We weren’t in Ohio very long this time and our time there is never long enough to see everyone we want to see.  But we did have the opportunity to get together with some of our friends and family.

First among our friends and family are John and Jackie and my parents.  We spent several days with John and Jackie.  We went out to eat or picked up carryout and took it to their house.  Because John and Jackie live in Columbus there are always new places to eat and we like to try them.  Cucinova is a new place we tried.  You stand in line to order a custom made personal pizza, pasta, or salad and they have it ready in minutes.  You can eat it there or take it home.  Tom and I both ordered our own pizzas and they were very tasty.  We also watched football, took walks with the dogs, and played lots of games.  John and Jackie had a new game that was lots of fun called Codenames.  It is an easy to learn but challenging game.  The last day we were with John and Jackie we watched the Ohio State football game and I helped John make a Snorlax (Pokemon) costume for a party.

You have already read about adventure days with Mom and Dad.  We also helped them with some projects around the house and played a few games with them.  Mom and I played a piano and cello duet at church the last Sunday we were in Ohio.

We went to a Mogadore football game with Tom, Esther, and Susan in Loudonville.  It was a good game because Mogadore won by a wide margin.  But it was also a good game because the outcome was so obvious that we spent lots of time talking to each other instead of paying close attention to the game.  Congrats to Tom and Esther who just became grandparents!

We met some friends for meals:  Karen for lunch one day and the Vargas for supper another day.  We ate with Karen at the Red Oak Pub (yum!) in Newark and at Old Carolina with Vargas in North Canton.  Old Carolina continues to be my favorite BBQ restaurant despite all the other places we have traveled and had BBQ.  We enjoyed the time catching up.

Finally, we spent time with my sister and her husband and my brother’s family.  We stopped by my sister’s house, which we had not seen since we helped move them in.  They have made so many updates it almost looked like a different house!  Very nice!

My sister-in-law, Kathy, invited me to their house for a Mary and Martha party.  I had never heard of a Mary and Martha party, but I went just to be able to see the family for a little bit.  Mary and Martha is a division of Hallmark with a Christian presence and service aspect.  Most of the items were home products which I don’t have room for in the RV but I did find one item that will make a good future birthday present.  I also got to meet some of Kathy’s friends.  After the party I spent some time talking to my brother and nieces, which was really nice.  Grace had a chance to do some living history at Mount Vernon, Virginia, and so we were able to trade some stories about what we had done.

The restaurants were great.  The activities were interesting.  The games were fun.  But the best part of being in Ohio was getting to see so many friends and family.  I miss them when we are traveling and love making time for them when we are in Ohio.