Road Trip to Columbus!

Kelly and Greg had a wedding reception to attend in Columbus, OH in mid-March.   Since my parents' good friends, the Hodges, live there, Kel asked if they would want to meet them there for the weekend and watch Parker while they went to the wedding.  Jason and I caught wind of the plan and thought it was a good chance to get some Goforth time (Columbus is about halfway between St. Louis and Rochester), so we went along too!

On the road!  He said he wanted to hold those sticks until we got to "Hohio."   I think he made it about 20 minutes.

The boys were really great during the 7 hour drive each way, but we learned a valuable lesson on this road trip.  We thought it was a good idea to leave at bedtime so the boys would sleep in the car.  They did just that, but when we arrived at our hotel at 2:00am it was playtime!!  It took a very sleepy and very frustrated Mommy and Daddy until after 4:00am to get the boys back to sleep.  Phew!!  We won't be using that plan anymore!

2:30am - The luggage cart is like a jungle gym!

We had a nice weekend, though.  Friday the men played golf so we took the kids to the Columbus Zoo.  It was pretty chilly outside and we had a tight schedule so the kids could have decent naps to make up for the night before, so it was a short visit.

Parker & Kel checking out the baby elephant

Friday night we went to the Saneholtz's house.  Sarah is Joan and Larry Hodge's daughter so we've been friends our whole lives, but sadly we hadn't seen her and her family since our wedding in 2006.  We got to see Cole who was a baby then but is now seven and we met Cami who is five now.  We had a great time playing at their house - the kids loved checking out all their toys and especially the cool bouncy house in their basement.

Saturday morning we went to a St. Patty's Day parade - they live in Dublin, OH after all, so it was only fitting.  Jack had been to only one parade before - when the Cardinals won the World Series in 2011 - which he didn't really remember.  All the kids had a great time looking at all the people and floats.  We were about 4 people deep from the front so the prime seating was on any adult's shoulders.  Jack even got brave and weaved his way up to the fence at the front with Cole and Cami (even though he couldn't see us well from there).  We were impressed.  They got some candy from the people in the parade, including Jack's first taste of a Pixie stick (Why do those exist??? Colored sugar in a tube??).

After the parade we went out to lunch with the whole crew.

All the kids!  Camden, Parker, Jack, Charlie and Cole

Saturday night Grandma, Grandpa, Joan and Larry graciously agreed to keep Jack, Charlie and Parker overnight at the Hodge's house.  Kelly and Greg went to the wedding and Jason and I had a nice (quiet!) dinner out.

Sunday we headed home, but not before switching Charlie's car seat around to be forward facing.  We turned Jack around at one year, but were trying to wait as long as possible with Charlie since they now recommend holding off until they're two.  We knew we wouldn't make it to two since he is so big and it's getting harder and harder to cram him in there, so we thought just before a 7 hour car ride was a good opportunity to give him a new view.  He loved it!!  The whole way home he was calling our names - I think just because he could see us!