Vacation Days 6-8

Monday morning, everyone left to head their separate directions...my mom, my sister, her husband, my nephew, MY husband, all the extended family, and my girls...with my brother and his wife.  They were heading to my brother and Sheila's home in Ohio.  The boys and I stayed on in NY for 2 more days. 

Since it's a 10 hour drive to OH, the girls basically spent Monday in the car, although there was some Bob Evans eating for dinner along the way, which made Sari very happy.  Tuesday, they headed to the zoo, about an 1 1/2 away.  They really enjoyed that, and apparently did not see nearly everything there was to see.  Below is a picture Sheila sent me from their day:

On Wednesday, my brother had to be out of town and Aunt Sheila had to work, so the girls were just going to hang at their house.  Well, Aunt Sheila's mom, who lives next door, would have NONE of that, so she came and got the girls.  She took them to the original Bob Evans farm (which sadly has some work going on there right now, so most of the fun stuff they have to do like pet animals and tour old cabins was closed) for lunch and then spoiled them with some shopping.  They picked out candy and other goodies-Sari got a mug with her name on it, and Mimi got a signature Webkinz that was half off. 

As for the boys and I, we laid low!  I did a lot of photo editing of the pictures I had taken so far, read a book, did laundry, and just enjoyed peace and quiet.  They did a lot of playing computer, watching TV, and running around outside.  TJ and I also played Five Crowns.  Monday and Tuesday afternoons I ran errands, going to my favorite bulk food store (both days, LOL), stopping to see Aunt Sandi at their store, taking a few more pictures for a photo book for my cousin's graduation, and *trying* to check out the used book stores to pick up some books I need for our upcoming school year.  The problem was that it turns out they were CLOSED on Monday and Tuesday!  Tuesday we also went to R.E.D.S. for ice cream and then Glenora winery (which my family helped to start eons ago) for a bottle of wine to bring back, and Tuesday evening my uncle made a point of playing cards with TJ and I, which made TJ VERY happy.  Wednesday morning, it was our turn to head out, and while I had the best of intentions to stop along the way at used book stores, the reality was we had 10 hours of driving just to get there, and hit stand-still traffic near Erie, PA, and I just wanted to keep making forward progress, so we didn't stop-except for 2 pit stops for me to close my eyes for a few minutes.  My allergies had been bad that morning, so I had taken medicine, and that was making me very sleepy!  We got to my brothers at around 7:30 and had just driven through somewhere for a quick bite, so of course they had a full dinner prepared for us ;-).  There were yummy nachos and some mozzarella and tomatoes, and brownies for dessert.  And I was stuffed already!  The boys had been looking forward to the chance to "trounce" their aunt at Mario Kart, but she had a different game in mind...Just Dance 2.  Ohhhh. MY.  I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time!  If I was tech savvy, I'd show you the video I shot, but I don't think I'm that good, so let me just say it was FUNNY.  I only jumped in once, and I made sure there was no photographic proof ;-).  Uncle Craig got home from his business trip that night around 9:30 and joined the fun.

It should be noted that the girls had already been playing this game before the boys arrived and so they had "favorite songs" that they had practiced a LOT, but that didn't stop the boys from jumping in and giving it a try :-)