a weekend wedding in ohio...

a few weeks ago we rented a car and drove out to ohio for my cousin's wedding. i don't have many cousins- just a handful- and i use the term loosely. (mike always corrects me, "amanda- that's not your cousin..." close enough. tyler though- tyler is my cousin:) my parents flew out from utah, so it was fun to see them for this mini vacay, in addition to enjoying our hotel swimming pool for a night (even if the water was ice cold;) also, my cousin, rose (*not actually my cousin?), was ordained so she could marry them! then she moved to vegas like the next week. she's pretty fantastic.

the kids have been looking forward to the wedding for ages- mike was the best man, elle was the flower girl, and i was a bridesmaid. my cousin and his fiancé are incredibly happy, and we have some epicly awesome stories from the weekend's festivities (ask me about them sometime:)

 elle took her bridesmaid duties VERY seriously.

 

 jude napped on papa during the ceremony, 
and then mike gave the best best man speech ever...

bad dance partner (above), good dance partner (below).

my grandpa was healthy enough to leave the nursing home and surprise tyler! 

and then my grandpa taught elle to dance! 

he is quite the dancer- that's how he and my grandma met. i'll always remember dancing on his feet as a little girl to the same song he would sing, "oh how we daaaanced on the niiiight we were weeedddd!"

 then we cut loose. i think we were the only people dancing? but we had a fantabulous time dancing to justin timberlake. CAN'T STOP THE FEELING! (dance dance dance dance...)

 jude went around the room and drank everyone's soda. he had at least 6 full cans. (hashtag eyeroll.)

and now featuring the glory of ohio's green-ness:

 also not to be forgotten: running to walmart for snacks and lawn chairs, and then discovering THESE BEAUTIES...

 remember those flimsy plastic lawn chairs? yah, they were just as awful as i remember, but man, that trip down memory lane was amazing. i parked myself in that aisle for 15 straight minutes and refused to budge. then i felt myself leaving a permanent mark in the plastic, so i moved on to the snack portion of our shopping trip.

mike eventually took the cart from me in walmart and got in line- i wandered down the aisles like a crazy person, "ooh!.... OOOOH!!!... HEY!!!..." and filled my arms with canned goods and random toiletries. THE PRICES! wow!! walmart. i miss walmart.

see ya later, 'burbs.

#ohioiswhereimfrom

 canton, ohio. 

land of the best cheap eats, mckinley monument (which is apparently called mckinley memorial? not according to my childhood, however), and pink houses.

 first, food. 

in particular, grinders. the oven baked sandwiches and chocolate silk pie are musts. they also have smiley fries, a million soups & pies, and free bonuses like cracker baskets, goldfish crackers, and fruit cups for kids. if you weren't yet convinced, may i also share that they have the best spill-proof kid cups in all the land? so basically, you can't go wrong. 

also, we made it from dc TO grinders with NO stops (5.75 hours!!!! bam. pros. [hint: the trick is to leave early when your bladder doesn't yet have the chance to be full for said travel]).

and yes, mike drank 3 blackberry lemonades.

a child's heaven is a hotel pool. even when it's so chlorinated your skin burns for days.

speaking of burning (i kid, i kid!): ohio & politics. 

people also have serious cahones to put this (^^)  on their property... i mean, i'm not political, but i value my life sooo..........

speaking of politics- the mckinley monument!! (mckinley was assassinated!? how did i miss this!?) there are 108 stairs in case you're interested. also, this is at least the 3rd (4th?) generation to run up and down that "slide," by the way.

my cousin tyler bought the kids cookies before we left- cookies is a generous word for "icing ball." :) 

wait- backspace- we planned to drive to nyc friday (april fools) to get the keys to our apartment, but on tuesday night we found out my grandpa was pretty sick and things weren't looking so good, so we packed up and headed out for ohio wednesday morning. we stayed overnight in ohio wednesday, before leaving ohio for nyc thursday. it was good to spend time with my grandpa- he wasn't as mobile as he's been before, but he did have the energy to scarf down some wendy's chili & fries we smuggled in- which is always a good sign. don't tell him, but when we got there jude had the 3-year-old smarts to blurt out, "why is grandpa not died yet? is someone will shoot him or set him on fire?" 

