"See you later" Ohio...

Sad day... saying goodbye to our family is never easy.  Coming to Ohio is such a treat for us- we spend an entire 2 weeks getting spoiled with love and tons of attention for the boys (and us... sometimes, LOL).  Our boys need these 2 weeks... and so do we.  I say it every year- I adore our California home and family... but nothing compares to love we get in Ohio.  I try to soak it in the entire time... to really watch these boys playing with their Grandparents, their cousins, their uncles and aunts- and I love every minute of it.  It's nothing easy living so far away from the people you love... and I hate when we pull out of the driveway, waving goodbye to family- and I hear Deacon quietly crying in the back.  But I am thankful we have the opportunity to come home... and spend so much time with people who love us.  

Thank you for the great vacation... We love you!

Our last night...

Dinner at Cameo... of course.

{playing guitar on Nana's arm}

Dessert at Tofts... of course.

Energetic {albeit, sad} goodbyes to two of my favorite people... 

And a photoshoot for good measure... in which I didn't have the heart to tell Dan that he was not representing the East coast properly with a backwards gangsta "E"  

I hate goodbyes... 

The dog park

The beach and the rain...

We took the kids to the beach again today- and they, of course, had a blast.  After a couple hours we decided to pack up and leave... and had no clue we had PERFECT timing- there was a huge storm on the way.  After showering and getting all the beach sand off our bodies, Grandma took Deacon out to play in the rain... 

Saying goodbye to the Gerold family :(

We've had so much fun with my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew... it was really sad to say goodbye to them today.  Last night I was able to kidnap my niece, Lauren, and take her to Cleveland with me and some friends to see a show... and when we came home we got the genius idea to take a picture with my sleeping brother- too bad we Lauren woke him up before we took the picture.  Deacon was SO sad to say goodbye to Andrew... both of them cried- which of course makes me tear up.  Poor thing just doesn't understand why we can't live near all these people he loves so much.  

 My dad with 3 of his 4 kids... at least his favorite baby girl (me) is in the picture ;-)

 Me with my nieces

African Safari & Cedar Point

Once again we made our way out to African Safari... and once again I sat in the front seat screaming most of the time.  Aside from getting yelled at from some random guy for throwing a carrot into his car, a good time was had by all {sort of}.  

 {I took so few pictures of Deacon because he and Emma were moving around the back seat so fast- and all the pictures I took were so blurry}

 {we thought these signs were so peculiar}

After African Safari, Damien, Lauren, Sarah, Matt and Mike headed off to Cedar Point while the rest of us came home to rest... At 5pm we joined the big kids for some "fun" at the park.  Unfortunately for the Eversmann family, a good time wasn't entirely in the cards... Zac was NOT happy to be at a hot park, and Deacon was an inch too short for every.single.ride aside from the baby/family rides.  It was quite sad... especially since the rest of the cousins were able and willing to ride all the "fun" rides.  Zac and I went home about 30 minutes after we got there... and thankfully Deacon did have a good time overall.  And I got my taffy.