OHIOOOOO!

This past weekend we took a short trip down to the Columbus, Ohio or as Eli was calling it Compass Ohio. Anthony is about to get really busy, I needed some time away, and my dear and wonderful friend Annabelle was driving from Pennsylvania to see her dad. So we planned a meet up. She is also a photographer. She has helped me so much with things. She also did family photos for us while we were there and we did another friend's family photos together. Our dream is to one day work together. 

I was really nervous as we began our trip that I would end up with sick kids. Eli and Ari both get car sick very easily. 

 

Thankfully neither of them did. Our trip down was pretty uneventful. I read while Anthony drove. His driving in Detroit makes me nervous. 

 

We stopped multiple times for bathroom breaks thanks to Lilliana and Eli. Don't get me started on how long it takes a 2 year old to Poop all the while asking five billion questions about other people in the stalls next to you........there is that saying of they will never see you again. Thank goodness it is true in this case. 

 

Finally we arrived. The kids were thrilled for the hotel room. They loved running up and down the halls of the hotel. I promise they were as quiet as I could keep them and not rude (I can hear my mom and dad in my head chiming about how we have to be quiet and not rude in the hotel.). 

 

Oh that face......

We went to eat that night then came back to swim. Unfortunately I have no photos:( Yes I could cry a little on the inside BUT it was because we all got in the pool and played. Lilliana was scared which is odd. We realized it was probably the age as Eli went through that at this age. Ari of course LOVED it. Eli could touch and did well. We all had fun. When we got back to the hotel I let them stay up a little later watching cartoons. We got rid of our cable in April so they were thrilled to see their old tv shows.

Ari decided to be a clown. He was just starting to stand from a seated position so he decided he was going to practice on the bed and wanted EVERYBODY to watch. When he would do it he would stand up and scream and clap and expect us to do the same for him. If we ignored him he would yell and make faces. I took pictures the whole time. There is a lot of redundancy but I couldn't resist all of his funny faces.

 

Saturday morning was the day we were to meet Annabelle and her family for photos and some time to play and get lunch. I should mention I have never met Annabelle in real life. I know NUTS!! Yes, 20 years ago I think we would have hit the looney bin but in this day and age it seems so normal. Her daughter and Lilliana were born a couple weeks apart. We actually met on the What to Expect When you are Expecting Website. We were belly buddies from our month. She sent me a gift each month. We began texting and emailing through our pregnancy and became friends. It all seems so real. Anthony didn't think anything of it as I have a friend from Eli's group that we went to Ohio to visit too. She and I are really good friends too! I have met a couple other ladies too. So off my rabbit trail. We finally were able to meet face to face. It didn't seem odd though. Honestly I felt like we have been friends for forever.

Getting ready for family photos

She did our family photos. I can't wait to see them. She is amazing and was so patient with my crazy kids who of course didn't want to smile. Then we let the kids play. Her daughter Olive is such a cutie and her and Lilliana hit it off right away. Olive also loved Ari. Eli was just happy to have a kid to play with but he and Olive really got along so well. 

Photo taken by Annabelle, edited by me.

 

After we played we went to my favorite fast food restaurant Chick Fil A.  I fell in love with their food in college. We didn't have one in Idaho at the time but I hear they got one. We do not have them in Michigan at least that is close to us so I only get it once every 2 years. They have the best food though. 

 

After lunch we went back to the hotel for naps. My camera was messing up with my meter so I needed to reset everything after naps and used Eli to check my settings. He was less than thrilled. 

 

Then we met another friend and her family at the same place to do family photos. Annabelle helped me with some things. Family photos are harder for me. They are not easy by any means. I also have not taken the amount of study into them as I have children and newborns. I have been working really hard to get better and she has helped me a lot so it was nice to be able to pick her brain and watch her go through a quick family session and help. It gave me a lot more confidence. I also took some of her and her daughter. Here are a couple of my favorites. 

This is my friend Amy and her family. Her oldest boy is the same age as Olive and Lilliana. We also had not met her until Saturday night. She is from New Zealand and her accent is amazing! They are some of the nicest people I know. I am so glad we were able to meet up with them. They are so sweet.

 

After those photos we took some of the kids. That didn't go over so well. Poor Olive was not having it. 

 

We went to dinner afterwards. We ate at this really great Pizza Place. They were busy and we had a lot of kids and adults so we ate outside. I wish I would have been inside because the decor was awesome. It was called Mellow Mushroom and included giant mushrooms and forks hanging from the ceiling. The bathroom was called the flushroom. Honestly though it was all I could do to keep my three kids entertained and quiet while we waited our food rather than taking pictures. 

After dinner went across the parking lot and let the kids play and took a few more photos. 

 

Lilliana and Charlie really liked each other............

 

The good news is we won't have to worry when she is older because Eli will take are of any boys as he was trying to run Charlie off and insisted he needed to leave her alone because Lilliana was his sister. It was adorable. I really wish we lived closer so they could all play because they loved it. 

 

 

Finally we said our good byes after somebody told us that area was bad for ticks...YUCK! We did not get one but Amy's husband James did. Anthony took the older two kids down to swim and I gave Ari a bath.

After they had come back and taken a bath and we checked for ticks I let them have some more fun.......

It tired them out and that is exactly what I wanted to do. 

Anthony ended up working nights all this week soo that meant we could stay around a little later on Sunday than we had originally planned. We went to the Zoo!! We met up with Amy and her family so we could spend a little more time with them. They know the zoo well so we were able to see the things the kids really wanted to. Lilliana's request was monkeys....it fits. Eli's request was Elephants.  We didn't see everything but we made sure to see those things. The Columbus zoo is soo nice. They had a new baby gorilla and tigers. We only got to see the gorilla. It was really busy but we had so much fun. 

 

I love this photo. This is the oldest gorilla in a zoo and also the first gorilla to be born in a zoo. Her name is Cola and I think she is something like 56 years old. 

The baby gorilla was not very old. Unfortunately she was rejected by the mother. The zoo worker was saying that the baby's mother was a c section baby and so they were not surprised she had rejected her baby. They are hoping to reunite them. I stood up over a crowd of people to get these photos. Thank goodness for a good camera to be able to crop. He was so cute. 

 

I love Ari's little hand peaking into this picture. He loved watching him.

This moment kind of made my entire day. Eli LOVES elephants. He was so excited to see the elephants. We were all tired it had been a long day. This we decided was the last thing we would see. Nobody had had lunch and it was going on 1:30. Eli got to the Elephants and just went into his own world. He pretended he had a trunk and made noises. He was a little upset they were not making noises back at him but he LOVED seeing the lone Elephant. 

 

Then it was time to go home. The long ride home went well. It included many more stops for the bathroom...one equaling 1/2 an hour...............I was a little annoyed.

After they came back from their run and hug routine. We said it was time to get in the car. Eli laid down and said, "Not yet, my legs are done stretching." Such a little goon.

A special detour for chinese per request from Eli for dinner. Eli also insisted that these are rocket ships about ready to take off to outer space to find aliens. I don't know where he comes up with these things but he is silly!

All in all it was a wonderful quick trip. I am so glad we were able to go and everybody had a wonderful time. I can't wait to do it again.