Ohio

I was born in Ohio, but moved to California when I was six years old.  Most of my family remained in Ohio for many years.  The last time Daniel, I and our older kids were there to visit was probably twelve years ago. Our younger children have never visited.  Since then, my maternal grandparents and my paternal grand-mother have passed away, and other family members have moved to different states.  

I still have two aunts (my mom's sisters) and their families and my paternal grandfather who live in Ohio so we stopped there for a couple of days.  Even though we haven't seen each other in quite a long time,  it was easy to pick up where we left off.  We had a nice family dinner at my Aunt Nancy's house and the kids enjoyed swimming in her pool.  We did have to take a break from swimming at one point due to the thunderstorm. I think the kids are becoming desensitized to thunderstorms because we have experienced so many of them on this trip.  My mom was visiting from California so she was happy to see all of us.

My grandfather has been ill and was recently released from the hospital into a rehab center where we were allowed to visit with him.  He was able to meet our younger kids for the first time.  My dad was also in Ohio for a visit during this time so we were able to visit with him.  This was our first time visiting since my grandmother passed away and it just felt like something was missing.  Grandpa did tell me that grandma would have loved to have had the opportunity to meet our younger kids.

The only house they lived in as long as I've been alive is now empty and for sale.  We actually lived there with them for a while when DJ was a year old.  That was 20 years ago!  While we were visiting we walked through the house briefly and let the kids run around in the back yard picking up sticks.  It brought back a lot of memories from when I was younger and also when DJ and Adriana were younger.  I am immensely thankful that I had this opportunity to visit this summer.

Nicole