Cincinnati...

Okay, so we're back. Phew. We had lots of fun, the kids did great in the car...Michael even slept on the way back...for about an hour. I KNOW. Awesome. Let's have a big round of applause for my MIL, who was entertainment director for the drive back to Philly...even though she really needed to be at work for the first week of school. I'm lucky ;)

I have to start off by saying that Andrew packed very carefully for this trip. I asked him to pick out his shirts as a distraction one night while I put Lily to bed. He thought so hard about which shirts his grandparents would like...he put and OSU jersey in, a Bengals jersey, a UD t-shirt, a reunion shirt...as if they could love him more with their favorite teams on his body. ;)

So we started in Cinci. Jeff hadn't been to The Queen City in 3 years...almost. I believe it was Christmas when Lily was 3 months old. It was time. We usually don't start off there, since it is a few hours further from our house, but we chugged through it. We woke the kids up at 4:30am, in the hopes that this would make them more tired and they would actually sleep. Wrong. Michael took a 25 minute nap, but the rest of the 10 1/2 hour trip was wide-eyed. And grouchy. Andrew was a CHAMP...Lily did amazingly well. It's hard to complain about them not sleeping when they do so well...but I'll try. ;)

We finally pulled into my parents' driveway, and Andrew jumps out of the car (as quickly as one can jump from the back bench over the piles and piles of toys, food wrappers, diaper bags, and other car trip fun). He sees my mom and says, "This was worth the wait!" So so sweet. I had warned him that Memere had redone her kitchen and family room. He doesn't like change (hmmmm, where does he get that from?). I told him that even if he didn't like it, it wasn't nice to say so...Memere had worked very hard to get her house redone and it would hurt her feelings to say bad things. So Mr. Schmoozer immediately runs in the house and walks slowly around saying very LOUDLY and very EXAGGERATED, "OHHHHH! I LOVE THIS NEW KITCHEN! IT IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN BEFORE. I JUST LOOOOOOVE IT!"

My sister Kate and nephew Colin pulled in just minutes later. We spent the next few days in a whirlwind of eating, mosquito bites, eating, aquarium, eating, sweltering at parks, eating, visiting Great-Memere, eating, visiting college friends (Hi, Bill and Annie!) and watching the Lion King VHS about 10 times. I wish I had taken more pictures, but I was seriously busy trying to keep Michael from eating things. Bad things.

Some other highlights...

Lily watched Enchanted with my folks...you know? The "Giselle" movie? It's a big hit at our house, "Mommy, it's Giselle, just like you!" Yes, dear, JUST LIKE MOMMY. ;) Anyway, we were watching the Carrie Underwood music video on the bonus features and Lily is dancing away. She turns to me and says, "Do you like my moves? Show me your moves, Mommy." So I get up and groove. "Nice moves" she says. Which prompts my mom and dad to start dancing like crazy people, Andrew is moving and grooving and Lily is giggling and twirling and complementing us all on "Our moves." A nice memory.

Andrew and my Dad went on a field trip...just the 2 of them. Dad took him to my old high school to watch football practice. Andrew got to talk to their trainer...and in fact talked to him for 25 minutes. Andrew was very seriously wanting to help this guy make his team better. He first asked how they did in the draft. Then he gave him advice like, "If your player moves his hips like this (insert wiggling hips), then he can fake out the defense." and "If you have a senior running back, he needs to help teach the freshman. Have him teach them." etc etc. As they were leaving (read: Dad dragging Andrew off the field), Andrew calls back, "Be sure to tell your coach all that I said!" Then my dad took him to the stadium, which has astroturf now (WTH?), and Andrew got to run 100 yards...3 times. He was amazed how big the field is...how FAR 100 yards is. If it is possible, he is more impressed by football players now. Then Dad took him to the bus compound and grabbed a driver and a school bus and took Andrew for a bus ride (he's got MAD connections ;) ). THEN they went to Dick's and bought mini pendants for all the NFL teams. Andrew walked in the house after all this, and said, "Pepere really spoils me." At least he knows it. They were so cute looking at their fantasy football magazines together...Mom and I were crying one day watching them...Andrew was giving my dad some advice on what player was better than the other...hand motions, serious face...GOD it was cute. This child was custom made for my father. ;)

We had a great time and were sad to move on up to Mt. Vernon...but we knew we'd have fun there too. Thanks Mom and Dad for a great 3 1/2 days!