We woke up on Wednesday, May 20th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and it was our 9th anniversary. Most of our trip had been planned out well in advance, but we had about four plans for our anniversary day, and none of those was what we ended up doing! We had been wanting to see my brother’s house just outside of Columbus, but we never thought there would be time to make it out there. At the last minute, we were in touch with my parents and my brother and we all decided to take a few extra hours in the car to make a visit.
This excited Elias because he would get to see his Uncle Greg and Auntie Shaina an extra day, but also because it changed our route south enough that we would pass through West Virginia! Another new state!
We pulled off at a Cracker Barrel in West Virginia so that we could get out of the car, stretch our legs, and claim we had actually been there. Here we are overlooking some beautiful hills in West Virginia on our anniversary.
We timed our departure from Pennsylvania to meet up with my parents at this Cracker Barrel. They had just flown from Portland to DC the night before, and were also driving to Greg’s house. Elias and Simon were very excited to see Ama and Baba in the Cracker Barrel.
We ended up taking quite a long stop because after the Cracker Barrel we went to a nearby Target to get some much needed supplies (bread, etc.) and then we got hungry enough to eat lunch.
Finally in the late afternoon we made it to Uncle Greg and Auntie Shaina’s house. They just moved in a few months ago, and it really is a beautiful place.
The boys enjoyed fishing in the pond behind their house.
Elias and Simon, who are both pretty wary of dogs warmed up to Chesney when they played fetch in the backyard.
All the men had to go pick up tuxes for the wedding so the women and kids were left behind to relax at the house. Elias got to enjoy some cousin time. Uncle Scott, Auntie Kristy and James had also flown to Cleveland the night before and met us at the house. It was a family reunion!
Picking up the tuxes took forever, and by the time they got back we were all starving for dinner. We went to a pretty fun grilled cheese place called “Melt”, and then made our way to Westfield Center, Ohio, where the wedding would take place in a few days. We arrived so late that the boys were long asleep. We were exhausted (it’s the theme of the trip), but we were super relieved to finally be at a destination where we’d stay for quite awhile. We were also looking forward to all the family time and wedding festivities to come.