More Fun Family Time!

We arrived home from NC late on a Tuesday and left on Thursday to visit P's family. It sounded good on paper when we first discussed it. Then, as the time got closer, I was so worried that it would be too much  on the kids (and me!) to have that much travel and messed up schedule for so many days. But it ended up being so, so good. The kids were troopers and were so entertained in Cleveland that they didn't have too much time to throw fits :) The transition back was LONG, but our time up north was so worth it.

We only usually travel to Cleveland during the winter, when we spend time with family for the holidays and then head home. We don't often get up there in warmer weather when exploring the city is more fun. This trip, without the hindrance of naptimes to work around, we had so much fun seeing sights, being with family and making memories (to quote Aunt K!).

The highlights (remember this was all in just 2 1/2 days):

Natural History Museum with Uncle K

The museum had an outdoor area with live animals. The boys loved this area, and I think the highlight was watching the river otters.

First ever Omnimax movie.

Lunch in Little Italy

Can't travel anywhere with kids and not stop at a park.

Family picnic dinner down at a beach. Delicious food, lots of family, a playground and throwing rocks into the lake. So, so fun.

A trip to see Uncle P's farm. The fruit on that tree are Asian Pears, which the boys say were delicious.

A trip to a Botanical Gardens with an outdoor, kids garden. We loved the time we got to spend with cousin J on this trip!

An amusement park, which included the boys' first rollercoaster. (side note: As soon as we pulled in the parking lot, I realized we used to go to this park when I was a kid. It is right around the corner from my grandma's old house. P also went there as a kid when he visited his gramma. We could have been there at the same time several decades ago!)

A trip to Uncle K's fire station is always a highlight. The boys loved spraying the hose and putting the  ladder up.

And I didn't get any pics of our brunch at our favorite restaurant in Cleveland, Lucky's. If you are ever in the area, you MUST try it. Yum. My mouth is salivating just thinking about it. We will have to make sure to make it there when we are back in Cleveland for Christmas. I may just start counting down now :)

Who doesn't love the beach?!

A week at the beach. Does life get better? Our now 4th annual trip to NC with my family was wonderful as always. The biggest worry of the day is trying to figure out if it's high tide or low tide. That's my kind of vacation :)

MY highlight was watching both boys boogie board and remember how it wasn't so long ago (1 year for A and 1 month for C) that they were both afraid to put their faces in the water. They grow up so, so fast!

Here are a few of the other highlights:

Playing in the sand!

Bike rides/Scooter rides!

Tennis

Running in the sand with our cousins

A surprise dinner!

A double birthday party

Putt Putt Golf- A and C both got a hole-in-one.

But the biggest highlight is always family. Oh, how we love our family. 

(p.s. I'm praying there are at least two more faces in that picture next summer!!!)