Ohio: Come for the People!

And we're back! We left for Ohio nearly two weeks ago now, and it's been a BUSY two weeks. Now that we're back home and settled in, it's time to get the blog all caught up. When I last left you, it had just been my Birthday Weekend Extravaganza! (Doesn't that seem like eight years ago?!) So the day before we left I went out to Costco to stock Calib up with some stuff for while we were gone. Apparently you can only get two memberships per household so Calib has to rely on me and Asa for all his Costco needs. Anyway, on the way home I figured I'd swing by and get my free Firehouse Birthday sub. I still have a couple of rewards good until the end of the month- but all the ones that were only good for the week around my birthday I had to scoop up before we left. 

Also before we left, I had to take down the blanket fort- which is always a little bittersweet. By the time it has been up all summer, its kind of sagging and a bit of a mess. But once it comes down it's like that same feeling you get when all the Christmas decorations get put away and your house seems just... empty. We did decide we should send the blanket fort off in style with one last take out meal- so we ordered pizza and poured some drinks to say goodbye to the blanket fort of 2019. 

I will miss Mario Kart in the blanket fort, however. It's just so cozy. Blanket forts are good for anxiety too. Having an anxious bout, I'm telling you build a blanket fort, curl up with a fuzzy blanket and a good book and you'll feel better guaranteed. 

We actually left on a Thursday- because we joined the Frontier Discount Den because Hayden then flies for free. It was cheaper to join the club for a year than buy him a ticket. But you have to fly on certain dates, so while I was hoping to leave Friday, Thursday was a kids fly free day. So we packed up and we left Calib, and all the dogs to fend for themselves. Look how sad they are for us to be leaving them (Etta isn't pictured because she was at the door begging for us to take her with us).  Calib, I think, had enough of being home alone. I got a phone call almost every night we were gone to tell us about his day and ask us how ours went. And Calib is not a 'call your mom everyday' kind of person. So, he must have been a bit lonely. You can only talk to the dogs so much. Though, he did work a lot while we were gone too. 

Shout out to Allison who sent me some great almonds for my birthday I packed them all in my snack tube, and while they were all delicious the ones with the blueberries were my favorites. I planned on having them the whole trip- but we started snacking on them at the airport and they were basically all gone by the time we landed. Also shout out to the Tampa airport for having lots of local places. You can even get Kahwa coffee at the airport now! 

Since it was the four of us flying together someone had to sit on the aisle next to a stranger, I took one for the team since Asa and Hayden were watching Stranger Things together. 

We arrived in Cleveland and my mom picked us up. We made a quick Costco stop and then stopped by Walmart on the way back into Fremont. You know you're in Ohio when milk is that cheap. For real, that's insanity people. 

Thursday was a bit of a wash- travel days are like that, especially since it's kind of a trek from Fremont to any major airport. We came to Ohio when we did for quite a few reasons- a family party, Cedar Point- and of course the Sandusky County Fair. So I spent my Friday putting entry tags on all of Hayden's work. But, I also had a BOGO Blizzard coupon for my birthday still to use, so we did go over to Dairy Queen for another birthday reward. 

My mom also had some work for the boys to do. We're saving up to go to CEO Taku and she offered to pay them for their work, so they really spent a lot of their free time out in the yard doing various chores. They started, though, with digging stakes out of the yard. My dad had this huge train layout in the backyard, and there were various metal stakes to keep the track in place. The train is now gone, but the stakes remain. They're pretty long metal stakes and it is quite the undertaking to get them out. Until they are out my mom has to basically weed wack that part of the yard to keep the grass down, because the guys that do her lawn can't mow over metal stakes, obviously. Friday the boys got to work on those. 

My mom had plans Friday night, so we were on our own. Asa worked from my moms house most of the time we were gone (he did take some time off), and you know, there's not a TON to do in Fremont. So I spent my Friday night listening to Peyton read me the wikipedia page about Fremont while Asa was on his weekly wrap up call. Ohio does have it's downsides, but at least you can eat dinner outside in August! 

While looking up various things, we discovered my moms house was built in 1875 (fun fact: Ulysses Simpson Grant was president when my house was built!) which led to Asa and Peyton being convinced there were secret rooms. I insisted I would know about them- since I spent my whole childhood living here, and when I told them about the attic steps behind the mirror in my old bedroom their minds were blown. Apparently they had never noticed it before. When mom got home she showed them, and then they were convinced there was a treasure map and/or gold in the house. We never found any of it, however. 

