SJ on the Move: September 2008

Apple Picking

In my opinion one of the best activities to do in autumn in New England is apple picking. Today we went to our favorite orchard. We were shocked to see how many cars were there when we pulled in - we had never seen it that busy before. During our drive up we kept talking to SJ about the cider donuts we'd get. Well, unfortunately, the line for the donuts was at least 45 min long, maybe longer. The hard part was that we could smell the donuts, but we knew we didn't have time to pick apples and wait for a donut. We were so bummed! Aunt Emily searched for apple cider donuts at the local grocery store on the way home and the best she could do was a homemade plain donut. We heated them up and ate them because we REALLY wanted a donut at that point, but it was a little disappointing in the end. Needless to say we had a great time picking apples and SJ got to ride in the wagon and snack on as many apples as she wanted!

Ohio Road Trip, Part 5: Great-Grandma and Shelley

The day after the wedding we had to start our long journey home. We started off by driving 3 hours north of Columbus to visit my Aunt and Uncle (Dad's side) and my Grandma. We were very thankful that my good friend, Shelley, could also come over with her 3 kids. My Uncle's house did not have any power due to yesterday's wind storm (Ike remnants) that knocked out power all over Ohio, but we all still had a good time together.

4 generations

Shelley, Wilson, Barrett, Clark, SJ, and me! SJ had a lot of fun running around with the big boys!

After we said good-bye to our friends and family we continued on our journey. 4 more hours today and then 8 tomorrow. One thing we learned on the way home was that there are a lot vineyards between Erie, PA and Buffalo, NY. It kind of reminded us of Germany and all the grapes along the Rhine River.

Ohio, Part 4: Cousin Crista's Wedding

The whole purpose of the Ohio road trip was for my cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful and very windy day and was lots of fun!

Cousin Crista and new husband, Larry

Grandpa, Grandma, SJ, Me, Nathan, and Uncle Jeff

SJ with the Bride

Our little girl

Ohio, Part 3: Bowling and the Family

Today we went bowling. This was actually SJ's idea. The previous night she was asking what we'd do the next day and I asked her what she wanted to do. So we went bowling. One of the nice things about going bowling with a kid is that you can request the bumpers. This often comes in handy for the adults too as it did today for all the adults! SJ actually bowled a 71, including one spare. Not too bad for the girl who did a "granny-style" push of the ball most of the time.

After bowling we headed to my Aunt and Uncle's house for pizza, salad and a pre-birthday party for me. We also got to watch some of the OSU vs USC game, which did not go so well. SJ enjoyed meeting most of her extended family, including the dogs. Aunt Linda fixed SJ up with a stuffed dog she named Remy, after one of the real dogs. SJ walked the stuffed Remy around the house, inside and out and even talked Aunt Susie into "walking" another dog using a tape measure as a leash.

Ohio Road Trip, Part 2, Ohio Caverns

Today we visited the Ohio Caverns. It was a quiet day at the caverns and we got our own private tour. They were pretty amazing. We all got to touch one that had been broken. It was suprisingly quite heavy.

The second one there that looks like it has almost grown together will take another 45 years or so to completely come together.

The land above the caverns - flat and green! That little bush marks the spot on the tour that you are about 100 feet underground.

Ohio Road Trip, Part 1: Jay's Zoo

Today we started our long car trip out to Ohio. We made our first stop to visit Nathan's friend, Jay, in Marshall's Creek, PA. Jay's family has a little zoo and SJ enjoyed being upclose to the animals. She got to pet a bunny, feed monkeys, feed goats and pigs with bottles, watch her Daddy feed an alligator a piece of chicken, and watch Jay pet a black bear and a wolf! After a few hours here we headed a few more hours east to a hotel with a pool. SJ enjoyed a night time swim and then settled into bed to get ready for the next long day of driving.