Our Akron Trip part 1

Another underwater picture of Kate, just for fun

 

When Jane was first starting pre-school she drew stick figures as potato head figures.  Alice the other day decided to draw a picture for me.

Such a good little artist!

Katie playing with her toys at the table

 

I told Kevin that I needed to visit my sister Beth in Ohio this fall.  So he decided to sign up for the 1/2 marthon while we were there.  We went from Thursday to Tuesday and had a blast.  It was so fun having the weather feel like fall too.  And I finally got to see Beth's new house.

Alice at the airport

Kate posing for the picture

The girls waiting to go through security and just taking in all the traffic at the airport.  It was the Melbourne airport, so not much was going on, but it was still exciting.

Jane, Kate, and I (bad picture of me, but oh well.  I look like I have a bruise on my whole bottom lip because our camera now has a fuzzy black spot in every picture.  I just happened to wind up on my chin for this one.  Don't worry, I don't have a bruise).

Kevin and Alice on the plane

 

The flights were easy and really short.  It was great.  We got to Ohio and it was rainy and overcast.  Beth met us at the airport and we went out for dinner.  All the kids ate free.  Sweet!

The next morning the sun came out.  Morgan went to school, so the girls all played.

Kate on the side porch

Such a cutie

 

2 years ago Kevin ran the Akron marathon and during the race he ran by this huge mansion.  So he wanted to check it out, but we were too late to see inside the house, and could only explore the grounds.  This trip we made a point to tour the inside of the house.  However, no pictures of the inside, because they wouldn't let us.  Here are some fun pictures of the outside and all the kids though.

The whole gang

Since Kevin was squatting down, Kate needed to squat.  The front of the house.  AMAZING!

Only reason I chose this picture was because Hazel's smile was perfect.  I'm eating something.

 

When we entered the house the kids got a notebook scavenger hunt and so in each room they were supposed to find something.  They loved it.  Alice got a card from a gentleman and it had a statue on it.  So Alice was excited to find it.

Somehow when we took the picture, she was not so excited

The secret garden!  It's an English walled garden and was the favorite spot of the wife of the family.  They were in the rubber business (Goodyear tires)

Beth and I and the girls

Alice on a pretty wall

Kevin took this picture.  I guess Alice was jumping.  This is the back of the house.  I had just finished watching Pride and Prejudice and it was fun to walk through a house with servants and music rooms and great halls!  How would it be?

Jane was breaking out all her best poses

The Japanese Garden

We started taking statue pictures and sleeping pictures

Our first statue picture.  Pepper and Jane really got into it.

And here is another one

And a jumping picture, we're still working on those

Love this tree covered lane

The swimming hole bathroom/changing room thing

The fountain outside the conservatory

The butterfly benches

Asleep

more asleep

 

We had a great time exploring with the girls.  The highlight of the tour was when we checked out the huge swimming pool inside of the house.  It had a doorway you could walk through and then 3 clear panels about 2 feet on all sides, so you couldn't walk any further into the room and fall into the empty pool.  Well all the girls were looking at the pool when Kate came sauntering in the room and turned the corner and ran smack dab into one of the panels.  She looked stunned, but not hurt.  Kevin, Beth, and I just started laughing.  We laughed hard.  And because we were laughing then Kate thought she was hilarious and starting being silling.  So fun!

 

Saturday morning we all woke up bright and early to participate and cheer on the runners.  Kevin ran the 1/2 marathon.  Beth, Cody, and Cody's cousin Robin, ran legs of the relay for the marathon.  Beth ran the first leg.  Cody ran the longest, and Robin ran the biggest hill.

Cody and Robin waiting to cheer Beth on.  They stayed with me and the kids for the beginning and then left me to meet up with their other team members at the relay exchange point for Beth and the next runner.

That left me with 6 kids, 6 and under, and a super helpful 11 year old.  We froze a little bit, but were excited to watch Daddy (Kevin) and Beth run by.

Daddy showed up first, lookin' good

He gave out hugs, kisses, and high fives

And then he had to return to the run

We were at about mile 3.9

We waited a little longer for Beth

All the kids were troopers, frozen little troopers

And then along came Beth, with barely a little hitch in her giddyup!

She was so thrilled to see the kids cheering her on.  I got tears in my eyes.  She also said she was fighting back the tears after a very grueling 3.9 miles.

 

After Beth finished her leg of the race, we headed over to the kid's fun run, so Beth could walk yet another mile!  Builds character!

I was amazed that all my children actually put on their shirts.  They are all checking out the blimp in the sky.  We even got to witness a flash mob.  First time.  It was fun.

I decided that a great way to lose your children is to dress them all in the same exact shirt and then tell them all to run away.  Luckily Aaron (the super helpful 11 year old) ran with them.  Jane ran the whole mile only stopping twice and with a limp.

Kate ran the whole thing too.  Luckily she wasn't very fast.

Kevin finished his race and met us on our race course

Alice finally decided to get out of the stroller and actually did some running too

Neither Alice nor Kate wanted to wear the metal, but they still got one

Hooray!!!!  Pepper, Alice, and Morgan

Pointing at the blimp.  With Kate in the background looking up too.

Kevin's awesome shots with Kate and the blimp

cute little Katie

I put this picture in because it shows what great parenting skills I have.  Put the 11 month old on the table, a baby who crawls off ledges head first, but no worries, I got her hood, she is not going anywhere!  Mindy is in the picture too and she ran the second leg of the race.

Hazel sporting the orange sweat band

Love this picture of Beth and Hazel

Such tired and happy kids.  Hazel and Jane (oldest and youngest)

 

Don't worry, there will be more to come.  We had a great first 2 days.  And the next 2 were just as fantastic, but not quite as tiring.