Can we have a little traveling music?

We did a little traveling.  Kris, Doug and Penny were going out east to visit family and on their way home were going to stop and visit Mike and Amanda in Ohio.  Mike's days off are rare, so we hatched a plan to surprise Mike with a quick visit too.  We got up at 4am and hit the road.  I see many sunsets but it's rare to see the sunrise.  It was beautiful and a wonderful start to the day....

 until a few of these clouds started raining on us.

 but even that wasn't bad.  We did get stopped by a Ohio State Trooper, but thankfully we got off with just a warning.  See I really had to...let's be grownups, pee pee ;-)  "Leadfoot", aka my sweetie wanted to get me to the rest stop ASAP.  They are about 50 miles apart on the Ohio turnpike.  Anyway, the kind State Trooper probably looked at my advanced age and had sympathy for me, (maybe he has a mother with a small bladder ;-) he warned my hubby to slow down and stay safe and that the rest stop was one mile ahead. We could not have been more grateful and said a prayer for the trooper's safety.  What a difficult job, walking up to the window of a car and not knowing what you'll find.

Well, the surprise was a great one, Mike had that same look I had when he surprised me... and now we are even. We arranged for Kris to tell Mike that they would be there at noon, so we had time for lunch together and lots of hugs!

 These two are very sweet together. Amanda is learning to sew and made me a pretty pillow. It's really dark here this morning so I'll make sure to show it in another post.

 We headed to a beautiful park along Lake Erie.

Five minutes after this photo they cleared the water because of a rip tide.  You could see the water moving in a parallel motion to the shore.

 SO great to see our baby boy.

 Lake Erie is surprising beautiful, Lake Michigan snob that I am.

 Actually Ohio overall is quite picturesque.

 So sweet to have a quiet moment.

Henry

The fun really started when a small girl showed up at Uncle Mikey's.  We didn't tell Penny that Grandma and Grandpa would be there too.  Penny came in all excited about meeting the cats,  Henry, Luna and Oden. I hid around the corner and as Penny looked for another cat, Grandma meowed.  Our babygrand was so happy to see me, jumped into my arms and hugged me tight. Sigh.

We stayed at the same hotel for the night and for the first time our little one hit the water.  Literally, in fact. She earned a new nickname, Cannonball! Grandma even got into the water.  Like Penny always says, girls just wanna have fun!

Mike and Amanda, Kris, Doug and Penny all ended up in our room for pizza.. It was almost perfect until I face timed Jon and Charlotte, then I was happy.  For a few minutes we were all together joking and laughing. Family.  Doesn't get much better than this.

On Monday we had a little Labor Day barbecue.  The cousins came and made Penny very happy.  Penny hugged her cousin  and said, " I've missed you so much!"  They pretended and ran and watched Frozen and built a nest with all the couch cushions.  Jonathan manned the grill while I took care of the food inside.  We had the best sweet corn and a near perfect watermelon.  The best of the summer.  A nice visit with my bro Greg and SIL Elizabeth. The only problem we had all evening was trying to get the girls to leave. TEN MORE MINUTES, each one took a turn asking for more time together.

On a sad note, our Charlotte lost her dear Grandmother Charlotte last week.  She was a amazing woman who lived a wonderful life.  She was 96 years old and just recently slowed down.  What a blessing to have had such a remarkable Grandmother.  She leaves behind a wonderful family and a amazing Granddaughter to carry her name.  We all love you Charlotte and Jon.

Thanks so much for stopping by and for your kind comments.  Enjoy this beautiful day!