Ohio Home, Sweet Home

We arrived just before 9 p.m. last night - we made the trip in great time - 8 solid hours. No 8 1/2- or 9-hour trip for us. By the end I was soo ready get out of the car. But Gabe did g-r-e-a-t and Mano was stellar behind the wheel. We all make a fantastic team.

It's really early here, about 6:15 in the morning... No one else is awake except me. I really need to get better at falling back asleep when I wake up randomly through the night, I don't know if it's the pregnancy or what but sometimes I wake up at 2 a.m. and can't get back to sleep until 5. No Fun. Luckily last night I did get up at 2 a.m. but was able to fall back asleep pretty quickly.

I am also nursing a cold, err should I say One Nasty Virus. I got this crap off Gabe. I had my own puking marathon yesterday morning. It went something like this: Pack the suitcases, RunToTheBathroom, Pack, RunToTheBathroom, Pack, RunToTheBathroom... Then, once we hit the Del Water Gap, "Manny! Pull over Now!", passenger door flies open, I'm out, ewww....

Luckily that part has past (including the fasting; I hate not being able to eat!) and now I am just going through the sore throat, achy body, coughing part of it. I've been infected with Gabe germs!! No Fun. 

But now we are here, at Papa and Grandma's house... Time to just sit back, breathe in the non-city air, listen to the non-city silence, and relaaaaax. Do some of the things I enjoyed doing while I grew up here. 

The list:

1. Take Mano out to Elkhorn Valley Christian Service Camp in podunkville, Bergholz, OH. Show him where I spent many asummer living, working and playing. It's so beautiful there.

2. Take a drive out to Seven Creeks, perhaps go for a nice walk and maybe hike a bit. (It's where I used to do my running and crazy, fun hiking. Responsible for the majority of scars on my body, especially after Jeeping and 4-wheeling it through much of high school/college.) It's a no-go this trip though. There's a papoose in my belly. 

 

3. Look at the train bridge, Do Not Climb It. The two times you climbed it, walked it, and the one time you jumped off of it are memory enough. Maybe if you were still single with no kids, sure. But you are a wife, mom now.

4. Take a trip to the Marina down by the river. It's where Mano proposed and where we used to sit and dream of bigger places we wanted to be someday. Mission Accomplished. Great to go back and reminisce. 

5. Let Gabe run around in the grass barefoot. Be a country boy for a while. 

6. Hit up Valley classics! Eat 'n Park, Giannamore's and DiCarlo's pizza, take a trip to Robinson for some tax-free shopping, go back to the Olive Garden where I used to work and say hey to the bartenders who have been there for 5 years and will probably be there for 50... Hmm... I may just add to this list as we go but I think this is great starter material. 

Ready. Set. Go. (After I fall back asleep for a few hours.)