Ohio!

Welcome to our Ohio trip post. If you are here just to look at pictures, look on, but if you don't read the log at the end, you will risk not being subject to my witty humor and you may regret that for life. Fair warning. Las Vegas Airport




The kids were super happy. This was Brayden's first airplane flight.

The first day in Ohio was spent in Kirtland.

The little city is spiritually and historically significant to us. Us in front of the Kirtland Temple which is owned and cared for by the Community of Christ. We went on a tour of the building.

We went over to the village area which is owned by our church (LDS) and toured some of those sites. The kids found leaves. We certainly don't have leaves like this in So. Utah.

Inside the Whitney Store

The table in the background is the actual table that Joseph did some of his translations on.

Trick-or-Treating at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. We were met outside by a petting zoo.The giraffe ate my hair. It was really gross.An old uniform worn at the birth of pro footballThe 2011 inductees...

At the end of our trick-or-treating they showed
Charlie Brown and gave us popcorn and cotton candy.Chuck-e-Cheese for lunch

The Zoo for the remainder of the afternoon

The jelly fish were the coolest part to me. I don't think I've ever seen jelly fish at a zoo.

At a church fundraiser dinner with Mike's family. Brent gave us a grand tour and we had fun talking to everyone.

Mike's cousin, Brett, took us to the fire station where he works. The kids were treated like gold.

Brett letting the kids try on his gear.

Back at Brenda and Brent's house on Sunday after church. The kids love it there and acted like the fireplace was a stage. They kept themselves busy making up "shows" for us. Brayden just loved the football.

The funny face pics. The one below is so that Brooke can take this on dates when she doesn't like the guy. She can show him all her "kids". Ha!We went to Grandma and Grandpa's apt. and Mike did a video interview with them about their lives. The kids were great! You can see how we got Brayden to stay quiet....

All of us with Grandma and Grandpa Winslow

The REALLY early trip home.

I'm going to break this up day by day. WARNING: This does resemble a travel-log (ok, so maybe it is a travel-log) so read at your own risk.

DAY 1 (Wednesday, October 12th): We left St. George and drove to Las Vegas. We had originally scheduled our flights for decent times that any normal person with young children would choose, but the airline changed our flight times and we ended up flying out of Vegas Thursday morning at 7 am. You know what that REALLY means? We would have to be there by 6, so factor in the 2 hour drive puts us leaving at 4 and getting up at least a half hour before that. Yeah right. So, my sister asked her bro and sis in law to house us overnight in Vegas. They were VERY kind by letting us stay over and they even offered to save us the money of parking the van at the airport. They took us to the airport and babysat our van the whole time. Talk about fabulous people.

DAY 2 (Thursday, October 13th): Anna and Brayden had these cute little roller backpacks and really were so adorable walking through the airport toting the bags. I swear every one's voices went ten octaves higher as the kids passed (you know, the way you sound when you talk to little babies in that stupid voice that dogs start howling to). Even now as I imagine it I am melting inside.

SO, to continue, we flew to Denver, caught another flight there, and then flew to our final destination of North Canton, Ohio. Boy, talk about a weather change. 85 degrees in St. George. 50's in Canton with wind, rain, and clouds. We actually had to wear PANTS and CLOSED TOED SHOES and COATS. That's right, I said COATS!!! Ok, it wasn't that bad, but we are a little spoiled here.

Mike's Uncle Brent and Cousin Brett helped us rally the kids (which took a lot of doing- Brayden got lost about 4 times). As perfect as the kids were on the flights, they were very happy to have their freedom. We unloaded at the hotel and then went to Brent and Brenda's house for dinner. We relaxed, Tyson went acorn hunting with Brett, and the younger two wrestled Brent to the ground. They were not the least bit shy (sorry about that Brent)!

After that we went to say hi to Mike's grandparents and had a brief visit with them. That was it. We went back to the hotel and slept.

