Trip to Cincinnati

We had occasion to head back to Cincinnati over the weekend, for the memorial for Justin's PhD advisor.  One of Justin's former students from here has made her way up there to graduate school, and is in Justin's old lab, so she let him take a peak in the renovated lab, which was fun for him.

Despite the sad circumstances, we did find some things to do afterwards with the children in the city.  Generally when we have occasion to stay in the city, we choose a Drury Inn (dinner, snacks, and breakfast all being included and ready access to suites to accommodate our family), outside of town.  This was a holiday weekend, however, so we got a room right downtown.  We had assumed we'd have to drive to go somewhere during the course of our stay, but once we got settled in we found that just about everything we needed was in walking distance.

While we waited for check in, we stopped by Mt. Storm Park.

In 2002

In 2011, right after he defended his dissertation

There are several brands of Cincinnati style chili, but Justin grew up in a Skyline family, so that's the only place we ever go, so we had a late lunch of Skyline. 

Then we took a quick walk through Fountain Square Park, which was virtually across the street from us.  The sun was bright, but that didn't last too long!

We walked over to the Crew Tower, where we walked through the shops and found while many of them were closed, the Hathaway Cafe, where we occasionally would go to breakfast when we were there was still in business, though closed for the afternoon.  We picked up post cards for the older girls' pen pals, then, as we walked out the door, it began to pour.  We had about a 5 block trip back to the hotel, so we arrived rather soaked.  We took a hairdryer and an iron to our clothes to get them dry, while the storm passed.

Since the kids had eaten at the reception and had a late lunch, we decided on Graeter's Ice Cream and whatever snacks we could find at Walgreens for dinner.  The ice cream was wonderful, as always, but we found that the Walgreens had closed at 4:00!  So we missed out on that.  Our hotel did have some options in their little pantry that, while expensive, tided everyone over.

At midnight Justin woke me with low blood sugar.  Typically we travel with sugar ready, but as we never needed the car, we had not brought up the food on the second trip that we planned from the car (which was valet parked).  Most hotels with in room coffee have sugar, but this one did not, so I made a quick dash for the pantry and a Coke for him.  Crisis averted!

We spent less than a day in the city, but we crammed in as much Cincinnati as we could!

Kristy

A Special Visit

We've been living here in Kansas for two and a half years now. In that time we've rarely had the opportunity to see our old friends. With the distance being so very far, when we do head for my hometown, we don't take time for people beyond our families. We have made a couple of stops in Evansville, where Justin spent most of his growing up years and we've seen a dear friend in Cincinnati a couple of times, but no one had made it out our way beyond our families. So last night was a real treat!

Justin became friends with his physics lab instructor when he was an undergrad at WKU. He and Chip started hanging out some. Then the three of us led music at the Wesley Foundation--they played guitar and I sang. When we got married, Chip was one of our ushers. In turn, Justin was an usher at his and Angela's wedding that fall. They moved from Bowling Green a short time later for Chip to go back to graduate school to get his PhD.

Since Chip grew up in the area, he brought his bride back for a trip to celebrate their tenth anniversary. We were blessed to have them come and visit us last night for dinner and a nice chat. Chip is a physics professor now, so he and Justin were able to talk shop. Angela and I are both SAHMs (Stay at Home Moms), so it was nice for us to talk too.

The girls were exceedingly good. Gabriella was shy, and refused to speak to our guests, but she wasn't clingy or afraid. Kate was quite courteous and didn't interrupt our conversations (a true act of grace for a child who loves to talk). The girls played quietly in the other room and went to bed without much fuss. I couldn't have asked for more. Nate fussed some, but was a good baby overall. It was truly a wonderful evening.

I am so thankful we had a chance to visit with some friends whom we hadn't seen in nearly ten years. What a special treat.

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. --Acts 2:42