Last weekend, John and Suz decided that they would again miss out and stay home for a wedding and extended family time. I was disappointed but really couldn't wait to our weekend away again with John and Kathy! They are so much fun to hang out with!!! :) We started early on Saturday morning to head for Cincinnati. It was just way too quiet on Friday night because we had all the children at their sitters already. My parents picked up the three oldest and took them along to the mountains. They had a total blast and saw deer, a 7x7 huge elk and a mother bear with three cubs. Little Austin was with my sister Jody all weekend. I knew I didn't have to worry one little bit about him ... so I didn't! :) He did great for her and many, many thanks to my family for making it possible for us to do this trip!
We drove that long 7 hour drive out to Ohio again. It just don't seem any closer. Because it's not. But I wish it were closer. But it's not. OK ... I'll move on. We got there in good time and checked in at our really cool, old motel. It was huge and so neat! Our room had a king size bed and plenty of space. We had a view of the river right from our room. We were on the top floor. Mike loves that! We got refreshed and then went to an IMax theater and watched "Jerusalem". It took us through the streets of where Jesus lived, died and rose again. That would be really neat to actually walk those same streets. Then we walked through the city and spent some time in the clean park. We ate dinner at a pizza shop and then ate dessert and drank coffee at a restaurant right across from our motel. It was rainy but the forecast said "sun and nice" for the rest of the weekend!
Sunday was a gorgeous day! Mike went out for a run across the big bridge that connects Ohio state and Kentucky state. Meanwhile, I got ready for the day of football, fun and sunshine. I just had to start out with some worship music! Then I talked on the phone with my dad and the kids while they were out looking for elk and even saw some big horns!!! I was so happy that we were all having fun right where we were! Mike came back and after a shower, we were ready for breakfast and football. Now, going to football games with John and Kathy get us into some insiders all the time. They went out biking together that morning and stopped at the motel right next to where we were staying and ate breakfast. While they were there, big buses pulled up to the front doors. They soon realized that some of the football players were going out to the buses. They called us and said that if we come, we can see some of the Kansas City Chief players. We went and joined in on the breakfast. Mike recognized some of the players.
It was a sunny nice day. We walked to the stadium. We found our seats and watched the players do their warm ups and practice. We also knew that someone was coming to fill in John and Suz's seats. Who? We didn't know. All they said was to not sell the tickets. The game was about to begin and John and Suz came to claim their seats!!! We gave them big hugs and we were excited that they decided to join us at least for 1 1/2 days! The Chiefs lost against the Bengals but it was exciting and a good time.
That night we all walked the clean streets together. The bridge is so pretty with the night lights lite. We walked across and then back over. From Ohio to Kentucky. :) We sat on the really cool swings in the park again. We enjoyed dinner at Montgomery Inn and ate ribs and delicious sides. When you go to a big city we like to eat dessert some place different. The night before we had coffee and dessert near our motel. We did the same thing but with John and Suz along this time too. It was a late night but we laughed and had and really fun day!
Monday we checked out of our motel rooms early and headed back home by 9. We towed John and Suz's car behind our Yukon. Our conversations are always so much fun with these two couples and so of course the ride home was no different. Time goes fast with good company. We were back into our own small town by 6:30. We made our rounds with picking up the kids, getting the mail at the house and picking up Ginger. Everyone was happy to be back home and in our 'basement' again. I missed them all but I was ready to love on little Austin. I missed him so much! Many thanks to Jody and mom for babysitting!!! We love you so much!
