Allie and I had a fantastic time in Ohio last month. Everything was really chilled out and there was more food to eat than we could shake a fork at. It was a two week trip though so I think I'm just gonna cover a few of the highlights here as many of the details could get a bit boring.
A day or two after we arrived we got several inches of snow. I'd been hoping for a good snowstorm whilst we were in so was really happy about this. I just about froze myself solid, but I got a few good pictures out of the day and ended up just having a relaxing time hanging around the house instead of staying on the go.
Allie had her birthday on 22 December. Since I was struggling with arthritis last year and didn't get up until the afternoon, we tried to make it really special this year. We started the day with breakfast at IHOP with Da's family before going shopping at the mall. That evening we went to dinner at Applebee's with Ma and the girls before doing a bit more shopping and going home for cake and ice cream. Allie seemed to really enjoy the day and I loved how much of a fuss everyone made over her. After all she's done this year she certainly deserves it. :o)
The next day Heather, Todd, Allie and I took an overnight trip to Columbus. Allie and I both love Columbus, so we couldn't visit Ohio and pass up a trip to look around. I'm becoming increasingly displeased with the gentrification of the OSU campus, but enjoyed the trip very much regardless. We visited my friend Melinda and her new baby, Used Kids Records (which I missed last time!), the Acorn Bookshop and the Easton shopping centre. We also took a trip down to Reynoldsburg on the way out of town to visit my great-aunt and uncle who were in from Florida for the holidays. It was a real pleasure to see them again as it's been several years.
Keeping with tradition we spent Christmas eve at Da's house opening presents and Christmas morning at Nanny's. It was a real blessing to be there and spend the day with my family for the first time in five years, especially after such a miserable year. We didn't actually do much on Christmas day apart from have turkey and sit around. I think Allie and I played an 'Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?' boardgame and went to Da's in the late evening to hang out.
I watched quite a few films whilst I was over there, starting with
Inglorious Basterds on the plane over. I also caught
2012 with Da,
The Princess and the Frog with Heather, a
Rifftrax special at the cinema with Heather, Todd and Allie, part of
Elf which I fell asleep on. I also caught
Avatar on IMAX 3D with Heather and Todd and was pretty impressed with the effects despite finding the story derivative.
Other highlights of the trip were playing rummy with Nan (she won as always!), watching my young cousins opening presents, having Chinese with Ma, visiting with my friends Tracy and Donna and meeting Donna's daughter (Maddy), having venison burgers, playing
Beatles: Rockband at Da's, going to church with Nan, watching Star Trek with Da, and seeing Courtney
reallyamermaid for a goodies exchange. The only thing that I really regret not getting to do is visiting
ogrevi as I would have really liked to have met him properly before he moves off to Virginia.
The trip back to London was delightful. I was feeling pretty tired that day so Allie went to the desk (waiting for a very long time!) to see if she could arrange a buggy for me on the end to save me walking. The very kind lady on the desk did us one better and bumped us to business class. I've been in business class for a short flight to Budapest, but never on a trans-Atlantic flight. To put it mildly I wish I could do that every time. It was close to luxury. The food was miles better, alcohol was still free and the seats were so comfortable that I actually managed to sleep for four straight hours between dinner and breakfast. By the time we arrived in London I felt fully rested and ready to go.
And I think I'll leave things there and catch up up things that have happened since our return in my next post...