Escape to Ohio

The heat dome over Texas has been brutal this summer - solid 100 (or near-100) temps since mid-June! The beauty of working from home is that "home" can be wherever you want it to be, so Hadley and I escaped for a week to Oma and Papa's in Ohio. First stop, Indiana. Ha! We crossed the border briefly, so that we could get a picture of Indiana in our map. Don't worry Indiana, we hope to give you a real trip soon.

We flew into Cincinnati, so we stayed the night there and took in the Newport Aquarium and riverfront the next morning. While it was warm, it was definitely much cooler than Houston!!

I didn't take too many fish pictures, since we've seen our fair share of aquariums. But yes, I did take a pic of seahorses, because they are just so fascinating!

H enjoyed posing in the tank "bubbles" and sometimes drug me with her.

These 2 pics remind me of the last time we came to this aquarium in 2015.

And the stop at the Hofbrauhaus afterward was also reminiscent of that 2015 expedition. Prost!

Oma and Papa planned several fun activities over the week while I was working during the day. One that I got to join in on was an afternoon of horseback riding! We were enamored by Gypsy and her baby, Taboo, as soon as we pulled in to Uncle Buck's.

Papa signed us up for the 2-hour long ride to the haunted Moonville tunnel and back. We had a guide at the front on Dolly, Hadley was riding Tiny Dancer, I was on Bluebell, Papa was on Stryder, and we had another guide at the back training a new horse to the trail.

The horses all wore these masks, which supposedly didn't impede their vision, but kept bugs and other nuisances out of their eyes. This was our first horse ride since Arkansas, and Hadley was very excited to be on a horse again!

Once we were all mounted, we were off! The trail was nice and shady for the most part and wound through Zaleski State Forest. Lots of green leaves in the summer, and I'm sure it's stunning in the fall with the golden colors of autumn! There had been recent rain, and we weren't on the trail for more than 10 minutes when our lead guide's horse slipped and fell on her butt. Luckily, there were no injuries, and she got back in the saddle pretty quickly, but it sure made me rethink my confidence on the trail. 😬

Our horses were constantly munching on trailside branches whenever there was a spare moment. Bluebell tried to graze even when there was no pause, and I had to keep pulling her head back to the trail every few minutes. But when the new horse's bit broke, they had a long snack break. Thankfully, that equipment malfunction was the last drama of the trail ride.

When a sub-group split off for the short trail, our horses looked over their shoulders longingly at the backs of their friends, but they stuck it out for the long ride with no complaints. Apparently, there was a settlement called Moonville here back in the late 1800s that sprang up to house coal miners. The town was later abandoned as mines closed, but stories of miners struck by trains give the tunnel its claim of being haunted. Alas, we did not see any lantern lights from the widow, but riding through the tunnel on horseback was an interesting experience.

The bridge on the other side had locks on the fence, a la Paris, a bridge of love.

Once back to the stable, the horses were glad to be home and got lots of treats. We got lots of horse slobber in exchange. Let's just say that some horses are better at eating out of human hands than others...

We certainly enjoyed our trip! Not only was the weather much improved, but we got lots of quality time with Oma and Papa: Hadley went zip-lining with Papa (I'm still working on footage from her helmet cam), book-shopping in Columbus with Oma, swimming next door with Papa, puzzling with Oma, catching (and accidentally squishing) fireflies, walking Petey (Lisa's dog), and lots of other little stuff in between. I managed to work most of a full week, surrounded by trees and wildlife, and even got in a much-needed massage.

Of course, visits with family revolve around food, and this one was no different. The Little Fish brewery had some tasty burgers and brews, and we ate with Scott and Lisa, who accompanied Hadley and Oma on much of their activities over the week.

And I still got lots of quality H time myself. 💝

At the end of the week, it was time to return to Hellston, I mean Houston. To cap off our fun girls' week, we got some Graeter's ice cream at the airport, conveniently right next to our gate. I had heard about their Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip flavor from some Ohio friends, but seriously, I might need to look up how/where I can get this locally. Yum!

This leaf from O&P's yard summed up our week quite nicely! Love you both! Thanks so much for hosting us for a week and giving H (and me) so many wonderful, fun opportunities. We cherished our time with you and hope we can come again! (Maybe all of next July? Ha!)

Ha-berfday, Haboey!

Hadley decided to try for a party this year. It's always tough to schedule in the summer, especially around the 4th. But it worked out well to have a small rock climbing party (this girl loves to climb things) just before the end of the month!

 

They started off on the bouldering area, which is climbing without a harness or ropes. It has a cushy, padded floor around it if you fall. We quickly figured out that we had three excited climbers, one timid climber, and one would-be climber who had just done her nails. 😆

From there, we moved to the junior belay climbing (harness and rope, but auto-belayed) area. Once you hook into the rope, it can catch your weight if you fall, and you don't need a partner. Can you tell who our 3 climbers were?

They spent a little time in the kids bouldering area, including a pow-wow on top of one of the walls.

They admired the speed climbers and full-belay route climbers from afar.

Then the brave 3 actually got to try a belay route when I came across our sweet neighbor, a certified belayer, there with her son! That's H in blue at the top! All 3 made it up and even completed a second one.

Finally, it was cupcake time! We went to a nearby cupcake shop where each girl got to pick out her own flavor. Yum!

A few days later, we celebrated Hadley's actual birthday!

Hadley wanted an ice cream cake (mint chocolate chip, of course), so I called up Baskin Robbins to place the order when their online ordering system wouldn't work. You have to see the name on the cake! Happy Birthday Haboey! 🙄 This is why I hate talking on the phone, haha. 

At least the mini-ice cream cones were cute and edible by themselves!

Her one specific request, other than a sushi lunch, was to do an escape room. I had just done one with some friends a week or two earlier, which had really piqued her interest. So we found one that was family-friendly and we successfully broke into the school and submitted our test to the lock box after hours! It was fun, and we finished with two minutes to spare with just a few (ok, maybe more than a few) hints! We started with an hour and had to find clues in 3 different rooms (two of which were locked) to complete various tasks, like finding the code to a combination lock and noticing a pattern in the classroom decor that seemed out of place. It was great to see everyone using their thinking caps and working together. Highly recommend!

For the 4th of July, we kept it low key at home and enjoyed the neighbors' fireworks. We did make one of our favorite patriotic desserts: strawberry pie, this time with blueberries!

Finally, Hadley spent another week at T Bar M camp, since she enjoyed it so much last summer. A week of games, teamwork, Bible Study, songs/chants, and fun - she loved it and is looking forward to next summer already!