they would fuss! It was an interesting problem to have!
Our last day was today! We arrived early in the morning, and an old friend from middle and high school met us at my parent’s house. My friend Katie! She brought her two boys, and they were great. We haven’t seen Katie in like 15 years! It was great to see her and catch up.
After she left for church, the race was on for Vanessa and family to pack up and get ready to go. After they left, we stayed for lunch, and then we headed out. On our way out of town, we stopped at a South Indian restaurant to get takeout to eat for our dinner. They had my absolute most favorite South Indian dish, a Spring Dosa! I was SO excited! It was a bit hard to concentrate on driving with the dosa smell, but I managed it!
I drove today until we got to a stopping point around dinner. Now we are in our hotel room relaxing, and we will finish the drive tomorrow.
Tomorrow is my 39th birthday! Brad’s parents got me a deep clean of the house for my birthday present, so it is great I get to experience it on my birthday! It has been a really fun trip, but I will be happy to be back home. We have been traveling entirely too much this summer.
Below are the few pictures we got. There aren’t many because E and N aren’t sharing pictures of themselves on the internet. But we got some good ones of my dad and me! I didn’t realize until after we arrived at this hotel that I didn’t get any of my mom and me 🙁 But we will survive until next time.
So glad you three had a good trip. Your Dad looks like he was having a blast on that little train.