Saturday morning we were off to the fairgrounds to put in the boys art work, crafts, collections, and photography. My mom also had canned goods and antiques. We went right when the window opened for putting stuff in so we could get on with our day. 

We headed up to Toledo for lunch at the famous Tony Packo's. Of course we all had hot dogs, and Peyton ended up with half the tables supplies of pickles. 

Most of the time we do Tony Packo's in Ohio we go to the newer 'quick service' place over on Monroe Street, since it was right around the corner from my grandmas. But, since we weren't headed over that way we went to the original restaurant- which meant there was a different set of signed buns to check out.  

After lunch we headed over to the Toledo Zoo. I love zoos in the first place. Zoo Tampa, Animal Kingdom- doesn't matter. But the Toledo Zoo is for sure one of the highlights of Ohio. We had places to be and we had a limited amount of time, so we had to be strategic in the animals we saw. We tried to pick new buildings we hadn't been in before and animals that we don't have here in Florida. Enter: Polar Bears! 

There's even a baby polar bear at the zoo! I mean, he's more of a teenager size- but he was super playful jumping in the water, swimming around, and playing with tubs that were in the water. 

Then we crossed the street by taking the tunnel! Now, anyone from Ohio reading this knows about the zoo tunnel, but for those of you non-Ohioans, back when I was a kid the parking lot for the zoo was on one side of a busy road, and the zoo was on the other, so you took a dark, dank tunnel (that had a certain amount of charm to it) over to the other side. They closed the tunnel long ago though, and now it's not just a parking lot- part of the zoo is on one side of the road. They built a bridge across the road, but recently they redid the tunnel and opened it back up so you could take the tunnel or the bridge. It's much more well lit and painted all fun, but it is still the tunnel and I love that it's back! 

While we do have penguins here at our zoo in Tampa, I had to stop by and see them. 

Their new-ish habitat lets you get up real close to them, just like ours here. I am a fan!

Our next stop was the aquarium. It has been redone in the last few years too. We'd been in it once before, I think when we were there for the Lights Before Christmas one year. I'm not always a big aquarium fan, but I know Peyton really loves it, so to the aquarium we went. 

See, look at Mr. Teenage Peyton taking pictures of everything. He doesn't usually care to take pictures of anything, but this trip he took quite a few, and I'd nudge Asa and point it out and he'd tell me to hush as to not to draw attention to it. I can draw attention to it now, though, because the boys don't read my blog. I mean, maybe future Calib, future Peyton or future Hayden will check it out, but as far as I know, they haven't ever looked at it. 

We did bypass the touch tank. I can pet sting rays any number of places here. But we did see the diver feeding the fish in one of the big tanks, and that was pretty cool. 

After the aquarium we headed to the recently redone Museum of Natural History. The Toledo Zoo has some seriously old buildings. I mean, you know how lions and tigers used to be in buildings with outdoor 'cages' instead of habitats. At the Toledo Zoo you can eat lunch in those cages, because it's been transformed into a restaurant. Anyway, the natural history museum is still the same old building it's always been, but inside it's all updated!

There is a touch tank in there too- and this one has sturgeon. We don't have a touch tank for sturgeon, so I was excited about this one. They are tougher and harder than I expected them too be. 

There's also a little touch tank with snails. There are apparently some cray fish in there that I was excited about petting, but we couldn't find any. Turns out they're really good at hiding. But, that's also a sign of a good habitat for them. Maybe next time I'll get to pet the cray fish. 

On our way out we noticed a little greenhouse area you could go into, so we decided to check it out. Nobody was particularly excited about it. But it turned out being one of our favorite parts of the zoo. They have various butterflies floating around- but they also have poison dart frogs hopping around (so watch where you step!) Fun Fact: poison dart frogs looks just like normal tadpoles. They don't get that bright color until after they become frogs! 

This was also one of the boys favorite parts of the zoo. Peyton especially enjoyed being up close to the frogs, and Hayden liked trying to spot them. 

I was partial to the butterflies. When they were closed up they had the camouflaged wings.  

But when they opened their wings they were super bright colors! 

A great stop if you're at the Toledo zoo though. Not to be missed!

