Becoming His 31

Ohio Trip: Part 2

1:19 PM

After we spend the weekend with the Jones Family, we take the rest of the week to be with the Kesslers.

My my grandpa just had double knee replacement surgery 6 weeks before we got there, so we spent a little time doing odd jobs around their house to help out since he hasn't been able to keep up with what he normally does. The boys mowed the lawn a couple of times, cut down some dead tree branches, cleaned out their gutters and fixed some broken windows while the girls cleaned out the flower and vegetable gardens... (we got the easy side of the deal!) but we were all glad to help and wish we could've done more! I wish we were in a situation where we lived close to my grandparents and could regularly help them whenever they needed it. I love being on their quiet street with their huge yard, cornfield right behind their house and the train tracks behind the cornfield with the train whistling by every hour.

We grilled out one night and met my cousins daughter Nora. She loved Reaghan and kept calling her her little sister, and you can see that Reaghan liked the attention.

One of the highlights of our trip to Ohio this time around was getting to visit the Columbus Zoo. It's Jack Hanna's zoo and it is gigantic! We got there at 10:30 that morning and barely finished the last exhibit as the zoo was closing at 7pm that night.

Mark and Reaghan looking at the brown bears... be still my heart... <3

Eating lunch at one of the outside grills - burgers and sweet potato fries - yum!

We all had fun showing Reaghan the different animals... sometimes she was interested, other times not so much. ; )

All the monkey and ape exhibits were our favorite - we saw chimps, orangutans, gorillas, baboons and little spider monkeys.

And check this out...

Shout out to the Columbus Zoo for thinking of the nursing moms! Reaghan has become less and less willing to nurse under the cover because she wants to know what every sound is that she hears while she's nursing. She will do it if I make her, but its so much easier to not have to worry about it. Plus it was a pretty hot July day and being under the nursing cover makes us both sweat! I was so thankful we came across this little air conditioned room right as Reaghan was getting hungry. It was awesome.

One of our favorite Ohio past times is going to the drive in movies. This was Mark and Adam's first time at a Drive In and they loved it!

We saw the Minion Movie and Jurassic World.

Seriously, I wish there were more drive in's around this country. Why don't we have one here in Hampton Roads?! I would be a loyal customer.

We didn't spend 100% of the next week with just my dad's family... we stopped into visit with our other grandma a few times as well. Here we are with my mom's Uncle Jim in my Grandma's kitchen. He had brought over some big ol' juicy peaches and Reaghan loved them. Uncle Jim was quite smitten with Reaghan. : )

We also spent quite a few meals hitting all the local hot spots. These were my parents old stomping grounds and we always enjoy visiting these locations and listening to them share their memories whenever we are up there.

BK Root Beer stand for National Hot Dog Day...

The Spot has the best Old Fashioned Cream Pies you've ever tasted. I only ever eat these pies when we're in Ohio, but man do I love them. They're my dad's favorites as well. Nothing but cream and sugar - So. Good. ; )

My moms absolute, favorite place in the whole history of ever is Cassano's pizza. We eat it almost every day when we're in Ohio. I'm not even kidding.

Usually we get it take-out, but we make it a point to eat in restaurant at least once while we're there.

We went shopping one day, just the girls, while the guys were at some RV factory tour, and we got lunch at Culver's. A little hamburger and ice cream shop that I had actually never been too before. My Grandma Eileen and Aunt Linda met us there - its my grandma's favorite after church lunch spot.

We had a nice bon fire one night. It was the kind of country bon fire where the only lights around are the fire and the stars. We ate s'mores and played weird games of "Would You Rather" and "Who would you take to {insert random place here} if you were the last 2 people alive"... ugh..not my favorite games! haha but there were lots of laughs.

The last night we were there, we got all matchy matchy and went down to Tawawa Park to get family pictures. My sister Mallory took them with her crazy photography skills and a tripod. We definitely want to get some of these printed off and framed for my grandparents.

I love that Reaghan has her daddy's blue eyes.

Grandsons

Granddaughters.

Probably my favorite picture of the lot, thanks to my grandpa's smile. :)

We had an uneventful trip home, and Reaghan was just as good as she was on the way up there. I'm so thankful for my easy going girl. We took one more mini trip the weekend after getting home from Ohio, in which Reaghan and I wore pretty dresses and did some square dancing, you're not going to want to miss the pictures. :)

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Family

Ohio Trip & Family Reunion: Part 1

1:57 PM

As we do every 3 years, my family took a 12 hour drive up to Ohio for a family reunion. Both of my parents are from Ohio so we have a lot of family still living up there. My brothers and sisters and I aren't strangers to the long road trip, but this was Reaghan's first time putting up with the drive and I was a little nervous about how she would do! (We did drive 8 hours from Atlanta, GA to home back in June but that drive started out at 3am, so Reaghan slept the whole time! I knew it wasn't going to be that way this time.)

