Ohio - Part 1

It's been almost a month since we returned from Ohio, but when I think back on our trip, I remember the wonderful time we had with our family.  In the 2 1/2 weeks we were there, we did so much and made the most of our time there.

We arrived in the late afternoon on Thursday, 12th September.  The next day we spent relaxing and swinging!

 Grandpa Norm and Grandma pushing Ellen in the front yard.

 

On Saturday, Jason and Angela joined us for a picnic at Highbanks Park for a picnic. The weather was perfect... sunny and just warm enough.  We ate yummy picnic food, played on the play ground, kicked a ball, blew bubbles and went for a walk in the woods.

On Sunday, we spent a few hours at the Sabos' - my friend Pam from freshman year in university, her husband Aaron, and boys Dominic and Ethan.

 Ellen explored the giant pirate ship in the back yard that Aaron and the boys built.

 Ellen played golf in the front yard.

The Sabos

On Monday, we went to the Columbus Zoo!  Ellen loved seeing all of the animals in her books in real life. 

 An elephant!

 Ellen found a tiger (just a wooden one, though)

 Driving a safari Jeep

 We rode on a choo-choo train!

After the zoo, we ate at Der Dutchman in Plain City, an Amish-style restaurant we went to many times as kids, plus they have a fabulous bakery and gift shop. 

The next three days we spent at my grandma and her husband Bob's house.  The time Ellen spends with her great grandma is so precious, as she is Ellen's only great grandparent.

A cuddle with Great Grandma

Having a snack on the porch with Daddy after a nap.  By the way, the couch they're sitting on is probably my favorite place to take a nap... in the world.  It takes me back to the time we spent at my grandma and grandpa's growing up (not in this house) and the naps I'd take while visiting my grandma after exams.

 We blew bubbles with two toy pipes that were my dad's when he was a kid.

 Going in for a kissy

My grandma loves flowers, gardens and arrangements. It was only natural for her to want to pick flowers with Ellen then create an arrangement.

 Ellen's job was to place the cut flowers in the bucket of water.

They then arranged the flowers in the porch.

 

 The finished product!

Playing in the sand at Jackson Park.

 Ellen enjoyed rocking back and forth on a rocking chair from my grandpa's childhood.

 On Thursday, we said goodbye to my Grandma and Bob and drove an hour to Jason and Angela's south of Cleveland.  We were very excited to not only see them, but also see their lovely new house.  After a supper of Jason's special spaghetti and meatballs, we bathed Ellen and drove 2 1/2 hours back to Mom and Norm's.

Stay tuned for Part 2...

Bolton Baby #2!

Scan at 14.5 weeks

I'm pregnant again!  Most family and friends already know this, and I would have liked to have had written a blog about it before our trip to Ohio in September, but I didn't get it done.  I had a scan at the end of August believing I was 12 weeks pregnant, but I was, in fact, only just over 9.  So, I had a second scan on Friday at 14 weeks to determine my due date.  Well, I'm due March 29th!  As of yesterday, I'm 15 weeks along. 

Now that I'm past the 12 week mark, I'm feeling pretty good.  A few days before we left for Ohio I suddenly felt less tired, had more of an appetite and felt less sick at the thought of food than at the beginning of my pregnancy.  We found out I was pregnant on August 11th after a few weeks of not feeling myself and being VERY tired.  I was so relieved to know why I was feeling the way I had been feeling.  Despite my fear of feeling like I'm not going to be able to take care of a baby and a two-year-old, we are very excited to have another baby. The Lord has already blessed us with an amazing, beautiful daughter; we look forward to meeting our next child and seeing what the Lord has in store for our family.

Scan at 9 weeks

Shrewsbury Steam Rally

Today we had a family day out to the Shrewsbury Steam Engine and Vintage Vehicle Rally.  I wasn't entirely sure what to expect since this sort of thing is more up Jeff's alley, but it bascially there were LOADS of big and small machines ran by steam power spread over a very large field.  Vintage prams, bicycles, motorcycles, cars, trucks/lorries and buses were also on display.  There was so much to see and so much I had NEVER seen before. 

 Fairground Traction Engines - note the generator at the front to power fairground lights

 A steam-powered bus... how cool is that?!

 A steam-powered cars ca. 1920

 "Marshall" steam-powered agricultural traction engines used to power farm equipment on the field.

 A stationary engine with water pump

 A petrol-powered engine and saw

 One for Robert: a Lister engine being used to turn a milk churn

 One for my mom: a vintage Bedford truck from Much Wenlock

All aboard! We were amused that Ellen just assumed she was allowed to go on this bus, which she was, and that she was bold enough to attempt getting on herself.

 Exploring the bus

 One for Beverly ;o)

Throughout the day, all of the vehicles on display were paraded in the arena. Here the vintage bicycles and prams take their turn.

 Ellen helped Daddy eat his ice cream.

Just to share a bit more of our "goings on" the past couple of weeks... it's blackberry time!  Perhaps because of the warmer-than-usual summer we've had this year, the blackberries have been especially big, especially sweet.  When Ellen and I go for a walk down the lane through the fields, we stopped every few feet to pick and eat blackberries.  Ellen LOVES them and usually asks for more. 

 Ellen playing with her new, fancy, mommy-made toy: a toilet paper roll taped to the leg of the coffee table so that she could drop pom-poms through it. Supposedly it's to help with hand-eye coordination.

 If the table at playgroup is set up with some sort of craft, Ellen makes a bee line to it as soon as we arrive. She loves any sort of coloring or painting, but of course, I leave the painting for playgroup... for now, at least.

Decorating a butterfly with shiny paper... this was the first time Ellen has used glue, so she thought it was paint. I unsuccessfully tried to explain this to her, but she decorated 3 butterflies... or "buys" as she says... that day.

Riding a tractor at playgroup.

 A family walk through Stone, Staffordshire

In the last blog, I posted a video of Ellen hiding in the drying racks. She goes around the back of the drying rack, hides in the clothes, and eventually pops out, then repeats.

 Where's Ellen?

Boo!

A cuddle with Mommy

Yesterday, we drove to Birmingham to have supper with Betsy Henderson, a good friend from Munich who was there visiting friends. It was lovely to catch up and see her again.

 On the drive home, Ellen held up her Fisher Price camera and was saying "cheese!"  We don't even know how she knew the toy was even a camera, but what was even funnier, was that when Betsy took a picture of Ellen in the pub, she said, "Say cheese!".  That is the only time she would have heard "say cheese", so she had remembered it and was pretending to take our picture... sooo cute.

Hiding in Clothes

Ellen has recently discovered the pure joy of hiding in hanging clothes, then popping out and exclaiming "boo!"  What kid hasn't hidden in clothes racks at department stores?... right, Uncle Jason? 

"Awking" Baby

Ellen's walking... or "awking"... is coming along well. She's becoming more confident, but I still think she's at least a few weeks away from walking on her own.  In the meantime, though, here's a video Jeff took of Ellen walking her baby in the lounge.