We also went over to the kids area hoping to pet some goats- but they weren't available so we snapped some pictures at the masks instead. I thought these had gone away, and I was a little sad about it, but turns out they only moved them. They're still there!

While I couldn't get a great view of them we did get to see the hippos. Our zoo just has a pygmy hippo, so while it's cute, it isn't as impressive as the big guys. 

On our way to see the naked mole rats, we stopped along the way to check out the elephants. One of them was having a hard time getting food out of the bucket. 

I'm not sure why exactly the naked mole rats are in the elephant building, although I'm just now realizing I know very little about them in the wild. But, there they are. 

Back along the trail we also bypassed the bears. One of them was taking a bath with his feet up. I couldn't get a good picture of him behind the glass, but it was super cute. At one point he started scratching his back along the backside of the pool and making waves which he seemed to rather enjoy. It wasn't long before the other bear came to join him. Awesome active animals at the zoo this time around!

We could only stay at the zoo so long because we were headed off to my Aunt Dawn's for a family party for my Uncle Warren and Aunt Judy's 50th Wedding Anniversary. I hadn't been to Aunt Dawn's house yet, so we got the tour when we arrived. Our favorite spot is her finished basement complete with a bar, pool table, and jukebox. 

But we were also there for the family.. including the four legged family members that came in two. This is piglet. My cousin Joanne, who has a knack for finding dogs on the streets, found this one just three weeks before the party. It's quite the story, as she found the dog on a bike ride 5 miles out from any civilization. The story involves a  kind heart-ed couple who helped carry the dogs and wheel the bike out of the woods, and Pennsylvania's Lieutenant Governor including his security detail. If you know Joanne, ask to hear it, it's great- but basically it ends up the way everyone knew it would, with Piglet becoming part of the family. 

She's such a cuddler too. She reminds me a lot of Etta when we first got her. A little wild. A little unpredictable. But full of love and no ill-will. I'm actually going to send piglet a little package of things we used when we first got Etta to help her get acclimated to house living. 

Of course the Ainsworth ladies can't get together without gifts and tears. This time it came in the form of photo books and a book of stories my grandma had written. 

Aunt Dawn lives on a small river/pond and everyone has these little paddle boats. I love paddle boats, as my grandma and grandpa Sattler used to have this bright yellow one we would tool around on when we visited them at Devil's Lake. Ah, childhood memories. Fun fact: I got my first stitches and scar on my knee from jumping up on the back of that paddle boat and hitting an anchor. 

Anyway, everyone took turns going out on the paddle boat. 

While everyone else watched from the deck. It's a bit odd to be near a body of freshwater like that and not worry about gators!

I went out with Gwen, and then I talked Holly into coming with me too. We got suckered into wearing life jackets after we were lectured and told to 'set a good example', even though everyone had been out before us. The more grown up you think you are, there's always an older generation to tell you 'safety first!' I suppose. 

We also weren't sure how to dock the thing, and everyone had gone inside so we had to text Asa, Gwen and Cort for help before anyone came out to rescue us. They must have all gotten the text at the same time though because they all came running out to help after about five minutes. 

Speaking of the older generation, I think they're starting to hand some duties down to us. Check out Uncle Emmett back there drinking a beer monitoring Ray while he cooks the burgers. 

Even though we may still be thought of as the 'kids', the 'adults' do let us have some fun. This is Aunt Patti and Asa discussing what to mix their rum with. 

I tried to get more of my cousins to come for the party, but a couple of them have little kids, and it's harder for them to be away, and a couple of them had work commitments. So, we ended up having a zoom meeting with a bunch of them. There was a lot of shouting and yelling, so we just ended up texting Bridgette jokes on the side. It was funny to send her a text, see her reach over for her phone, and read what we were sending her. 

Of course, with technology comes it's hiccups. And with technological hiccups comes someone calling Asa in for tech support. But, they aren't the easiest customers to work with. This is Asa explaining to Joanne the craziness that was trying to sort out the zoom meeting. And of course, Asa had Joanne in tears she was laughing so hard. 

The good part about being the 'kids' though, is that we aren't expected to contribute all that much. She we do the lifting, the carrying, the occasionally hamburger flipping. But the planning and the food is always Aunt Patti's gig, and my mom's if she's not there. So, we were all fed well- and she even made a lovely tiered cake for Uncle Warren and Aunt Judy's anniversary, complete with my grandma's frosting. I am not a frosting person- I think because I grew up on my grandma's homemade frosting and nothing is ever as good. I wasn't necessarily feeling a piece of cake, but I had one just for the frosting!

