Autumn makes me ridiculously happy and productive. It also makes me miss my family in Ohio. So, since Noah had Friday off we drove the six hours up for an impromptu visit! Grandma H was especially pleased to see us. The drive there was perfect. We left at 5:30am and the night prior was a little rainy so we were treated to a sunrise through fog onto beautiful autumn trees. I was dying to take pictures of it, but you'd have to make it real life wallpaper to really capture how gorgeous it was. Still, I snapped a couple. Don't worry, I take so many pictures I didn't even have to take my eyes off the road or my hands off the wheel. I love my kids more than taking pictures so I wouldn't have put us in danger. And look... can you blame me?!
The boys only require one stop along the way and I try to pick places they can run. We had ourselves a little picnic lunch and a game of tag before getting back on the road.
We got to my parents' house right on time and were ready for a little lunch and then some exercise. The local park has a great playground with an even greater logo design (I designed it back in high school haha). They also have a swamp trail.
We walked all the way to the river and then suddenly Tristan started shrieking as loud as he could. He had walked over a hornet nest and got bit right on his cheek, poor guy. Noah did his best to console him. He cried the whole way back, but managed to muster up enough strength to hit the playground one more time before going back home. Imagine that.
Since we gave little warning to our arrival most of my Ohio family was out and about. My brother and his family were in Niagara celebrating their anniversary and I saw some adorable shots from that trip! :) My sister was running all over the place to the last soccer games of the season for her boys (insanely talented little soccer fanatics). The up side, I got to spend lots of quality time with Mom and Dad, which was awesome. We also had a few visitors!
Lucky us, my niece Rachel drove over from Marysville! She and I tried on our dresses for my other niece Alex's wedding and then Alex met us and we all had coffee. All the while the boys were back at home making playdoh with Grandma. I got my hair cut again all by myself. It was glorious and I enjoyed the alone time and again she did a fabulous job. Then my Mom completely spoiled me and got my some new jeans and sweatshirts.
I was so happy with how everything went that I was wide awake so I got a hold of Tara, who I haven't seen in forever, and she came right over. It was so great to catch up with her finally! Usually there is so much family around I don't have enough free time to catch up with old friends, but this time I did :) I hugged the crud outta her!!
Sunday Alex's fiance Bobby came over from Pittsburgh to have lunch with us and as an added bonus my nephew Caleb showed up as well. I made them go to Pizza Works ;) There are some delicious benefits to living in an Italian mob-affiliated town (Jim Trafficant). We all said our goodbyes and I headed back home to Maryland.
The drive back was stunning too, and we usually stop at this rest area right after getting off the 76 turnpike because it's awesome! Especially in Fall. My boys did a great job in the car there and back. Should be easy to go again soon.
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