Ohio

The kids and I drove to Ohio for a visit over spring break.  Grandma kept us busy!
 
We painted glasses and "fired" them in the oven.  Brady chose a Percy Jackson theme, with a triton and an octopus.  Rudy painted an airplane. 

We drove to Amish Country for the day. We explored a general store, got enormous ice cream cones at a bulk foods store (appetizer), tasted ALL of the cheeses at the cheese factory (lunch), and visited the Amish Culture museum.  I'm not sure, but I think the highlight for the kids was a close tie between seeing the Amish families in their buggies, the children playing outside the schoolhouses at recess, and the cheese and ice cream!  The highlight for me was seeing a story from my ancestry depicted on the cylorama painting at the museum (the burning cabin in the lower left and the Amish woman begging for mercy from the Indian...the not entirely happy story of the Jacob Hochstetler's family in 1757).

We visited a Nature Center near Lake Erie, where the kids went on a Flat Stanley scavenger hunt and explored around the creek.

We explored around the farm.  The kids spent a lot of time in futile attempts to scare the Canada geese out of the pond.  They also loved the old merry-go-round still in the yard. 

We had dinner one night at Uncle Dick and Aunt Elaine's, with Jerry and Jane.  The other night we caught up with Uncle Don, Dawn, and her family.  It was a short visit, but definitely worth the drive!