This was the weekend that was.....
Jul. 26th, 2004 11:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poltr1Friday evening was spent packing and preparing for a trip to Logan, Ohio for R's grandfather's family reunion. We had leftovers for dinner -- R had chicken korma, I had chicken kabobs.
As for the side dish to bring to the reunion, I wanted to bring a ramen noodle and cabbage salad. I obtained the recipe several years ago, and it's something that won't go bad without refrigeration. But I couldn't find the recipe, which was written on a 3x5 card. A Googlesearch yielded the cooks.com recipe site....and about 90 variants of the recipe. After looking through about 10 of them, I came up with my own.
Saturday morning was The Girl's Kindermusik class. I stayed home to do more packing and preparing for our weekend trip.
After her lesson, M fell asleep in the car, so we had lunch in shifts while we drove around and kept her napping. Afterward, we went to a local petting zoo to attend Madison's 2nd birthday party. Madison is a friend of M, or more correctly, Madison's mom is a friend of R. Madison's parents had rented one of those inflatable bouncing chambers, which M didn't really want to go in...until I and another kid coaxed her to do so. Once she was inside, she really enjoyed being in the chamber. There was cake, presents, door gifts for the attendees, and real food (burgers and hot dogs) for the parents. And I found out that Madison's dad is a big fan of Rush. (The band, not the Great American Gas Bag.)
While we dropped off the disposable camera for developing, and to pick up some previously developed positions, we saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, which was parked in the parking lot of a local supermarket. They were out of hot dogs, but we were able to have pictures taken of us in front of the vehicle for a nominal fee. M got a Wienerwhistle, but it will remain in its plastic wrap until M is older.
We returned home, packed the car, and drove across the state to Logan, gateway to the Hocking Hills region. We've been there a few times together, and R still has family there. This time, we stayed at the AmeriHost Inn in Logan. They're all over Ohio, and it's the first time I stayed at one. The hotel has an indoor swimming pool and hot tub. The rooms were clean, had a chair with an ottoman, an in-room coffeemaker, and a MicroFridge refrigerator/microwave combination. Staying overnight was preferable to getting up early and driving to and from Logan the same day.
I also made a needed Wal-Mart run to pick up the supplies for the salad. (I would have gone to Kroger, but the Wal-Mart Supercenter was closer to us and was also open 24 hours.)
Sunday morning, we woke up, and I started mixing the salad. I grabbed a continental breakfast for R and I. We packed and checked out early. We had some time to kill, so we drove a loop around the region -- south on route 664 to north on route 374 back to east on US 33, passing by some of the major Hocking Hills attractions like Old Man's Cave and Rock House.
After our brief circuit tour, we continued north on route 93 to a couple of numbered one-lane county roads to the family homestead -- a farm where one of R's great aunts lives. A sign was incorrectly posted, so we ended up going a person's driveway by mistake. But we eventually made it.
Overall, during the day, there were about 70 people there -- some from Columbus, some from Cleveland, and some from the local area. I didn't talk to everyone, but I wasn't completely asocial either. I introduced myself several times as "Woody's granddaughter's husband". Woody (R's grandfather) wasn't able to attend due to poor health, so the clan passed a card around for us to sign.
This was the first time in many years that R has been back to the family farm. And this was the first time in several years that we were able to attend the reunion. There was lots of food and conversation, including announced updates on births, deaths, and marriages. One couple from Cleveland recently adopted a baby girl from China.
After the meal, some of the younger men went across the street to play baseball, while the older men sat around and talked. Some of the kids were involved in a scavenger hunt. There was also a silent auction going on in the 3-car garage; proceeds went to defray the rental expenses of a tent and a portable toilet. R spent a lot of time talking to her aunt Paula and her cousin Kelly, whom she hadn't seen in years. Later in the day, one of the uncles fired up the tractor and did a hayride-tour of the farm. By the time we left, a small bonfire was burning in the driveway.
