ohio family vacay: cosi, park playtime & shopping

one thing we were excited to do in columbus was show ellery cosi, the center of science & industry. it's where we had our wedding reception and we knew ellery would have tons of fun. and we were happy ellery was surrounded by so many family members who tagged along to join her in the fun! such a fun day - though i'm really not sure who loved it more, kyle or ellery :)

we also got to spend some quality family time at the park with my mom's side of the family. i love those times. living out of state, time with family, and especially extended family, comes few and far between. so when it finally happens, i try to soak it up. what was really for special was the fact that my grandparents from florida were also in ohio. ellery got to play with her cousins, and made a new best friend - her second cousin, mikaela :)

a trip to see mawmaw would not be complete without shopping! ellery and i headed to the outlet malls with mawmaw and mamaw (say that 5 times fast!) and wouldn't you know ellery was more into the playground and little rides than shopping :) we still got to sneak in some stores between the slides and rides. ellery even snoozed a bit while we shopped. thanks mawmaw for holding her stroller up the whole time she slept! so great to spend the day with 4 generations of beautiful women!!

ohio family vacay: pawpaw & the rv

we always treasure our trips to ohio to soak up time with family, and this trip was no exception! we packed so much into one little week (and our car, too!) and made so many fun memories!

To start the trip off, ellery got to spend some precious quality time with her mawmaw & cousins while mama & daddy celebrated at pawpaw mark's retirement party. after 30 years of service as a firefighter, we were ready to party & celebrate my dad's huge accomplishment! we had a blast eating & singing & dancing. we loved checking out the osu student union since the party was at woody's tavern (and dreamed of ellery maybe one day being a buckeye...)

pawpaw & laurie also bought a little...well big...something now that he's retired - an rv! and they let us break it in for the weekend! we bunked up with corey & keely the first night, then we had a different roommate night 2 - ellery :) she loved it!! and we loved the time we got to spend with pawpaw & laurie, especially our breakfast feast & talking around the fire sunday night. thank you so much pawpaw & laurie for starting our vacation off right!!  (can't wait to see that rv in Milwaukee!)