Ohio Trip Part 1

Our Ohio trip is coming to an end. Todd flies back tomorrow and we will head home on Sunday. We have had a lot of fun and have stayed very busy. I am blogging at my parents house and I am not able to move my photos around for some reason so they are out of order.

We started our trip out in Medina at my parents house. We were greeted by my family and enjoyed a great dinner with them. The next day we headed to Kent to have lunch at Rays. Rays is one of the places that Todd and I went to when we went to Kent State. It is a great place to eat lunch and at night becomes a bar and a place for the locals and students to hang out. We enjoyed a great lunch there! Thankfully the food has not changed. Gertie's chili and the french fries tasted as good as they did back when we lived there. We chatted a bit with the owner while we were there. Same owner as when we were there. Lots of memories!! We left Rays and walked around the corner to see that Taco Tonto's has their own place now. I guess it is still a big hit around town.

We then got in the car and drove through campus retelling story after story. The girls listened quietly in the back seat. We then stopped at the May 4th memorial and told them the story of the shootings. It was a good history lesson and I think they enjoyed listening.

We then headed over to a surprise birthday party for Todd's cousin Jenny. A lot of Todd's family was there and it was great to see everyone. All the cousins and cousin's kids were there. The girls had a blast.

The next day we went to Tim and Sue's wedding. Tim is a good friend of Todd's from high school. It was outside and all their kids were involved. A very nice ceremony. After the wedding we headed back to Todd's mom's house for a big fourth of July party. More family and a lot more fun. The food was amazing as usual!!! Todd and his brother's (mostly Christopher) put on a great fireworks display as usual right in Ann's front yard!! It was loud but beautiful.

The next day we headed to Todd's dad's house for another big party. All the cousins, the pool, more fireworks and we all had a blast!!!

The next day we said goodbye to Todd as he had to head back to New Hampshire.

Since then we have met with old friends, went to the Cleveland Zoo (best zoo in my opinion), visited with my grandmother, swam, took a ride on the train to Cleveland, played a lot of rummy and so much more. It has been a great time with family and some friends. I don't get to see as many friends as I used to but I treasure the time I get with them when I do.

Here are some pictures (not in order) that I have taken. There are so many and I will post more later.

Here is Todd and the girls standing in front of Rays in Kent, Ohio.
We met up with my friend Tes and her kids. So good to see her. A great friend that I met while we were in the Air Force. They just happened to be in Cleveland the same time we were!!!

This picture was taken at Todd's Dad's party. This is all of Todd's Cousin's kids. Out of all these kids there is only two boys!!

Here is Mama Ann (Todd's mom) and Papa Bob with all four granddaughters. We had taken Allison's duck for a swim in a nearby pond.

Papa Bob, Callie, Mama Ann, Julia, Emily and Eleanor.

Julia and Eleanor are Jason (Todd's brother) and Colleen's girls.

Here is Callie, Mia (my niece) and Emily at the zoo.

Christopher (Todd's youngest brother) and his bride, Erin. They are getting married in September. Aren't they so cute!!!

I love this picture of Callie and Julia. So sweet!!

Thanks to Facebook, I have reconnected with my friend, Lisa. She and I were in Jr. High together and played flute together. So good to see her again and meet her family!! We could have talked for hours and hours.

This was taken at the zoo of my niece and me.

Old friends Emily and Jenny. Jenny is my friend, Tes' daughter. Emily and Jenny used to play together when they were preschoolers at Eglin AFB. They always just pick up where they left off. Love that!!

Callie, Mom, Mia, Mama Rachel (my grandmother) and Emily. We were waiting for the rapid to come to take us downtown to Tower City. A trip on the train is always a highlight for my girls.

Here are the Beard boy cousins. Christopher, Jeff, David, Todd and Jason at Jenny's party. Some handsome dudes!!!

This is my beautiful sister in law, Allison (Todd's little sister) and her duck, Krayzie!! We took the duck to a pond and Allison threw him into the water so he would learn to swim. He kept swiming right back to the grass. He wasn't into it at all that day. She also has some chickens and a rooster that she holds like they are cats. So cute!!

Here is my best friend, Sheryl, and our families together minus the husbands. Katie, Callie, Sheryl, TJ, me, Emily and Lacey. This was taken at Lacey's graduation party. She just graduated from Kent State!!!

Here are the girls with Tes' kids. Josh, Callie, Jenny, Emily and Maddie.

That is all for now. I will post more Ohio pics once we get back home to New Hampshire.