All in all, it was a great time. We left around 6:00 pm, stopped in Lancaster for dinner, and arrived home about 9:30 pm.
As for the side dish to bring to the reunion, I wanted to bring a ramen noodle and cabbage salad. I obtained the recipe several years ago, and it's something that won't go bad without refrigeration. But I couldn't find the recipe, which was written on a 3x5 card. A Googlesearch yielded the cooks.com recipe site....and about 90 variants of the recipe. After looking through about 10 of them, I came up with my own.
Saturday morning was The Girl's Kindermusik class. I stayed home to do more packing and preparing for our weekend trip.
After her lesson, M fell asleep in the car, so we had lunch in shifts while we drove around and kept her napping. Afterward, we went to a local petting zoo to attend Madison's 2nd birthday party. Madison is a friend of M, or more correctly, Madison's mom is a friend of R. Madison's parents had rented one of those inflatable bouncing chambers, which M didn't really want to go in...until I and another kid coaxed her to do so. Once she was inside, she really enjoyed being in the chamber. There was cake, presents, door gifts for the attendees, and real food (burgers and hot dogs) for the parents. And I found out that Madison's dad is a big fan of Rush. (The band, not the Great American Gas Bag.)
While we dropped off the disposable camera for developing, and to pick up some previously developed positions, we saw the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile, which was parked in the parking lot of a local supermarket. They were out of hot dogs, but we were able to have pictures taken of us in front of the vehicle for a nominal fee. M got a Wienerwhistle, but it will remain in its plastic wrap until M is older.
We returned home, packed the car, and drove across the state to Logan, gateway to the Hocking Hills region. We've been there a few times together, and R still has family there. This time, we stayed at the AmeriHost Inn in Logan. They're all over Ohio, and it's the first time I stayed at one. The hotel has an indoor swimming pool and hot tub. The rooms were clean, had a chair with an ottoman, an in-room coffeemaker, and a MicroFridge refrigerator/microwave combination. Staying overnight was preferable to getting up early and driving to and from Logan the same day.
I also made a needed Wal-Mart run to pick up the supplies for the salad. (I would have gone to Kroger, but the Wal-Mart Supercenter was closer to us and was also open 24 hours.)
Sunday morning, we woke up, and I started mixing the salad. I grabbed a continental breakfast for R and I. We packed and checked out early. We had some time to kill, so we drove a loop around the region -- south on route 664 to north on route 374 back to east on US 33, passing by some of the major Hocking Hills attractions like Old Man's Cave and Rock House.
After our brief circuit tour, we continued north on route 93 to a couple of numbered one-lane county roads to the family homestead -- a farm where one of R's great aunts lives. A sign was incorrectly posted, so we ended up going a person's driveway by mistake. But we eventually made it.
Overall, during the day, there were about 70 people there -- some from Columbus, some from Cleveland, and some from the local area. I didn't talk to everyone, but I wasn't completely asocial either. I introduced myself several times as "Woody's granddaughter's husband". Woody (R's grandfather) wasn't able to attend due to poor health, so the clan passed a card around for us to sign.
This was the first time in many years that R has been back to the family farm. And this was the first time in several years that we were able to attend the reunion. There was lots of food and conversation, including announced updates on births, deaths, and marriages. One couple from Cleveland recently adopted a baby girl from China.
After the meal, some of the younger men went across the street to play baseball, while the older men sat around and talked. Some of the kids were involved in a scavenger hunt. There was also a silent auction going on in the 3-car garage; proceeds went to defray the rental expenses of a tent and a portable toilet. R spent a lot of time talking to her aunt Paula and her cousin Kelly, whom she hadn't seen in years. Later in the day, one of the uncles fired up the tractor and did a hayride-tour of the farm. By the time we left, a small bonfire was burning in the driveway.
All in all, it was a great time. We left around 6:00 pm, stopped in Lancaster for dinner, and arrived home about 9:30 pm.
