So, as you can tell, I managed to survive that last flight. Whew. Close one. Actually, it was surprisingly easy. Ceci was great on the outbound flight to Cleveland, and on the way home we gave up and just let her destroy all the seat-pocket magazines that she could get her hands on. Note to self: bring old magazines for baby to destroy on next flight.

We had a great time in Ohio... it felt like a real vacation (which, as it turns out, are hard to come by). It was so nice to not feel rushed and to get to spend time with everyone. It makes me really miss when we were both in grad school, when we were able to do that trip a couple times every summer.

Aaron and I were able to duck out for a day while Nora watched Ceci... We met David at his new house in Mentor, OH (lovely, BTW) and went to an Indians game on what had to be the most beautiful day that I have ever been to a baseball game on. It seems that most baseball games I attend are on days when it's 95+ degrees or raining or both. This day was beautiful. I didn't really care that the Indians lost; if I had had a Reds tee-shirt, I would have worn it. What a fun afternoon, though. I love baseball games. I had a beer, soft pretzel, and my feet were in the sun. Bliss.

What else. Hmm. I ate too much cheeseball and drank too much vino. It got so cold at night that we had to close the windows (yay!) and were able to roast s'mores over a fire. Definitely not something you can do on the 4th of July in Lawrence! Aaron and I took Tye crawdad hunting in a creek. Aaron helped Tye set up a chipmunk 'trap', which sadly, was intended to squash chipmunks when they wandered near a peanut-butter smeared stick propping up an ill-fated rock. Very sad, I know. I do not understand this anger towards what is possibly the cutest of all woodland animals. When I say "catch", I really envision catching cute little animals, not squashing them. We had wheelbarrow races, sack races, and blindfolded races. Quite the work-out. We hunted bugs of all sorts with the kids.

Best of all, Ceci had an absolute blast with her adoring fan club of cousins. I was a little worried that she might overload on attention, but au contraire, I think she was genuinely sad when we came home!