Cincinnati

We had a very nice weekend in Cincinnati to visit Liz and Van in their new home. The house is lovely, but I seem to not have any photos of it. I have lots of pictures of cute kids, though! Here are Henry and Clara having their first Cracker Barrel experience on the way to Ohio.

 We got to spend a little time with Vivian Friday night when we first got in, and then she was ready to play the next morning when we all got up.

 Vivian was very interested in what these big kids were doing in her house.

 On Saturday, after breakfast, we went to a fun little pumpkin patch/amusement place. There was a corny (excuse the pun) puppet show. (Carrie- you can kind of see the ex-Showbiz puppets in the corner here!)

There were also some rides, the kids and Liz and I tried out this monkey one. Clara thought it was creepy and hilarious that we were inside the monkey. 

 We tried to get some pictures of the cousins together. It was a challenge to get them all looking in the same direction at the same time, but this one is pretty cute.

And here's a nice picture of our charming hosts.

After some disappointing football we went out for a fun dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.

 

It was a late night and we all tried to sleep in a little the next morning. Liz made sure I saw this sweet little sleeper before she awoke, though. It was a struggle not to pick her up and just snuggle her.

Sunday morning we had another first for Henry and Clara- their first breakfast at Big Boy!! I don't know if I've been to a Big Boy since I was a kid in California.

  
After breakfast we went to the Cincinnati zoo, which was really nice. 

 I'm not actually reaching out to rub this man's belly. I was petting the snake.

 We didn't get a picture of the naked mole rats, which were our favorite moment at the zoo, but these manatees were a close second. They were monching on some lettuce. It was mesmerizing.

 After a long afternoon at the zoo (and a long weekend of hosting her cousins!) Vivian was getting pretty worn out, so we said goodbye to them and then we made a couple more stops that Liz guided us to. We loved this guy in the night hunters house. The insect building was very cool too.

 

It just didn't feel right to leave Cincinnati without going to Graeter's, so we went a bit out of our way and stopped for some ice cream before we finally got on the road to head home. It was a long, late drive, but the ice cream helped.

Thanks to Liz, Van and Vivian for a fun weekend!