DAY 3 (Friday, October 14th): We woke up bright and early (I think 9am Ohio time-- 7am our time) and headed off to Kirtland, Ohio. Most of you (if not all) know that we are members of the LDS church (which is not a cult BTW). Kirtland is one of the early settling places of members of our church. If you don't know the history, members of our faith were persecuted extensively. They suffered a lot due to misconceptions about the church and it's teachings. People were beaten, killed, and forced out of every place they tried to call home. Still today, there are many misconceptions about my faith but not nearly to that extent and I am humbled by all they went through. So, Kirtland is important to us because it is where they first were able to build a temple (which was used for church services and purposes and education). It is still there. It is owned by another church now, but it still means a lot to our faith because of the history. Some of the buildings that were used in those days in which Joseph Smith and his wife lived are also there and those sites are owned by our church and we were able to go tour some of those places as well. It was really a fun thing to see and do.

We returned back to N. Canton to have dinner with Mike's grandparents. They live in a retirement community and have dinner served in a dining area that's really nice. Mike's Great great Aunt Janet was there as well and we enjoyed visiting with her. She always makes these great kitchen scrubbers for us that I use until they are thin. She gave us a bunch of those. A funny note: Grandma's voice kept cutting out. She apologized to the kids for it cutting out and then asked them if they knew what flem was. HA! She went on to explain in great detail what it is and what it does. Anna's face was priceless. She was trying to act so interested. It was perfect. So, when dinner was over we went back to their apt. and talked for awhile before heading back to the hotel.

DAY 4 (Saturday, October 15th): This was the day of their church carnival. We felt so bad! The wind was crazy and it was cold!!! We went and had breakfast there and then went to the different shops they had set up. Brent and Brenda's daughter, Brooke, had come for the weekend so we were able to see her there. It was really awesome. They did a great job putting it all together. I just wish for them it hadn't been so dang cold (but we are real big wusses so maybe it wasn't that bad in "real" life). We were planning on staying until lunch, but we chickened out and left early.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame is in North Canton and it just so happened they were holding a trick-or-treat that day. We brought the kids costumes with us and dressed them up. It was SO much fun. Admittedly, we know very little about pro football (I know nothing, Mike knows some, and the kids don't care), but even so, the way they did it was perfect. They had the kids go on a scavenger hunt for information located in the hall (so we actually LEARNED something- go us) and as they went through, they were given trading cards, candy, sticker books, pencils, etc. It ended with the Charlie Brown Halloween movie, some popcorn, and cotton candy. Great fun.

We went to lunch at Chucky Cheese. The food was, well, kid food (blah) and all the kids had fun until Anna hit the jack-pot and got tons of tickets. That made Tyson mad and he refused to have any more fun the rest of the time. So much for family fun. On to the next activity.

We then used our trusty Map-Quest directions to get to the Akron Zoo which was just 19 miles away. 19 miles. What, 20 min maybe? Not with Map-Quest. We took the EXTREMELY scenic route. After 40 minutes of driving.......yep, 40.......we were lost. We turned the GPS on Mikes phone on and it had us turning the wrong way onto one way streets. Because we are just lowly little Utahns, we have no idea what roads are one way. Well, we found out when we started driving on one and all the cars were oncoming and honking at us. Yeah, thanks for honking. We couldn't figure it out. Anyway, we figured it out and 50 min. from our start point we were at the zoo. At the end, we drove home in 20 min. on the freeway. No map needed. Go figure.

So, carrying on the costume theme, we went to "Boo at the Zoo". They close down the zoo certain times of the day on the weekends before Halloween so kids can play at the zoo and trick-or-treat. It was so fun. The kids loved it and I saw some things I've never seen at a zoo. It was a lot of fun.

Afterwards, we went back to the church carnival and had dinner with the family. Mike's uncle took us on a tour of the 100 yr old church. Lots of passage ways and places to explore. I think I liked it as much as the kids. The church organist showed me the organ pipes. that was really neat. A lot of the pipes are as old as the church.

