As promised, here is the post about our Ohio trip. On the Friday we left from Memphis, we drove to Louisville, KY, where Tommy's parents live. They kindly welcomed us into their home for the night. I called when we got close, and his mom was very near where I was, so we met up and I followed her the rest of the way. I had a very hard time getting Ainsley to stay in bed that night--her sleep was already messed up. She finally went down, and I watched Psych on USA. This is one of 2 shows I watch every week (Monk is the other one.) If you haven't seen Psych, I find it really funny. The main character is a goof off who is highly observant and keeps solving police cases from seeing news reports of crime. They finally start suspecting him of the crimes instead of believing he is solving them, so he pretends to be a psychic so they will take him "seriously". Anyway, that has nothing to do with my Ohio trip! The next morning we left and headed on. We made good time for a few hours, but for one stretch right after lunch, I think I literally got on one exit and off the next for like an hour and a half. It was snowing, so I really wanted to push through, but Ainsley and Asher didn't feel the same way. Thankfully, the snow got lighter as I went on. I finally got to Grandma's house. My parents weren't quite so lucky in their road conditions--a huge stretch of highway in PA was still closed from a 50 mile backup that had happened earlier in the week. The next day, it was still snowing. My uncles plowed the driveway for the 80th birthday party. (When one of them was plowing, he took the dog with him in the cab. When he got to the end of the driveway, the dog started going nuts. It took a minute, but he realized the dog was still wearing his electronic fence coller and they had driven past the barrier!) Grandma had a wonderful turnout, especially considering the weather. I think about 80 people were there.

Grandma and the cake

Frances and Mom

Me and mom

Frances, Karl, Grandma, Ron, Mom

We stayed a few more days and left Wednesday morning to head to visit my dad's parents. We took the day to visit the Amish stores, Pearl Valley Cheese (a Brown family favorite!), and Lehman's Hardware. We stayed in a rented room my mom found (we were in a very small town). It was FULL of antique dolls and various breakable items. Ainsley didn't break anything! (Ok, if you saw my earlier post, I guess I have to be honest and say she did--her own face! :-) Her nose is looking much better now in case anyone is concerned! We are putting Mederma for Kids on it three times a day to hopefully keep it from scarring.) It is hard to tell how much Grandma Brown is aware of. She recognized some of us, but not all. She didn't say much, but she seemed to be watching the kids. When we left, she waved to them and said goodbye. Grandpa told my dad he was really glad we came. That made me feel good.

The trip home was harder. We pushed to make Bowling Green. I found a hotel and used a coupon I picked up at a rest area in Ohio for $30 off the cover price. Ainsley was up until after 10 and Asher got us up at 6! What can you do except get up and go! The last day there was stormy weather in AR and TN. Thankfully, I only had to go through a little rain. The stretch from Nashville to Memphis always seems to take forever, but we finally made it. Jon's parents had picked him up on their way through LR and brought him to Memphis, so we took naps and then headed back home with him driving! It was great for me and the kids to see him again. So there you have it--a good trip, but one I don't plan to repeat by myself for awhile!