Our long weekend trip

So, we decided to go to Columbus for Jed's 30th birthday and get a chance to see everyone along the way. We started out Thursday night and made our way to Pop's house for the evening. We enjoyed chinese food with Pop, Gram, Abigail, Jessie and little Clayton. The kids had a great time together and we got to see Pop's new house. He has 2 very cute rooms just for the kids-- a boys room and girls room. The girls have some cute flower sheets on a bunk bed with a special pink flowered fan. The boys have sports sheets on their bunkbed with a special baseball fan. Both rooms are adorable and the kids were excited to sleep at Pop's altogether that night. We went out to breakfast the next morning before taking off for Columbus.

On the way to Columbus is just happened that we were going to be in the Cleveland area around dinner time and we had skipped lunch and new we needed a small break. It just happened that my mom and dad were going to be meeting at a restuarant off 90 that evening and we joined them for a quick meal. We went on to Columbus and stopped at Buff's house to drop off the dog-- she was awesome enough to offer to take our big boy for the 2 1/2 days we'd be there.

We went on to Jed and Sarah's and had a nice visit with them. We mostly just hung out and talked alot-- went to the North Star Cafe for an awesome lunch and had pizza one night for dinner. It was great seeing them and we met their new cat, Tom. Summer sees visiting with them as her getting to visit her friends, so we all did pretty well.

After our visit with them, we went back to Buff's to pick up Stef's folks and brother and sister and went out for a brunch together to celebrate Michael's 20th Birthday. We returned to her house and Mike opened presents and we ate chocolate cake. My parent's took Michael back to Wooster and we headed back to Cleveland to meet up with them later.

Ann had come home from West Virginia, so we made plans with her and went to the Cleveland Heights house. Stef stopped across the street with both kids to introduce Don and Nancy to River while Clayton took care of Zero. Then we all headed over to Ann's and had a nice visit. We went back over to the MacD household with Ann for dinner and MaryAnn came over to meet River. After all hanging out for about an hour or 2 we headed out to the lakehouse. We spent the night and River-- thankfully-- only woke once in the night to nurse! He was as exhausted as we were.

We awoke at the lakehouse adn Grandma D had and egg hunt planned for Summer! So, Summer raced around the house gethering eggs with Poppa D while breakfast was made. We had a pretty leisurely morning before heading back to Syracuse to switch cars ( we had borrowed Pop's truck so we'd all fit!). Summer was invited to stay in Syracuse a few days with Aunt Jessie and the kids, and she is still there now having a wonderful time. River, Clayton and I returned home by 1 am on Tuesday morning and had ourselves a good long sleep. Unfortunately Clayt had to return to work Tuesday and we are just starting to recover from the trip. But, we had a wonderful time and it was worth the exhaustion.

River is struggling a bit with no Summer-- he's never had a single day in his life without her, and quite frankly, his mom's a bit boring compared to her! But, he'll get to see her soon enough. Clayton and I are enjoying a couple quiet evenings with one less kid, but its a little too quiet for us to be completely comfortable. We talk often of wanting a calm and quiet lifestyle, but apparently we enjoy the opposite more often than not!