ohio time..

after grams and grandpa came to town at the start of july, we ventured down to waynesville, ohio for a long weekend with some of our extended family. waynesville is the sweet country town that daniel's dad grew up in, and it's so fun to get time there and see places that he went to as a kid. it was one of those times when i kept thinking, "i need to be taking more pictures" and then never really did. but i got a few, so here you have them.

i tried to bring a few little things to entertain the kidlets while we hung out at auntie marilyn's house. isaac and ruby gave some major concentration to these boxes of poppers.

intense throwing skills.

little cousies. aunt marilyn's house is like an oasis.. comfortable, welcoming and stocked with any and everything you could ever need during a visit. the weather was nice, and it was so fun to just have family milling around with nothing pressing to do or anywhere to be.

bellies. :) d used a couple of vacation days, so of course it was a super treat to have him there. he's saving up time for sadie's arrival at the end of the year, but he was happy to take some time for this quick family reunion. 

 uncle d showing them how it's done.

a little snuggle with sweet simon.

creative entertainment courtesy of grams.

never did i ever get a picture with both of them looking.

wagon rides were plentiful over the weekend. 

family walk complete with extreme frizbee throwing.

shari needed a little rest towards the end of our long walk. ;)

babe's the queen of shoulder rides.

and we got to stay in a hotel.. endless fun with the gideon Bible and a disconnected telephone.

cousins doing a little leisurely reading. we walked around a downtown craft fair and the town's library had a booth where they were giving out free library books. too sweet.

taking a walk downtown after church on sunday.

grandpa was telling us how he'd run down this sidewalk every week after church with his younger brother, uncle craig, when he was a little boy to get an ice pop at one of the shops downtown.

we even got to visit gammie's cute apartment. this bird cage music box has been in their family for years.. and our kids were just as impressed by it as all of the other generations have been.

riding "the bus".

the future leaders of america flexing their public speaking skills.

i so wish i had brought us all together for a family picture before d had to leave to head back home, but i love this shot with aunt marilyn and gammie. thankful for the genes that our ruby girl has running through her.. what beauties (both inside and out)!

a quick cracker barrel stop on our trek back to NC with grams and grandpa.

welp, there we have it. it was a whirlwind weekend, but one we were super thankful to be a part of. i was telling sharon during the family picnic on saturday that one of the the huge provisions that i see from the Lord in us moving where we did almost a year ago is that we live as close to our ohio family as we do. i know that if we ever need them they are just a car ride away, and it's so refreshing to have time all together when we can. i'm so thankful when He's good to us in little ways like that.