It's not often all the Sattler's are together. We were missing Jess, because she was at a wedding with her mom, but Clint and Elemeno came (Elemeno is quite the adventurous dog and was out wading in the water behind Aunt Dawns- again, no worry about gators!) 

Uncle Clint also informed Peyton all on the benefits of not having children. (Peyton already knows this- he calls kids a time and money suck and swears he's never having any). Clint was telling him what a good decision it was. Peyton wholeheartedly agreed. 

As evening fell, people started to trikle out of the party. All of the Sattlers and my cousin Joanne and her family were coming to Fremont for a big sleepover at my moms house.

I did take a picture of the Sattler kids (minus Jess) before everyone took off though. 

All in all there were 15 people spending the night at my moms house (and two dogs!) so it took a bit of planning to find places for everyone to sleep. I suggested we throw all the kids in one bedroom and let them duke it out for spots/sleeping bags/beds and everyone agreed. They had a great time though. Peyton somehow was the last one to bed and ended up with the big double bed. 

And now, it's story time. So, there were the Sattlers and the Peckichs at my moms, but my cousin Jake from the Sattler side was coming to go to Cedar Point with us in the morning. He usually shows up around 2 after work (he's a bartender), and sometimes he scares me by jumping up at the window. Saturday night was no different, except that we had poor Piglet who had been through quite the exhausting day in the family room with us when he pounded on the window. Jake, of course, was unaware of the stray dog Joanne had only had for 3 weeks and it sort of set Piglet off into a barking fit. 

Now, sleeping arrangements had been decided. The kids were in my moms old room with the air conditioner. Asa and I were staying in the back bedroom that my mom had recently cleaned out (it used to be my dads train room) and put two twin beds in. We installed a room air conditioner and it was very comfortable. Cort and Holly were staying in my old room (also with a room air conditioner),  Jake was downstairs in the dining room on an air mattress. Clint was on the family room couch (with Elemeno roaming the house). My mom was in her room, obviously. And Joanne and Ray were at the top of the stairs on the futon. 

But, when Piglet wouldn't settle down, I knew we had to offer them our room. Piglet needed a room to get off her leash and decompress. An air conditioned space would be even better. She was so worked up she was turning pink, which may have been overheating a bit- but also Etta gets pink when she gets stressed or worried and they are very similar dogs. I was happy to give up my room. I know if the roles were reversed Joanne would do the same for me. 

But, Asa and I are now sleeping on the futon. We have a king sized bed at home, so we opted for the two twins instead of a double at my moms. We just can't do the two of us in a double bed anymore. So I suggested we sleep head to toe. 

We also have central air at home, and we were now in the hallway where we had to open the windows and put in a fan. But, as we previously discussed the house was built in 1875 and there are no power outlets in the hallway. I am aware if you want power out there you have to string an extension cord from my moms old bedroom. I am so prepared for this I know there's a long cord in the closet in my moms old room for such an event. But it's now 3 o'clock in the morning and all the kids are asleep covering the whole room. So I get a shorter cord climb in the dark room with only the flashlight from my phone, scoot Gwen's bed out without waking her up and plug in the extension cord without waking anyway up. But, it is shorter, so instead of being flat on the floor, it's strung across the bedroom doorway. But now we have a fan. 

We are however sleeping head to toe, and my toes are right by the fan and they are the only part of me that's cold. We have a sheet over us, but have tossed the blanket on the floor because it's so hot otherwise. Asa keeps rolling around pulling the sheet off my toes. I don't complain because I didn't ask him to move rooms for Josie and the dog, he was laying all cozy in his bed when I just said 'come on, we're moving', and of course, being the awesome husband he is- he just moved. So I feel bad, because I've gotten him into this. 

Eventually we fall asleep, sometime after 3 I suspect. 

Not too long later, I wake up cold. I lean down to get the blanket and Elemeno has found his way upstairs and is laying on the blanket. He's old, and I don't want to just yank the thing out from under him. I know if I do he might leave and I'm worried about him going down the steep stairs in the dark (again, the house was built in 1875 so the stairs are very steep). So I try and fall back asleep without the blanket. It doesn't work. Eventually I have to get the blanket from Elemeno. He then stands up and stares at me, huffing in my face. As I suspect, he goes downstairs and I listen to make sure he gets down them ok. Eventually I fall back asleep. 

