My long weekend in OH and WV

We went to visit relatives in Ohio this weekend. TheHusband is from the Cleveland area, and all of his family still lives in OH. My cousin, L, met a nice boy from the Cleveland area when they were both living here in DC, moved to Ohio, and got married. So I have my very own set of Ohio relatives (well, I share them with the rest of the family, but you know what I mean). So there was double reason to go to Ohio for a visit.

L had a baby almost 8 months ago, and up until this past weekend, I still hadn't met him. I finally got to meet him on Saturday. He is an adorable, active, busy, drooly 7 month-old boy. One of the most charming things was watching him get so excited when either of his parents came into the room, even after only being away for a few minutes. That arm-waving, big-grinning, drooling, whole-body moving happiness that only babies of a certain age have. Much as I love the fact that I can have a conversation with ThePinkThing now, he made me long for that particular age.

We spent an enjoyable day with my cousins. We had planned to arrive around 10:30, and actually were almost on time. TPT was complaining about visiting L, J, and E, because she wanted to hang with Grammy. (Do you want some cheese with that whine, kid?) After E awoke from his nap, we went out to lunch at a nice place called Yours Truly, which is a local Cleveland chain, I understand. J had to take E on a few walks around the restaurant (remember, I said he is active) and even outside. E discovering his mother sitting on the other side of the glass was rather amusing. That and the baby fingerprints he left on the window... :-) Then we went to a local park, where TPT climbed some giant play structure (mostly out of my line of sight [thank goodness] while being supervised by TH and J) and made friends with some random age-matched girl there attending some other kid's birthday party. I am surprised that TPT didn't attach herself to that party. We all went back to my cousins' house and hung out for a time, then I sent TH and TPT back to Grammy's house.

Little Cousin, meet Big Cousin...


Come on and play...

That generated more whines, because now she didn't want to go back to Grammy's, she wanted to stay at E's house to play with him. But I shuffled them off. After bedtime for baby, the remaining 3 adults ate Turkish food. YUM! And I got a few extra hours of hang-out time with my cousin and her husband -- lucky me.

Sunday was a very busy day with multiple timelines. We got up, gave TH his Father's Day present (the 1st season of Hogan's Heroes) and his cards, including a really annoying Homer Simpson talking one (hee-hee). Then we met my SiL at a Bob Evans in New Philadelphia OH, which was sort of on our way home.

The next stop was one I had been looking forward to for weeks. I got to meet up with Random Michelle, at her house in Morgantown WV. Her place is literally on our way home. She, her husband and her Grandmom were wonderfully welcoming to 3 tired travellers. Michelle fed us homemade pizza and oreos, let TPT stick her nose in various flowers (she had a yellow-stained face even this morning), showed me her book collection (ooooh!) and the cobalt blue KitchenAid mixer that has been a recent topic of conversation. But the best part was the talking. First time meet-ups with "virtual" friends can sometimes not work out, but I never thought that would happen. We yapped and yakked and talked.

I am the Pizza Assistant, says TPT

The Visitors and The Hostess

And began planning the Trollopalooza, which will be happening in September. Yay -- I am looking forward to that meeting even more now. And Michelle has invited us over for pie on our way back from OH post-Thanksgiving. Double yay (as long as I don't have to eat the pumpkin pie...)!

Tomorrow I'll tell you about the other reason we schlepped out to Ohio this past weekend...