thank the heavens my grandpa didn't hear. apparently jude decided the conversation we had about grandpa getting older and going to heaven sooner rather than later morphed with how his perception of death happens via cartoons.       :-/

we had no plans of going to ohio, but we did need as much as we could to get to nyc via car; the concept of packing up on tuesday for a trip to ohio 10 hours later, and then nyc was a little overwhelming. we FILLED the trunk, and shoved all the yummy groceries we found in ohio around the kids for the comfy 7-hour drive. super kind of us. but at least there were snacks nearby.

also, elle's asleep and biting her lip!

 and the leg! look at the leg!

ohio in a flash, over and out.

next up, "what lies on the other side of the road trip," aka: "we have an apartment in nyc," aka: "what have we done."

ohio for 24-hours & a lost tooth!

24-hour trips are kind of our thing. granted, ohio is about twice as far as our normal jaunts, but since it is christmastime and my grandpa is rather alone, we decided to make a quick visit while the weather was good!

in preparation for our little road trip, mike made games. a snowflake sewing thing, and this "daddy's famous labyrinth" concoction. a++ for parental creativity- i'm glad one of us can do this stuff.

my phone got us super lost, and we ended up spending an hour driving through "scenic" cumberland, maryland. it's an interesting place.........

as soon as we got to canton we stocked up on norcia's bread, which is the best of the best. we got the last few loaves on the shelves, plus a few extra to mail to my mom, but of course we got to the post office too late and ended up at the ups store where they gave me a staggering $93 total (not including my $1.17 box). SERIOUSLY?! 
we now have a freezer full of bread. 
sorry, mom. 
on the flip side, gas was $1.69!! that was a steal.

we stayed at our traditional hotel (thank you, once again, marriott points), jumped on the beds, then headed to see my grandpa...

after our visit we went to grinders for dinner (it's just the best), then we visited more family, and a good friend from high school. we also had the awesome idea to go to walmart at 6:30 on the saturday before christmas!! 
we really accomplished quite a few nearly-impossible feats by bedtime.

the kids were up long before the sun begging for breakfast (this hotel has the best breakfast! second only to our hotel in paris which i doubt could ever be topped). how they make their oatmeal so yummy is beyond me. i had, like, 3 bowls. 

then more bed jumping. (for everyone who didn't have 3 bowls of oatmeal.) 

(we realized we could take the mattress and throw it on the other side of the room for the kids- it works so great! plus, i feel like they'll only sprain a leg rather than break a leg this way.)

we took my grandpa to visit the cemetery where my grandma is buried, per tradition, then after saying goodbye we went to see my cute aunt. most everyone in my family is well under 5' tall, and i LOVE it. i also love that my kids are building relationships with these awesome people i spent so much time with as a little girl. my aunt filled the kids up with cookies and soda, and a few little christmas presents and trinkets to take home. elle cried as we left her house:(

elle's top tooth has been loose for months and months, but all of the sudden is wiggling less and less. we hardly noticed her bottom tooth getting super wiggly. over the weekend it started to get stuck in her food and tip to the side... as we drove home elle's ability to talk was inhibited, and her tooth just got taller and taller and taller......... (is that a thing?! it was super weird.)

we stopped at cracker barrel to stretch and eat (the kids love this place and i have NO idea why they're so obsessed); right there, totally out of character, mike got the gumption to just pull that wiggly tooth right out! we cheered and people stared. our teenage waiter was not impressed. this is big people!

after we arrived back at home, unpacked, and got the kids to bed, mike spent the next 2 hours making the loveliest tooth fairy gifts i've ever seen: a mini lego box, tiny scrolled notes, and a money basket handing from the wall with floss...

stinking tooth fairy had to leave $5 because she apparently was out of dollar bills. she is way too generous. 

dear elle, 

good job on the tooth! since it is your first one, you get to keep it, but the next one is mine! remember to floss and brush twice a day!

love,
tooth fairy