Road Trip to Ohio

The road trip to Ohio turned out to be a great experience. Who would have thought? One car, two mothers, and 4 screaming kids… But it was enjoyable. It really was. We learned a lot about traveling with kids and saw a lot of beautiful country. The kids were busy with movies and snacks and fights over toys.
They were quite taken by the tunnels, bridges and trucks.

The first day was crazy. We were very unorganized with our stops. We smell poop. Let’s stop. We need gas. Stop. Jayden has to pee. Stop. Time to nurse Sebastian. Stop. Lunch time. Stop. It was crazy. But then, we got better. We had mini stops where we stopped and did it all. Gas, nurse, potty for Jayden and diaper changes for the rest. And we started to plan our lunch stops at rest areas with picnic tables and lots of grass. We packed lunches and then let the kids run around. This made the afternoons great with lots of good driving time. We broke up the drive into two days and spent the night at places that offered breakfast. We were pros by the end and thinking that we should do this more often. Here are the kids stretching their legs at the rest stop.

Finally...

Once we got there, my poor dad’s house was instantly converted into a crazy house. Jayden and Aiden fought over everything. Sebastian wanted to be loved on every moment of the day and Maya had a melt down anytime I left the room. There were toys, clothes and scraps of food thrown about everywhere. I loved to see four crazy kids and grandpa and grandma all over the place trying to comfort them one at a time. It was a really special time. Here is Jayden dragging Grandpa everywhere and talking his ear off.

While in Ohio, we visited Stan Hywet Hall. I skipped the tour of the actual hall, but I did enjoy the gardens and the grounds. There was even a butterfly garden. It was beautiful.

The next day, what was left of Ike came through and knocked out the power all over the place.

I never really understood the scope of the problem, but it was major. Trees and lights down were down all over Akron. The large tree next door fell over right onto the power lines. We had no power for almost 24 hours. We made due for the night and the next day, my sister and I got ice and coolers and tried to salvage what was in the fridge, two to be exact. It was crazy. Finally, the crews got there and started to work on the tree and lines.

We sat out front to watch. Nothing else we could do for the moment since the power was out and it was great fun to watch, especially for the kids. You couldn't help but feel bad though that such an old beautiful tree was damaged so badly.

That night we cooked on the grille and enjoyed dinner outdoors. We were all thrilled when the power came back that night!

My sister did most of the clean-up outdoors. Well, the boys tried to help, but they quickly found other things to get into...

That night, Jayden and Maya stretch out in Grandpa's recliner.

My sister and I got to do some shopping while we were away. It was awesome. We took advantage of great summer clearance sales. We also took the kids to the local park.

Later that evening, Grandpa and I take Maya for a walk in the hopes that she would fall asleep, but we didn't have much luck.

Mari and Aiden just before bed...

We spent a day at the Amish country, and bought tons of goodies for baking and cooking. I was super excited. Jayden rides with Grandpa when we head out to the Amish country.

One afternoon, we squeezed in a farmer’s market. It was full of yummy organic produce and baked goods. Afterwards, we let the kids run around.

You can see the tree house in the background...

Dad took the boys out for a wagon ride.

We even squeezed in some couponing while we were gone. We hit all the local CVS stores and Walgreens and did as many deals as possible. We left all of our finds in Ohio for Dad and Iris. It felt good to stock up someone else besides ourselves for a change. Here's how my sister rolls, with coupons in hand! I trained her well.

She even had coupons stashed in the holder...LOL

The boys hang out with Grandpa just before bed...

Heck, we even squeezed in the Barberton Mums Fest. Here's Jayden on the way there.

This was absolutely beautiful!

Here's Sebi looking all cute!

Everyone is looking at the water ski show being put on in the lake.

It was a gorgeous day!

And the true delight and highlight of the trip for me was something I haven’t done since 2006. One night, we put the kids to bed and actually headed to the cinema for a late night movie. I’m so thankful to Iris and Dad who kept an eye on the sleeping babes for us. My sister and I were like two little girls. We ordered a bunch of junk food and enjoyed a chic flick! It was awesome!

And, while I was there, I was able to get Jayden to switch to an earlier bedtime, thanks to my sister. She starts her bedtime routine at about 8 or 8:30 so it would make sense that I would do the same. So we aimed to start bedtime routines by 8 and by 9pm, my sister and I could actually relax in peace and quiet. I was so thankful because at home, Jayden’s bedtime was 10pm and sometimes later. And on the nights that Esteban is home, it was especially frustrating because we could never have time to ourselves. Jayden was finding ways to try to squirm into bed with us and Esteban, would always give in. It was a mess. Problem no more!

Goodbye was hard, but we applied all we learned on our way up on our way down too and we had a very nice drive.

Can you guess what Maya's thinking? "This is going to be a long two days!"

Aiden is quite happy.

Sebs has his paci and he's good to go.

Jayden is all set...

My sister was desperate to get home and see her husband and to reunite him with their kids. For me, it was hard coming home especially since Esteban wasn’t home yet. I don’t think I was ready yet, but is anyone ever actually ready to say good bye to loved ones? Oh well. It was a great visit and experience!