A Week in Ohio

I went to Ohio last Monday straight from my state tennis tournament in Nashville and and returned home to Knoxville three days ago.  It was a long time to be gone (first the tournament then extending my stay in Ohio) but my stay up there was really nice.

My husband took off on Monday with this crew for a week of Canoe Camp with Cedar Lake Camp (somehow he didn't make it into this picture??) on Dale Hollow Lake.  He does this every year -- they only use this rented pontoon to transport their supplies. . .the kids all canoe and the boat follows them with snacks and drinks and stuff.  Then he returns this boat back to the marina and uses ours to ferry ice and supplies to the campsite from the marina the rest of the week.  It's a week of no electricity, no plumbing, and only a campfire to cook.  

My daughter Laura is staying at my sister's house near Cincinnati for the summer to help her take care of the dogs and plants while she goes on many long-overdue vacations with her family.  I headed up there after seeing Tom off at Sunset Marina to spend the week with her. 

Look at the sweet doggies!

My sis helped Laura get a part-time job as well, so her weeks stay busy while her aunt is off with the rest of her family.  Both my sister and I will be going through "empty nest" together this fall. . .new times ahead!

While Laura and I are up there taking care of things, Stephen is with my sister and her daughters on one of their getaways:

Stephen living his best life with Aunt Jodi on the golf course :)

Stephen and the Ladies

Anyway, back to my Ohio trip :). My brother happened to have booked a ticket to come up for the last week of June (from Florida) awhile ago so it was a nice bonus that he was there too!

My mom's doggie is happy that Uncle Brad is visiting :)

Monday was a quiet night with a Hello Fresh meal that I prepared from my sister's fridge.  

You can see that I used a prepared salad, but Hello Fresh did provide everything for a Caesar salad -- I'll just use the full leaves of romaine lettuce on sandwiches later in the week.  Nothing is easier than those bagged salads!!  Look at my delicious plate:

Meanwhile, my daughter had taken a day off work to go to Kings Island 

Tuesday was the REAL reason I wanted to be in Ohio this particular week -- this reunion:

I began my teaching career in 1994 with some of these ladies (in fact everyone from my 6th grade team from that year is pictured here) and taught with most of them during my time in Waynesville.  It was so, so good to get together!!!  Facebook keeps some of us up-to-date and a few of them I see once a year if possible.  It was such a GREAT day to reconnect like this.  Most in this picture are retired now, although a few have some years to go.  I can't call myself retired, of course, but I too have moved on.

That night we had plans to go to The Monkey Bar with my brother and mother.

It was not a favorite but something we wanted to experience.  For as hot as this summer has been, some of the evenings up there were cool and I was wearing a jacket for our outdoor dining.

Later my sister called to check in and to offer some tickets she had to Hairspray the next night!

She had four tickets so I asked my friend in Dayton if she would like to come and invite someone --  they came down to Cinci for heavy appetizers with us before heading out to the show Wednesday :)

The show was phenomenal!!!  I love live theater and the energy on stage was just incredible.  I can't even imagine performing that show as many times as they do and then moving on to the next city and doing it all over again.  A great night to remember.

Thursday was another special day.  The principal that hired many of us in my Tuesday picture was in town (he lives in FL) but unable to join us that particular day.  We have been in casual contact over the years and we figured out we could arrange a visit together Thursday morning!!

I wrote a huge FB post on this. . .it was just such an incredible 2 1/2 hours with this special family.  His daughter, pictured here, was in elementary school in 1994 -- his son was in my math class and his older daughter was beyond 6th grade so I never really got to know her.  These three made my week.  You know how some people are just so special that any time you get to spend with them sustains you for a long, long time??  That is this family :)

Thursday afternoon my dad and his wife came down to Cincinnati to have dinner with all of us.  He lives north of Dayton so it's a bit of a drive to come over but so glad he was able to do it.

On my brother's urging, I just repeated the meal we had Monday night -- except this time I did my own shopping ;)

I "cheated" on dessert and got some wonderful treats from Dorothy Lane Market -- the absolute best supermarket in all the United States (I promise -- none other like it!)

Laura had a late night at work so didn't make it into this picture, but glad to have this one of the four of us :)

No pictures on Friday -- what a bummer!  Laura worked (she is interning at Rooted Grounds -- such a neat start-up company), I did a little light housekeeping (who knew that two people and two dogs create enough dirt/laundry to do housework!!), and then we took my mom out to dinner at Cartridge Brewing, another neat local business with a rich history behind it.  I probably did quite a bit of this, too. . .

...with the doggies.  My sister and BIL's back porch is the best place to relax and read and catch up on blogs, etc.

Saturday we couldn't decide whether we wanted to go see a movie or go to the pool and read and hang out.  We obviously decided on the latter :)

We were there for several hours -- what a guilty pleasure for me!!

Later that night my brother and mom came over for another Hello Fresh meal -- I'm telling you, it is so great to never have to think of what to make or search out the ingredients.  My mom had requested my brother-in-law's Lemon Pillow so we searched out the recipe and made that for her too:

Sunday was special because I got to visit the church that Laura has been attending this summer.  I've passed it dozens of times on trips from Cincinnati to Dayton but never gave it much notice.  The message was really good and I'm glad I got to worship with her.  

One of our kids' favorite things to do in Dayton is to go to Marion's Piazza.  

Another iconic place that you can't find anywhere else.

While we were eating lunch (no, we didn't finish it!!) we tried to decide what we wanted to do that day.  I mentioned Carillon Park and she hadn't remembered ever being there.

We had taken the kids there years and years ago --  after having done it again I realized it's probably been more than a dozen years since I've been there!!!

Such a neat, neat day.  In the museum (building pictured here) one of the first displays we ran into was this:

Dayton is full of history and people that made history as introduced to us in this animated movie:

Charles Kettering (off to the left - not pictured), Orville & Wilber Wright, Colonel Edward Deeds, and John Patterson

Oh!  Here is another animation we found later of Charles Kettering in his "workshop" explaining many of the contributions he made to the scientific world:

We spent over 3 hours (indoors and outdoors) and still did not see it all.  

Of course I took dozens of pictures but that will need to be a post all of its own :)

We ended the weekend with leftovers and a new puzzle :). I'll need to get a current picture from her to see how she's doing. . .that was probably 2 hours of work there.  

I got up early on Monday morning to get home in time to celebrate Tommy's birthday!!

Happy 4th of July Birthday Tommy!!

And had a feast, of course, with help from everyone.  It was so weird to "only" have brats and burgers to prepare.  

That about wraps it up ;). Tom got home from his week on the island at Dale Hollow to find a house that had been wrecked by the 18-yr-old.  No, no parties. . .he's just a messy kid who doesn't like housework and loves to cook :/. Wonderful Tom had it all cleaned up by the time I pulled in at 10:15 a.m. Monday morning.  (Stephen had escaped to South Carolina to meet up with my sister and his cousins.). 

It's a lonely week this week with everyone gone, but we're trying to get used to it -- it will be like this for good come mid-August.

I'm glad I recorded this week for our family's memories and hope that some of the links I've provided help you if you ever find yourself in Dayton or Cincinnati Ohio and are looking for do.

Love,

Jenni