Ohio trip Continued

After the tough drive back from Indiana, I was afraid we'd never get Paul into a car again. Even the little five-minute drive for our play date with Indio was a struggle. Oh...but so worth the ride! Penny and Indio are still funny stuff together. They made music, played at the local water park, defeated some imaginary bad guys who just wouldn't leave Paul alone. It was great! We also got to meet Evan, another second cousin who is about Paul's age. For weeks afterward, Penny has been asking to play again with Indio at the water park.

After another day or two of low-key resting at Aunt Helen's and at Aunt Rose's, we geared up for our next exciting road trip: North to see Mom's sisters. We packed our bags and piled into Amanda's car for the journey after work on Friday. Paul and Penny were pretty quiet all the way there (naps are wonderful like that). But after dinner...hmmm...too well-rested to go to sleep at the usual hour, so we spent a couple of hours in construction through Akron trying to console Paul that the drive would end soon. At last, we pulled in at Aunt Cindy's and the stir crazy gang emerged and explored their new digs. They were a little punchy, but absolutely thrilled with the bunk beds, pink-ness and bounty of toys. 

The next day, Aunt Cindy and Uncle Gary had prior obligations they had to tend to in the morning, but they left us in Aunt Pam's capable care. She quickly had Penny entertained with a number of games on her iPad. We were surprised when Aunt Jayne Joined us as well. Apparently, she recently moved back to Ohio. Now we were in for some good gaming! After a good lunch, Paul went down for a nap and we got a serious game of Scrabble on. By serious, I mean Amanda, Aunt Pam, Aunt Jayne and I played each other in a grueling match of wits, while Aunt Jayne and Aunt Pam played additional opponents on other games remotely. It takes some serious mental power to play that many games simultaneously.

Paul was one content little camper with all the attention he received. He also thoroughly enjoyed the company of even more cousins. Andrea stopped by with her girls on Sunday morning for some excited playing before we headed back to Dayton. Aunt Cindy, as always, was spot on about helping us keep the kids entertained on the way home. We got some essential parting gifts that ended up making our trip home - and our flight - far more bearable. She's totally on top of the grandma thing, that's for sure. The ride home was pretty good - allowed me to contemplate our next big road trip. Dan says he's got a night float shift (several solid weeks of night shift) in October. Since that's not compatible with two rambunctious children, maybe we can take our show on the road again. We'll see.