We Could Make So Many Harry Potter Wands!

Though I have written my last blog, I haven't posted it yet. Slow internet and trying to post pictures don't really go together. We'll see if I get around to it. But in the mean time, I'm going to keep writing so if I wait to post it all until I get home and add pictures, I won't have a backlog of a very busy three weeks

Sunday July 7: Vaction Day 3; GiGi Visit

Our first stop on our list of people to see was my grandma. She hadn't seen the kids since last summer. So we spent the day at her house, looking at old pictures, playing outside, and hunting bugs (Ohio does have some cool bugs!)

Aunt Bonnie also came over to see the boys, and even got Peyton a cookie cake for his birthday. Thanks for thinking of him, Aunt Bonnie!

After the boys had found some potato bugs, and slugs and safely placed them in some jar habitats, we had dinner on the porch and visited a little more before heading back to Fremont.

By then it was dark, and the best Ohio bugs of all were out-- Lightning Bugs! And so we caught some, which eventually escaped from Hayden's jar and flew around the bedroom we are all sleeping in.

Monday July 8- Vacation Day 4; Dead President's Tour

Our plans for Monday had been the zoo, because Mom had planned on eating dinner in Toledo with some of her friends from high school. But when that got changed to Tuesday night I had to flip my plans for later in the week. I knew one day we were going to go on our 'Dead Presidents Tour'. But I also had to add in some other things so Hayden was entertained, and so it didn't feel like we were in the car forever. It was going to be a big day, full of lots of stops, so we got up early packed some food and a change of clothes (in case we got super rained on), and headed out. Our first stop, since we were in Cleveland- was to check another stadium off my list. Can you believe I've never been to the Browns stadium before? Peyton did a good job with the camera work.

After that quick stop, we went over to the westside market. We got some fruit to go along with our picnic lunch, and an apple fritter.

And of course, I thought getting one of the famous Gyro's from there sounded better than a turkey sandwich, so I splurged and got one for myself. It was totally worth it. But I could have split the thing with someone, it was so big. It would have been nice if Calib or Asa were with me, they could have helped.

We ate outside, since it was a cloudy, yet nice day.

Aftrwards, we headed into the tomb for James Garfield. We thought his was super cool. On the main floor, you walk into the room with his statue.

Then you go downstairs where his flag draped coffin sits next to his wifes. It's not even burried or in the wall or anything!

And you can go upstairs and get a closer look at the ornate ceiling, and a birdseye view on the first story. I was impressed, it was very cool. And Peyton now had 2 of 39 presidents visited.

After that, we went out to Lake Farm Metro Park. We got to walk around and pet all kinds of animals, but the boys favorite by far was the horses. They were very sweet animals, and I'm pretty sure Peyton would have stayed with them all day.

Also there, they have a plant center, where we got to learn about how plant cells work, and see some hydroponic plants. It was actually a really great place for learning everything about plants.

We took the tractor back to the entrance, and checked out the dairy with a few baby calfs that weren't even a month old. So cute.

And before we left we stopped off to play with the solar panels and reposition them. It's a really cool place, very hands on and educational, and I recommend it to any of my friends in the area.

Our next stop was going to be William McKinnley's grave in Canton, but on the way I realized we were very close to the football hall of fame. So, we made a quick stop off there.

The boys ran the field, and I took my picture in front of the stadium where the Hall of Fame game is played every year. I think that sort of counts as another stadium off my checklist.

 

William McKinnley's tomb is only about 5 minutes from the hall of fame, and it's very hard to miss. As soon as we rounded the corner, we were impressed.

The boys climbed up all the stairs and into the building at the top of the hill that houses McKinnley, his wife, and their two daughters. Peyton was most impressed with this monument, and has deemed it his favorite. He had 3 of 39 visited at this point.

After wards, we went to the gift shop and the boys each got a little stuffed animal, plus Peyton got an official William McKinnley campaign button, and some confederate money. He was nice enough to buy Hayden a little stuffed animal, since Peyton has all kinds of money from his birthday.

We left and headed out to Marion for Warren Hardings Grave. By the time we got there it was POURING down rain, but we had to go up to it. We'd driven all that way. So in the middle of a torrential downpour we got out of the car and ran for it.

The grave was unimpressive compare to others we have seen. But, it maybe isn't topping my list because I got drenched seeing it. Peyton got his picture at it though, so it toally counts, bringing him to 4 of 39 visited. When we got back ni the car though, I was thrilled to have brought us all a change of clothes. We needed it!

It was a very busy day, but one of my favorites as far as Ohio- minus Asa and Calib- goes. The boys were uber well behaved, and Peyton thanked me a million times for driving him all over Ohio to see them.

Tuesday July 9- Vacation Day 5; Imagination Station

We got up Tuesday and decided to walk down to the Hayes Presidential Center. The easiest President to check off the list, since its just a few blocks from moms house. We've been there a million times, but we needed an official picture with Peyton at Hayes' grave. While the grave itself is not as ornate as others, he is surrounded by a whole park dedicated to him with his house and a museum.

On the way back, we stopped at Kobes corner, a little shop with candy and various items. The boys love this place for the sheer fact that it is one block from grandma's, and sells shockers.

After lunch, we headed up to Toledo to go to the Imagination Station. There current rotating exhibit is grossology. Pretty cool, educational stop. We learned about vomit, poop, snot, and burps amoung other gross things. And the boys loved it.

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Continuing on, we went downstairs where Hayden made a tennis ball nearly touch the ceiling, and Peyton got pulled high into the air.

And then we played in the building room, where we successfully built an archway, a structure that would withstand an earthqake, and a bridge the boys could walk over.

The boys favorite room though, was the water room. They splashed around and made a mess, but they had fun.