When we were done there we went with Mike's cousin Brett to the fire house. He is an EMT and has always dreamed of being a fireman. He took us on a personal tour of the trucks and ambulances. He let the kids get in the trucks, pretend to drive them, honk horns, turn on the lights, etc. He let them wear his helmet and showed us where they dry the hoses. I never knew that was a 2 week process! He was so great to the kids and Tyson was bouncing around like he was in a candy store. Brett had to leave town after that so that was the last time we were able to see him on this trip. He was just great to us! the kids sure crashed when we got back to the hotel!

DAY 5 (Sunday, October 16th): We ate breakfast at the hotel. We started off with ornery kids so we did not have the best time getting ready. We went to the church and sat with his family. They have a kids service during the adult service, and when it was time for the kids to leave, Tyson was a little nervous about it. He did end up doing it and had a good time with the other kids. I'm glad he was able to work through that. Much of the songs are the same as what we have in our hymnal, so Mike and I were able to follow along well. The sermon was very good. After, Brent took me to get the kids. Anna and Brayden were bouncing out of the room singing the song they had sung in class. Anna thought it was AWESOME to not have to sit through the main service.

After changing our clothes, we went back to Brent and Brenda's for lunch. We stayed about 3 hours and the kids played while we talked. Anna produced a play for us (basically she told Brayden what to say and do) and she was the star of the play. Brayden made all of his silly comments and cracked us up. Tyson was an and off part of the play and playing on his gameboy. When it was time to go, Mike and Brent got the kids in the car and Anna burst into tears. She loves them so much. She locks her heart onto people quickly and she thought they were just so much fun. She cried as we said goodbye to all 3 of them and all the way to Mike's grandparents house :( Sad.

We had dinner again with his grandparents. When we went back to the apt., Mike did a video interview with them. the kids were very good and sat quietly playing games, drawing and using some stickers his grandma gave them. We had a great visit with them. They showed the kids their legs (as they have each lost one to diabetes) and the kids thought it was so cool! We said goodbye to them. We really enjoyed the visits with them.

When we went back to the hotel, we frantically packed everything, bathed everyone, and put as many people as we could in the clothes they would wear for the trip home and then we slept.

DAY 6- (Monday, October 17th): So, Brayden woke up periodically all night. Of course. Maybe he was excited, but he also caught a cold on the trip so I really have no clue what was up with him. We had to wake up SERIOUSLY early! You thought the flight out was a little crazy, huh? Well the airline changed this schedule as well. With a 6 am departure time (this is Ohio time mind you) that means we had to be up by 4:30 and out the door by 5. translated into Mountain Standard Time that equals: Up by 2:30, out the door by 3 and departure at 4. Yeah.....mass stupidity. Add a 3 yr old who has been awake all night and you might just drive these Mormons to drink :) So, we got to the airport with perfect time to check the van back in, go through security, and get to the flight.

Pause: I must take a moment here though. Security. I have my lovely VNS implant which can potentially be affected by the metal detector (and who really wants an electric device that's connected to your brain malfunction- could cause a slight set-back). Anywho, I have to go through the body scanner. In large airports, no problemo, but in small airports, particularly this small airport, the body scanner was a big, ugly woman. Lets call her Miss. Trunchbull to save us some time (hope you caught that reference from the book/movie Matilda). So, the security person was a man and he called for a woman to "scan" me. I sat down waiting for "her" and looked over. I had one of those slow motion moments when I saw walking towards me. I swear the ground shook each time she took a step. I was slightly scared. She even had the hair back in a ponytail. She flipped her gloves on (ahhhh!- I screamed in my mind) and she began to tell me exactly how she would do her examination. My favorite line was "if at any point you feel uncomfortable..." but that's all I heard of the sentence because I was already working at darting out of there. UNCOMFORTABLE? Are you kidding me? I felt a little better when another victim was put into the cage to be "scanned" because at least I didn't feel so alone :)

So, now we are home and back to the grind of life. It was a fun trip and we are really glad we are able to spend time with family and just get away from home for awhile. We have a renewed since of gratitude for St. George weather but Ohio is a wonderful place and if it didn't snow we could see ourselves living there. Thanks to everyone who helped get us there!