Midwest summer

This summer, we spent some time in the midwest with family between Wisconsin, Chicago, Indiana, and Ohio. We kicked off the trip in Wisconsin and then spent time in Chicago. Jeff had to head back to Utah after that first weekend and I had some work trips so the kids had a great time with family between Wisconsin, Chicago, and Indy. We all met up about 2 weeks later in Ohio for the family reunion. 

Emily & Aaron went to Grandma's house in Wisconsin and Aaron lost his first tooth there. I was in Florida for meetings and Jeff back in Utah so we both saw this over FaceTime. He was pretty excited to have finally lost his first tooth. 

No trip to Ohio is complete without a trip through the brew-through.

On the way from Ohio to Chicago. 

We got to hang out with Uncle GT at the airport while waiting for our flight as he was waiting for his. 

Road trip out of Raleigh to visit with family

First leg of our moving road trip out of Raleigh was to DC. There we saw loads of Jeff's family and had a great time at his cousin's wedding. 

After DC, Jeff flew back to SLC and the kids and I began our road trip west. Next stop after DC was Ohio where we met up with my grandpa who is 92 years old.

Some interesting storm clouds. Really only experienced some rain. (Kyle took the pics, I was driving.)

My Aunt Theresa arranged for us to meet up with her and Grandpa for lunch together at Cracker Barrel. It was nice to catch up with them in a small setting since we so rarely get that opportunity and when we do, it's in a much larger group. 

After lunch, we spent the afternoon in Toledo at the Children's Museum which was pretty amazing. And our museum pass got us free entrance. Really a great, unique museum. 

Late afternoon, we headed toward Indy to see Kristin and her family. We had a wonderful day there together playing, walking through some woods, eating ice cream, grilling and just chilling. 

From Indy, we headed toward Chicago. We arrived in time to have lunch with Jeff's Grandma Edith. We had a nice afternoon together by the pool while the kids swam and we got to talk and catch up in person. 

From Grandma Edith's, we headed to Tommy's place to catch up with my family there. Jeff flew in that evening and met up with us for the final leg of our trip (flying to SLC). We had a great time chilling with my sisters and brothers and nieces and nephews and my mom came down from Wisconsin as well.
Emily and some of her girl cousins packed in a jeep. 

Trevor and Kyle were BFFs and always together. Trevor is the same age as Aaron, only a few weeks younger, so it was sweet to see Kyle and so sweetly brotherly with Trevor. 

Kyle's selfie at the pool

Cousin chili and ice cream dinner courtesy of Grandma

Baby Mia. This was our first time meeting our sweet little niece. 

Ohio

This weekend, my grandma passed away at 91. My Uncle John (her youngest son) went on a road trip to clear his head. He ended up down in Raleigh so he stopped in for a visit. Aaron immediately took to him and declared him his best friend. One of my earliest memories was probably about the same age as Aaron when Uncle John came over to our house, picked me up after my nap and took me in his hotrod car over to the pool. That memory has stuck with me. Anyhow, Aaron hadn't seen Uncle John for almost 2 years (last time was when we drove through Ohio on the way home from Thanksgiving and Kyle got so very sick and Aaron was 2 at the time) but you would have thought they saw each other every day. 

Storytime

Aaron, Emily, and I drove up to Ohio to attend my grandma's funeral and made our first stop in Columbus at the Hofbrauhaus. My dad, Kristin, and I at at the Hofbrauhaus in Germany when we first went to Europe and have some great memories there. The kids and I met up with Uncle John there. And Aaron was right at home with Uncle John. He just climbs right up to him to be near him. 

Aaron saw the band at the Hofbrauhaus and he points and says, "look at the wizard!". 

The house that I grew up in until I was 7. 

In an attempt to have a little fun on the trip before the heavy parts (and in between long drives), we spent the morning at COSI. This is a fabulous children's / science museum. The kids got to take apart a computer. That was fun until Emily sliced her finger on one of the sharp metal parts. 

They toured history. 

Emily delivered the news. 

Emily lifted up a car. 

And the kids whispered to one another from 100 feet apart.