The Smith Family Adventures

Our third Indiana adventure actually took place in Ohio. Thursday we packed the boys up and drove to Chillicothe, Ohio, where my brother now works. Uncle Greg just started as a life flight pilot for Air Evac a few months ago in Portsmouth, Ohio. He recently transferred to their Chillicothe base because it is closer to his home. In fact, the day we arrived for a visit was his first day at the new base.

It was a long car ride for the boys, but they did pretty well. We were excited to finally get to our destination. We called Greg, and he suggested we have a barbeque, so we went to the grocery store, got some fixings, and headed to the base.

It looks like a really great place to work, and Greg seems happy so it was all a big sister could ask for.

As we were fixing dinner, Greg got a call. He left to go start up the helicopter. I was disappointed that it cut our time together short, but I was excited to watch him take off. It turned out that the people at the scene called him off. They were close enough to Columbus that they could make it by ambulance. So Greg sat back down and ate dinner with us.

After dinner, Greg took us on a tour of the helicopter. Elias was too nervous to climb inside, but Simon got to sit in the pilot’s seat! We all had fun exploring the helicopter.

Friday morning we had plans to see Greg at his base again. He called us just as we were leaving our hotel to say that he was about to take off from a nearby hospital to transfer a patient. We hurried over, and got to see him take off. He was gone for about an hour, which gave us time to procure some lunch, and meet him back at the base to see him land. It was pretty much perfect timing!

Greg waiting for his patient/passenger

Greg taking off

Elias and Daddy watching Greg approach the helipad

Greg landing

We got to eat lunch together, and then explore the helicopter again before we had to leave for the next phase of our trip. This time, Elias climbed in the pilot seat, and into the back of the helicopter. He had a lot of fun.

I was so happy that we got to see Greg as much as we did, but it was harder to say goodbye this time because we don’t know when we’ll see him next. It is nice to have a place to picture when I think of him. Hopefully we’ll get to see him again soon!

The second phase of our trip to Indiana was full of family time. Nathan has a lot of family over there. On Labor Day we all gathered at Uncle Dave and Aunt Barb’s house for a big barbeque. One of Nathan’s cousins came with her children. Great Grandma was there too! Elias had a lot of fun playing with his cousins. He especially loved the marbleworks.

Then a lot of the kiddos went outside with Nathan and Uncle Dave to play baseball. Simon and I went to watch. Elias had fun chasing after stray balls.

Cousin Josiah had a lot of love for my boys.

Then we went back inside, and Simon got to hang out with Grandpa and Great Grandma.

Tuesday was our only low key day of the trip. We got to stay at Grandpa’s house and play with the exception of a small grocery store trip and a trip to the park to play on another merry-go-round. Actually, Elias had quite a few adventures at the park. There were a TON of cool slides, and he tried them all!

Then on Wednesday it was back to Uncle Dave, Aunt Barb, and Great Grandma. We didn’t have all the cousins, but we had a lot of fun nonetheless. Simon got to try out the jumper, and he absolutely loved it! I could hear his giggles from the other room.

We loved spending time with family!

We recently returned from another great Indiana adventure. We have so much family in the mid-west now. Our trip was almost too busy. We definitely ran the boys ragged. Simon is still a bit sick, and Elias was more tired than normal.

The boys did pretty well on the flight from Portland to Chicago. Elias is old enough to realize what an airplane is, what it does, where it goes…etc. So he was quite afraid at first. He refused to go down the jet way. Nathan had already taken our car seats and carry-on bags down the jet way so I was stuck trying to get both boys on the plane. Luckily a nice lady offered me help! After the initial nervousness, though, the flight went pretty smoothly. Once in Chicago, we got our rental car and drove down to Indiana. We were super excited to see Grandpa. The boys bonded by watching a bit of a Dodgers game before bedtime:

The next morning, we drove down to Indianapolis to meet Greg and Shaina for the day. We went to Eagle Creek Park which is one of the largest city parks in the U.S. It was an amazing park, and I was so excited to see Greg after so long!

After a picnic lunch, we went over to one of the play grounds. Elias was introduced to a merry-go-round. He loved that thing! He loved it so much that he ran over and jumped on, joining a whole group of kids already on it. I was shocked and amazed. It was so uncharacteristic of him, but I had fun watching him spin around with the other kids.

Here are Daddy and Grandpa watching the merry-go-round fun!

After awhile we went to a different location in the park. Elias and Uncle Greg enjoyed playing fishing together among other things.

We finished the evening by going out to dinner. The day went way too fast, but I’m glad we got the opportunity to see Greg and Shaina while we were in the mid-west!

Life has been messy since we got back in town Monday evening. Suitcases everywhere, cat hair everywhere, very tired jet-lagged kiddos, husband working late, potty training messes. But I know life will calm down and we will find our rhythm.

This evening after Nathan got home I got to take some time to get some things back in order by unpacking. I stopped to watch him playing with the boys. I love them all so much:

I’ll be sharing some about our trip to Indiana and Ohio in the coming days. We had a blast!

Last night was our last Hops Game. That makes a total of eight this season for Nathan, seven for Elias, and six each for me and Simon. We loved seeing the Hops play.

Last night was supposed to be the season ending celebration for Nathan’s softball team. Nothing like watching a little baseball to celebrate a fun summer softball league. The clouds looked dark, but we grabbed our raincoats and headed out for some fun. Here is the fam waiting for the game to begin:

During the first couple innings it sprinkled on and off, but we didn’t let that stop our fun. However, by the third inning, it was starting to come down pretty good. More and more fans were abandoning their seats for the upper level where food is sold. We are true Oregonians, though, and stayed in our seats all the way until a rain delay was called. We did question the intelligence of this considering I was feeling sick, and we have a baby and a toddler…but it was warm rain so no harm done….

When the rain delay was called, we decided to head home. Sorry Hops! I did get a picture with Barley the Hop before leaving, though!

When we got home, we just spent some time together before putting the boys to bed. Elias and Simon played with their footballs from Auntie Kristy, Simon gave out some slobbery kisses, and Elias took a few pictures himself! It’s a little slice of family life:

Today was the last day that Auntie Erin, Audrey and Sonya are in town for this round of family visits. We are sad to see them go. We went to the 53rd Avenue park in Hillsboro to have fun together, and then had dinner in the evening so Nathan could see them again as well.

The park was fun because there is a playground, sand area, and fountains. All of the kids enjoyed making the rounds to all of the adventures the park had to offer. Simon got to have his first time playing in fountains since he is able to sit up now.

Here are some pictures of our fun:

I made a fort for Simon. The one downside of the park is the lack of shady areas. Simon fell asleep for a nap so I made a shady fort for him. He slept in there for thirty minutes or so (I think). I thought he might be upset to find himself in there when he woke up, but he wasn’t phased at all. He turned himself onto his stomach, and started crawling out. His little head poked out and he looked at me like, “I’m back!”

Here is a cute one of Simon and Nana after he woke up:

Eventually, I got Simon all dressed in his swim trunks and brought him to the one fountain that just bubbles the whole time. He loved it! He was fascinated with the water and played for a long time. Occasionally, he put his fingers just right so that the water squirted up into his face. He was startled, but always recovered quickly. By the end his face was dripping wet.

Elias had fun at the fountains too. He was pretty tentative, but said it was his favorite part about the park during our car ride home.

Elias and Sonya came over to play with Simon for a bit. There was room for everyone!

And just for fun….I think this may be photo evidence of Simon’s first “Bartle stare.”

What fun!