Afterward, Mom went out to eat and Hayden, Peyton and I went over to Uncle Grant and Aunt Sharon's for dinner. They grilled out inbetween the rain for us, and Jake and Nate pulled out an old Playstation 1 Disney racing game from 2001. I'm not sure who had more fun with it, Jake and Nate, or Peyton and Hayden.

Wednesday July 10- Vacation Day 6; The Storm

Wednesday for lunch I took the kids out to Woodys. It's a local Fremont place, with hotdogs and rootbeer. The boys deem it a must stop. We started out at the picnic tables, and had to move under the awning thanks to a storm rolling in.

And then it kept rolling in. Later that afternoon, the tornado sirens sounded. I was talking to Asa, and I thought, really are those sirens? We all went down the basement, and I hardly took it seriously until the lights started flashing, and you could hear the wind and the rain blowing hard. When you could hear the thumping (likely large branches falling), I knew it wasn't good.

We were down in the basement about 45 minutes until the tornado warning expired, and when we emerged, you could tell it had been a nasty storm. Tree limbs were down everywhere. Emergency vehicles were already out clearing the roads, and trucks were going by full of road closed signs to close off the streets that were not passable, and where electrical wires were down. Peyton thought the destruction was cool, while Hayden said 'We could make so many Harry Potter Wands!'

Except for some big branches, and some siding ripped off, mom's house was ok. Luckily, we had power. Even more lucky, my college room mate Emily was on her way to visit, and must have been just behind the storm. By the time she got to Fremont, it had passed. Though she had to go past a lot of downed trees and street lights that were out.

I visited with Emily at moms, knowing we couldn't go out as Fremont was a total mess. We did all get in the car (which luckily was not damaged even though I hadn't put it in the garage earlier in the day), and drive around to see the damage. It was something. Trees were down, pulled right out of the ground by the roots. Electrical posts had been ripped in half, large branches hung from electrical wires, and the corn had been blown downward and never came back up.

Thursday July 11- Vacation Day 7; Safari

Thursday we had to rethink our plans, as I was going to meet up with a friend from high school who was coming into town but due to the storm, we decided it would be better if she didn't. So, we thought it would be a good day to head out of town and into Port Clinton to the drive-thru safari.

The kids had a blast feeding various deer, buffalo, and giraffe carrots and pellet feed.

Mom was not so thrilled with their muddy nose prints on her windows, and the feed that got all over her car, so we still need to go give the car a good vacuum and wash. But, afterward we did the camel rides and played on the playground.

Mom offered to take us out to lunch, so we hit the burger king right on lake Erie. The Lake isn't nearly as nice as I remember it as a child, but I think that's only because I live by the Gulf. It's much cleaner and bluer.

On our way back into Fremont, we decided to take some pictures of the damage. Walmart had no power, all the cold food was gone. And the poor Peebles sign took a hard hit. 

Birchard Park really took it hard. Lots of trees were down. Some by the roots, some snapped right off. One even took out the swingset.

There was also a tree down two blocks from moms house which made the front page of Toledo's newspaper. The tree came up roots and all. However, it was so close to the sidewalk, it also took that with it. It was really cool to see the grass and all of it pulled up, although I'm sure the people whose porch roof it crashed into, feel otherwise.

After dinner at home, we worked some more on Tim and Emily's wedding quilt. 

Later that night, I took the boys to the Fremont Movie Theater. It has four whole screens! But on the upside, we all got in, and got popcorn, candy, and drinks for under $25. That's pretty amazing. It was a good movie. Not as good as the first, but cute.

Friday July 12- Vacation Day 8; Sandusky

After getting up and piecing together the quilt Mom and I had been working on for Tim and Emily, we had lunch and I packed up the boys to head out to Sandusky. Our first stop was Tofts. Tofts is only the best ice cream place, ever. They even had peach frozen yogurt. My favorite! Hayden got chocolate, with something chocolate, and some extra chocolate. And Peyton got birthday cake confetti. Even the child sizes were too much ice cream for us

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After stopping by Target to replace Hayden's shoes which had fallen apart the day before, and to pick up a few sand buckets, we headed out to Huron, Ohio... the place I used to live once upon a time. I took them to the beach to climb on the rocks and play in the sand.

When we had enough of all of that, we played on the playground and laid in the grass pointing out various cloud shapes. My favorite was either dumbo, or the fire breathing dragon. Peyton also, apparently is very knowledgeable about Birch Trees. He could have been making it all up, I don't know, but he sounded convincing.

We had wanted to make sure we saw my friend Amanda this trip too, and it had worked out well that we were close to her apartment, so we stopped by for some chit chat.

Coming from Huron, I got to take the back way into our next stop, Cedar Point. Which is like nostalgia on top of nostalgia. We decided with Hayden only willing to do a handful of rides, and soak city being so expensive, neither of the parks were really worth it this trip- but we wanted to at least be there. So, we decided to have dinner at the Friday's on the beach. Peyton and I split some appetizers while Hayden got a kids meal.

Then the boys and I walked all the way down the boardwalk, and back along the beach. I told Peyton stories of my time in Cedar Point; The time mine and John Pagels sandals got stolen in the middle of the night at the beach, eating oreos and drinking milk on the midway at midnight, meeting Asa. He was very curious about it all. Hayden found a feather, and exclaimed 'Look Mom! A Hobbit pencil!'.

When we got to the end of the beach we walked over to the putt putt and played 18 holes. We didn't keep score, but I would have won. We had some very nice people behind us who said 'don't worry, we aren't in a rush. Take your time and have fun.' Thank you random stranger, that was very nice of you.

We left just as the sun was setting, skipping our planned crashing of the Camper Village pool, as I'm sure it wasn't even 75 degrees, and that's just not swimming weather for us Floridians.

Next Up: More Vacation