Ohio - On the Road Again

  You've read about our trips to Germany and to Puerto Rico, now come join us in our exciting vacation to... Cleveland, Ohio!!  Actually, I am pretty excited about this trip, it has been too long since we've been on the road.  The boys are excited too, last night Will couldn't fall asleep and Jon spent an hour in the car this morning as we were packing.  I told him to get out because we weren't ready yet but he just replied, "But I AM ready to go!"  

  This isn't exactly a vacation for all of us.  James has to go to Cleveland for business and since we always travel together, the boys and I are coming too.  We even have one extra boy, two year old Charlie who we are fostering is also traveling with us.  While James is working it will just be me and the three boys touring the city.  I'm not sure if I'm excited or nervous about that...

Jon shows off his bubble blowing skills

  Our trip started out well even though we are all out of practice with long car rides.  (The boys were a little disappointed that we weren't flying...)  We chose a route that took us on smaller roads through New Hampshire and Vermont and we were rewarded by beautiful views of the countryside.  On the New York border of Vermont we stopped at a nice little restaurant to stretch our legs and enjoy some ice cream.  The boys particularly enjoyed splashing in the nearby stream.

climbing on the rocks

playing in the stream

Shooting at me with his new gun

Wading in the stream

  Even though we could have made the trip in one day we decided to take it slow and spend the night in Syracuse, New York.  We packed cold cuts and crackers so we wouldn't have to stop for food (well, except for ice cream!) and that saved time.

  The boys are each keeping a journal of our trip and tonight they both drew a picture of the most exciting thing they saw today... Rapunzel's Tower.  I'm not sure what it was that we saw but it certainly sparked a long and detailed discussion and story.  

Working on their journals

 Bedtime has been a little difficult this first night. Will and Jon are always hyper when we get to a hotel, I think it is a combination of excitement (they love hotels) and sitting too long in the car.  Charlie had a really hard time falling asleep since he is used to sleeping in his own dark and quiet  room.  But he finally settled down and now Will and Jon are almost out.  I'm off to bed myself because we have another day of driving ahead of us and hopefully a little time in the pool!  

Cuddling in bed

Goodnight!