Not much later I wake up, because of some beeping. The smoke detectors battery is low. I can't locate the detector because it is dark, I stub my toe, but eventually locate it, and pull the battery out. 

I fall back asleep. 

Then, again, probably not much later, I wake up because I am getting wet. It's now storming and rain is coming in all three windows surrounding the bed. My pillow is soaked. We have to close all the windows, and now it's hot again. Asa is now up- it's storming LOUDLY and it's impossible to get back to sleep. 

Eventually the rain stops, we open the windows and go back to sleep. 

I wake up later as it is just getting light out, when the fan sputters out. A kid has come out of the bedroom to go to the bathroom and tripped over the extension cord, unplugging it. I try and fall back asleep without the fan, but eventually I have to tiptoe back into the kids room to plug the fan back in. I might have fallen back asleep for a bit before the alarm to go to Cedar Point when off- just a mere 5 and a half hours after I tried to go to bed the first night. 

Long story short: I got virtually no sleep. 

But, I'd do it again for a newly acquired stray pup who needs a little decompressing. I have been there. I know Joanne was a little uneasy about the way piglet was acting, but I think it's perfectly normal. She was just overwhelmed. She's going to be a great dog for them. I'm excited to hear about her progress. 

Anyway, the next morning mom was up making breakfast for everyone and Cort was out there getting his camera set up for some family pictures. 

Joanne and piglet were still asleep though, and I didn't have the foresight to grab clothes for the morning, so that's why I'm sporting my pajamas in all the pictures. Clint, per usual Clint, is screwing around, making it impossible for me to get a good self-taken picture. But, I tried. And the sequence is pretty funny. 

Joanne, Ray, the boys, and piglet weren't going to Cedar Point with everyone else. But my cousin Doug was bringing Aunt Judy and Uncle Warren back to Fremont to meet up with Joanne and Ray so they could all drive back to PA together. While everyone else went up to Cedar Point, my mom, Hayden and I stayed behind to see everyone off. 

Jake brought his convertible so Peyton and Garrett were happy to tag along. Unfortunately as soon as they got to Cedar Point is started pouring down rain and they had to wait out the storm to be able to ride anything. 

But eventually they got in line for Steel Vengeance- Peyton's favorite. 

We headed on over around lunch time to meet up with everyone. But mostly it was a quick hello, and then they went in one direction and we went in the other. Gwen goes on pretty much everything these days, so Hayden is the odd one out, only going on smaller coasters and spinning rides. 

Of course, we also stopped by the petting zoo! 

I was especially enamored with the turkeys. 

And the tortoises!

They had bad luck with rides on Sunday- they were about two trains from going on Millennium when it got closed again for lightning. It was kind of the story of the day: rain delays and mechanical issues. They even get help up when someone puked on the Sky Hawk and they had to wait for someone to come clean it all up. 

Cort's family barely got to ride anything- they couldn't stay long because it was Gwen and Garrett's last day of summer vacation and they didn't want to get home late in the evening. We met up with my cousin Nate and his girlfriend Maya, and said goodbye to Cort and Holly. 

Trying to ride anything got a bit frustrating, so we ended up finding a place to eat and going on some smaller rides. 

Hayden was pleased to go on the rides that spin. 

And he also took the skyride, which always offer good views of the park. 

Plus you can see back over to the merch office- good memories back there! 

Peyton was slightly upset with the lack of ride time he was getting in. But, we had talked about maybe coming over to Cedar Point another day- since my mom has a pass and could get us $20 tickets starting on Monday. But then we found out that passes for the rest of this year and all of next year for just $99 AND not only that, but they would apply the cost of our ticket today towards our pass. So basically for another $55 we could get passes that included both Cedar Point, the water park, and parking. So my mom ended up buying all of us passes!!! While we probably won't be there again this year, maybe we'll come twice next summer. 

After we got our passes Asa and I decided we were done. After all, we hadn't slept well the night before. Jake and Peyton stayed behind to ride a few more things while the rest of us went home with my mom, and of course stopped at Toft's for some ice cream- a must if you're going to Cedar Point. 

That night Jake stayed at my moms so everyone played some smash brothers, and ate a whole cheesecake.  Good times. 

Next Up: More Ohio