Ohio Road Trip

For Thanksgiving week, we drove all the way to Avon, Ohio to stay with Becca and Chris and the kids' cousins, Fisher and Perry. It was 2 extremely long day of driving each way, but we did it and it was worth it. 

I honestly have no idea how we took long road trips without electronics as kids.  TVs and iPads saved us this trip! Emmy and Smith especially were so content and happy watching movie after movie after movie.  And Zane was such an easy traveler, of course.  He would read for 3 hours straight and not say a word, then play Minecraft for 3 hours and not make a peep, etc. Thank goodness, because that made our trip a lot smoother.  We did make a lot of potty stops, but oh well, it was long and fine.

Zack drove the entire way and I was in charge of helping kids with what they needed.  It worked well.  The kids did remarkably well...way better than I ever expected. 

We stopped for pancakes the first night of driving since the kids were so good that day.  Their favorite.

They love sleeping in a hotel...

While we were in Ohio, we packed in a lot of things.  Chris bought tickets to a Cavs game, so Zane could go see Lebron play in person.  Zane got to go with the guys - Chris, Zack and Ed. He loved it, of course. Pic with a cheer leader. Haha

With Dad

He made a sign

One day, we drove even further east to Pennsylvania, where Zack's grandpa, Ray, lives.  He was celebrating his 89th birthday.  He still lives on the family farm, so that was fun for the kids to check out too.

Emmy favorite: pigs

Trying out the tractor

Snuggles with Uncle Chris

We also took time out of one driving day to visit Grandma Fran's grave in Apple Creek, OH. It was a little out of our way, but I'm glad that we went to visit.  We all miss her so much and wish she was still with us, but it was really good to show Zack and the kids where she is now.

Emmy was the sweetest ever.  She stuck with me and just held my hand and let me be sad.  She was my support for sure.

Nearby, we also drove by my Grandpa Jack's old house.  He and Marni and Bill grew up here. 

Lunch one day - that's a lot of cheese.

Back at the house, the kids had so much fun just hanging out with cousins...

We went to play at the library one day.  Smith hardly ever took this Batman costume off the entire trip.

Zane got super sick the first night there, so  had to miss out on some stuff.  Poor guy.

One day, we visited the Cleveland Zoo.  Here's the kids and Zack checking something out.

We love our cousins!!

Riding the bus at the zoo

This monkey got so mad at Zane, he finally pushed his bottom straight up on the window at him.

Yep, it wore us out.

Zane helped Fisher create his own comic book.

Batman and Uncle Chris watching some TV.

There was a fun little community center with some fun stuff to see.  Emmy as an astronaut.

Ice cream afterwards...

I love this one, on Thanksgiving, of Zack completely zonked out next to all the kids playing on the computer and iPads.

More sleeping in the car...

Becca baked cookies for us to frost...

Hanging out

These four played super heroes every single day we were there.  I can't believe how well they played together.  It was awesome having playmates there and we all had so much fun. I'm thankful we got to spend Thanksgiving there. :)