The Grand Tour, 2010 - Part 2

Memories/Highlights from Medina, OH

July 28th - August 2nd, 2010

We traveled from New Jersey across the wiiiiide state of Pennsylvania, to a little town I still refer to as "home" from time to time... Medina, OH.

With a good mix of relaxing and playing, it was another successful family visit... this time with Grandpa and Grammy Bricker, as well as Aunt Megan.

Avery was obsessed with the cows in NJ, but in OH, the ducks were the highlight.

"Duh, duh!"

"Quack, quack!"

Here she had a close encounter with a swan out back:

This was her post at the back windows looking for ducks/swans/geese/bunnies:

We spent more time at the pool, one of our summer faves:

Wading in the kiddie pool was new and different... and I swear Avery had a lot more fun than this next photo suggests:

Man, the pool is exhausting... nap in the shade, anyone?

One day, we visited the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland:

No photos were allowed inside, but we saw a great number of fabulous artifacts including lyrics to songs hand-written by the Beatles, one of Elvis' cars, Michael Jackson's famous glove... and much, much more.

After the museum, we went to the Great Lakes Brewery:

Avery knew exactly what to do with the crayons without us showing her... I don't know why this was so shocking to me?

Cheers to great company and good beer:

Cheers to salt and pepper(?):

Cheers to the joy in saying "cheers":

And then chugging down water with much gusto and enthusiasm:

The next day, we went to Melt Bar and Grilled Restaurant in Lakewood. This restaurant was featured on one of Jeff and my favorite shows, Man v. Food. They serve up lotsa sandwiches, all of which are recommended grilled and super-cheesey. Who can resist THAT?

You can also get your sandwich beer-battered and deep-fried:

Or, you can play with your spongey toy-sandwich:

Jeff enjoyed his first-class seat in the car:

One night Aunt Meg and I took Avery over to the church to see the kids show for Vacation Bible School.

Avery stood in the back of the church and danced along to the songs!

She also got a sneak-peek at the Medina County Fair animals the night before the fair opened to the public:

Hello, baby goat!

Hello, pot-bellied piggy!

Other highlights include sitting in the newly refinished baby chair that was in my great grandmothers house...

... filling LeBron's shoes as the new Nike endorser...

... learning to climb up and down stairs...
... drumming with Grandpa...

... and Avery even found a kitty to play with:

All in all, a busy and successful visit! We concluded our trip with the long trip back to NC, driving home with mixed emotions. Getting back in a routine always takes a couple days!

We had such a wonderful time on our Grand Tour, 2010... thanks to all of our family and friends that made it such a fun, relaxing, exciting and comfortable time for us!