Escape to Cincinnati

From Washington, through the mountains of Maryland and then West Virginia and then through Southern Ohio to Cincinnati.

Per the earlier post about renting our house out for the Inauguration, we are now in Ohio while our house is being occupied by an Irish news crew. I considered drawing lines on all the liquor bottles in our house, but hopefully they will take good care of it!

As many of you know, Leah's parents live here in Cincinnati, Ohio. If you have never visited, I highly recommend it. I had never been until Leah and I began dating many years ago and immediately fell in love with the place. It is not a huge city and it is actually fairly laid back for being in the North. The main thing I love about it is all the different neighborhoods within the city. While it certainly has its share of cookie cutter suburbs, most of the city and surrounding area is old neighborhoods, each with their own unique character. The neighborhoods are referred to as the "Seven Hills" of Cincinnati, and they all have there own main street type areas with different shops, restaurants and architecture. Overall, just a cool town to visit and explore.

As far as the trip here, I swear it gets longer every time we add another kid to our family. While the new minivan (a soon to come separate post!) made the trip quite enjoyable, being in the car for nine hours with our kids is not my favorite thing to do. This weekend's trip was especially highlighted by Ansley throwing up all over the place on a rural stretch of highway in West Virginia. Unfortunately this has become somewhat of a pattern and we are afraid we now have a little girl who is prone to car sickness!

I will say though that a person's true character becomes evident when it comes to cleaning up throw up. Personally, I am rather delicate in the matter and can usually be found dry heaving while trying to dab the puke off our kids so that I don't get anything on me. My wife, on the other hand, is the picture of sacrificial love. Having only a bag of wet wipes to work with, she dove right in, all the while speaking in loving tones to a traumatized and puke-covered Ansley Mills. I don't know how she does it, but I am thankful I married a woman with this gift.

So, we will be here until Wednesday and are enjoying a little down time with Mia and Pappa. Hopefully our trip back will be a little less eventful.