Vacation bound

For the holiday weekend we ended up driving to Cleveland to visit with Robenalts. Grandfather was at the Cleveland Clinic and we wanted to stop in and say hi. Great Aunt Sally and Great Aunt Dee Dee were headed up there, too, so instead of going to see them in Lima as originally planned, we decided to catch them in Cleveland.

We had a nice visit, and it was good for Charlie to get acclimated to the Maloney house before his long visit next week. He played with lots of people he called his "friends" because the names were all too many for him to remember. "Margie" seems to have stuck, though, and he now knows "Margie's house."

On Saturday we got to watch a bit of a fireworks display in the backyard, and Charlie learned some new words (like parachute and fireworks). When they got to the bigger ones after dark, though, he got scared from a particularly loud whistling one that came pretty close, and he cried out to go "back inside, back in the house." So we did.

By the end of our visit, he had nearly made peace with the Maloney dogs, also-- Macy and Oliver. They made him very nervous at first-- they don't look anything like Lucy, although they aren't really all that much bigger. They just have a lot more (longer) hair, and you can't see their eyes very well. But Charlie found a common bond with the dogs in tennis balls-- he had lots of fun throwing them around the kitchen for Macy to chase.

On Monday morning when Charlie woke up at home, he said "go back the house" and "more friends," which was a sign to me that he had enjoyed himself and would not mind going back for next week. Last night, though, he woke up from a bad dream in the middle of the night, asking to "go back in house" and I think he was dreaming of fireworks again. Hopefully that memory won't scare him while he's there and we're not around to comfort him. But I think he'll be fine.

We'll be headed out to Cleveland to drop him off for the week on Saturday. That is, assuming all goes well tomorrow for John at the Detroit passport office. After teasing me for a couple of weeks about whether I'd be able to find my passport, he realized last night that his was expired! After much internet research on the new rules that went into effect last month, and several phone calls to the passport office, he managed to get an appointment at 9am tomorrow in Detroit. So he's on his way there now to stay the night and make his appointment. He'll wait for the new passport to be done (could take all day) and then drive home, only to pack up and leave again the next day.

We have reservations at a bed and breakfast in Niagara for 2 nights, then will spend 3 nights in downtown Toronto before heading back to Cleveland to pick up Charlie. We are looking forward to taking some good photos at the falls, and just spending alone time together, on our own schedule, with no child to worry about for a few days. This will be good to do before baby #2 comes in November. We are so thankful to the Cleveland clan for offering to host Charlie for a few days. We are very happy to share him!

We'll try to post some photos from Canada while we're on the road, and photos from the 4th are posted there already.