Friday morning we slept until 10 am! No joke…even Ella slept until 10. We were VERY tired from the day before. We went to the Waffle House for brunch and I must say it was a complete disappointment! I ordered biscuits with gravy, but they were out. Joe suggested French Toast as an alternative, but they don’t sell French Toast. I went with a waffle and while it was ok, it was definitely not the best waffle I had ever eaten. We decided that we weren’t going to visit the Waffle House again.
After brunch we headed down to KY to visit some of Joe’s friends, the Ray’s. This was a couple that he met while working in NJ and has remained in contact with them. It was great to meet them and spend some time with them. They have a new little grand daughter named Josie, who we also got to meet. She’s only 3 weeks old and was so tiny compared to Ella. We stayed there all afternoon and were able to have dinner together. They are a wonderful family and I was so happy to finally get to meet this couple that Joe speaks so fondly of.
Saturday morning we headed to the Newport Aquarium and met up with Joe’s sister, Maureen, and her family, husband Dan (who is actually from Cincinnati) and daughters Edie and Alice. Ella has been to the Baltimore Aquarium, so she was excited to see all the fishies again. She even called the Jellyfish “bubbles” since they kind of looked like bubbles floating in the water. While the aquarium was great, Ella was not in a great mood and kept throwing fits. 2 year olds can have quite the attitude when they want to, and it can really get on a mama’s nerves! After the aquarium we went to lunch. In a moment of genius we decided to get all the kids ice cream, which kept them quiet the entire meal and the adults could actually have a conversation! I got some of the greatest fish and chips I’ve ever had! I LOVE fish and chips. If it’s on the menu I usually get it…especially from a restaurant located on water.
After the Aquarium we went back to our hotel room so Ella could get a nap and hopefully snap out of her crabby mood. I think she was just tired of all the traveling and being in new places and meeting new people. I also think her bed had something to do with it. The hotel didn’t have any cribs, so she had to sleep on the floor. We tried to pile up blankets for her and put a barrier around so she wouldn’t roll off, but I’m sure it wasn’t very comfortable. Anyway, the nap totally worked and Ella was great for dinner at Dan’s parents house. They had corn with dinner, so I know that helped. She loves corn and would eat it every meal if we let her. She especially loved meeting Mo and Dan’s dog, Daisy. She loved getting kisses from Daisy and wanted to be wherever Daisy was.
We didn’t stay and watch the fireworks. We figured that Ella is too young to know what she’s missing, so we’d just go back to the hotel and go to bed. Even on the way back to the hotel we could see several sets of fireworks from the car, and we tried to point out the “glitter in the sky” to Ella. She was way more interested in other things. Next year I’m sure she’ll want to see them.
Sunday morning we woke up and packed up our room. It’s really amazing how much stuff we had to travel with…car seat, huge suit case for me and Ella, Joe’s suit case, box of bandage supplies, diaper bag, stroller, Joe’s backpack, my purse…and we can’t forget doggie who couldn’t be put in the diaper bag but had to be held by Ella! I can’t imagine traveling with 2 kids.
Before we left town we hit the Cincinnati Zoo. Mo and Alice met us there since Alice’s grandma (Dan’s mom) is a volunteer for the zoo. She gets to take care of and completely spoil a 1 year old Wallaby. He was so cute! We got to see several of the other animals in the zoo, but Ella was especially excited about the elephants…of course! Unfortunately when we were watching the elephants a stranger came and stood next to us (how dare he!) and Ella completely lost it. I really hope she gets over this shyness soon! It cramps the Murray style! If you have met Joe and me then you know that the word “stranger” isn’t in our vocabulary. We’ll talk to anyone! Anyway, we grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed to the airport.
You already read about our journey home in the previous post, so I won’t repeat it here. It was a nice visit but we were all very glad to get home.
2 comments:
Sounds like your trip went well. Glad Dancerella received positive reports from the team of doctors! Huge praises! Glad you and your family had an opportunity to visit friends and relatives, too.
Never going to Waffle House again? It's like watching a mediocre Disney film and saying I'm never watching anything made by them again. Americans eat at Waffle House!
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