To help us out a little, as well as give my parents a little more room in their vehicle, Noah rode with us. He and I would take turns riding in the back so there was someone to play with Reaghan and someone to keep Mark company while he drove - long road trips are not his favorite ; )

Reaghan did awesome. Sure, she had a few fussy times, usually right before she would fall back asleep or when we would put her back in her seat after a stop, but over all she was happy to sit and play and eat snacks. : )

My mom's family are the ones who put on the Reunion Friday-Sunday. It was started for my Grandma Eileen's mom and all her children and descendants. My grandma is seated on the right of the bottom row with her remaining, living, brothers and sisters.

There is always a memorial table set up with pictures of those that have passed on.

Though our reunion used to be held at girl scout camp that was hidden away with woods, trails, tree swings and a bon fire circle, the last 2 reunions are now held at place called Vandemark Farms because the Girl Scout camp was torn down and made part of the city park. My mom and sisters did take a nice walk through the old camp this time and relived lots of fun memories.

(My sisters name carved into the wooden swing along with our cousins)

Every reunion, a new tshirt is designed and this year it "John Deere" themed!

(Getting ready to head to the reunion - the boys were on the golf outing!)

This was Reaghan's first time meeting many of her aunts, uncles, second cousins, and great aunts and uncles, and we had a lot of fun with all of the introductions!

Vandemark farms has a nice big building, a putt putt course, a little room for volleyball games, corn hole and Kan Jam, and some farm animals to pet and smell. :)

This year we played a Newlywed game - couples married under 5 years got to participate so Mark and I and Erin and Adam were part of that group! It was fun, Mark and I came in 2nd - lost by only 1 point!

A tshirt blanket was made from all the previous reunion tshirts :)

Reaghan was huge fan of the blueberry pie :)

Have you heard of Kan Jam? Its a partner, frisbee game sort of like cornhole. You each stand by a "kan", your partner tosses the frisbee and as the partner you try and help the frisbee into the kan.

Its really a lot of fun!

Until your partners with your husband, and you throw the frisbee right into his face and split his bottom lip wide open! : /

My bad.

There weren't as many people at this reunion as previous. Now that the grandchildren (my generation) are older, married, and having babies of their own, there are a lot of people at the reunion that we aren't super familiar with. Because of this, and its location, some of my first cousins have a hard time making this reunion a priority. The picture below is of my grandma with 6 of her 7 daughters. We are hoping in the next couple of years to branch off with a reunion of our own, that includes just my Grandma Eileen's descendants. :) Hopefully we can continue the tradition of a family reunion so my kids can grow up knowing their great aunts and uncles as I grew up knowing mine. Knowing your extended family is a gift, something that should be treasured, and I hope to take full advantage of those opportunities.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our Ohio vacation where we got to enjoy quality time with my dads family!

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Dad

Mark's Birthday & First Father's Day (A Belated Post)

7:10 PM

I'm taking it back to the beginning of the summer with this one, but I feel awful that I never wrote a post about how awesome of a dad my man is - because he is pretty awesome at it.

As mentioned here in a post about our trip Texas, we were gone for Mark's actual birthday and didn't get home on Father's day until late afternoon. It wasn't fun or ideal, but we don't need to revisit that situation. Instead we'll just jump right into a sappy little tribute for a (super) belated Father's Day post.

It sounds cliche, we've all heard it said, but it undoubtedly true - Theres nothing that makes you fall in love with your husband more than watching him love on and play with your little girl. There's a special sweetness between a daddy and a daughter, one that I hope deepens more between the two as the years go on.

Even though Father's Day came and went 2 months ago, really, good daddy's are always worth celebrating and bragging on. So, thank you Mark Thomas for being a good daddy. Thank you for the way you scoop her up in your arms when you get home from work every night. Thank you for taking turns with me in the middle of the night to put her back to sleep, even when you had to be up early for work the next morning. Thank you for encouraging me in my times of doubt as a mother. Thank you for being so fiercely protective of our little girl. The thank you's could go on and on. I wouldn't want to do this parenthood thing with anyone else. ; )

And to end this post on a not so sappy note...

Mark's big combination present for both his birthday and Father's day was a Nag's Head Hammock swing. He and his dad then built this pretty arbor frame for it and also hung a baby swing right next to it. Hands down this has been our favorite evening past time of the summer.