Our Cleveland trip

We got back from Cleveland last night. We had a wonderful time visiting with Tony's family. We stayed at an extended stay hotel--I had my own kitchen, living area, and bedroom area. The highlight of the trip was seeing the grandkids. And for Tony and Sam (age 12), the highlight was an impromptu trip to Chicago to see the Cleveland Indians lose to the Chicago White Sox!. Sam had just mentioned that he'd like to go--and the idea grew and grew. Soon Wednesday morning they borrowed Eileen's SUV (yeah--but the gas prices and mileage were well worth it!!), and headed west to Chicago. They got there early and had a chance to drive around downtown Chicago, which Sam seemed to really like. Then on to the ballpark. Unfortunately, the Indians lost, but not until extra innings, so it was an exciting trip. They spent the night in Indiana, and got back to Cleveland Thursday afternoon. What memories those two made. Grandpa Tony has taken Sam to a Cleveland Indians game in Cleveland, one in Chicago, to a Los Angeles Dodgers game at Dodger Stadium, and to Angels Stadium in Anaheim (they were on the road, so all we could do was visit the ballpark). This may become a tradition.
While the guys were off doing guy stuff, the girls (Helen and Maggie) stayed with me. We went to the newest American Girl movie on its' opening day, went shopping, ate out, went shopping, ate out, slept at the hotel, went shopping, ate out, went to the Build-a-bear store where they made a stuffed dog for each of them (Maggie's has an issue--she says meow instead of woof, which is what she chose for it!), went shopping, and ended the day with crafts at the hotel. We had a 90th birthday celebration for Tony's mom, and all but 2 grandkids were able to attend. Then on Saturday, Tony's niece was married, so we got to go to that.
All in all, we had a wonderful, fun-filled time with family!
And before we left for Cleveland, Liz and Ellie came to stay with us for a few days. It was Liz's 10th High School reunion, so they came up. Ellie is growing up so fast! She is such a cutie!
The end of this month will also bring us more family time--Seth and his family are coming out from Wisconsin for a couple weeks and Emily and Maya are coming out also. We are going to go camping in the Tetons for 4 or 5 days. Liz and Ellie will come up also. We will stay in our 5th wheel, and we have rented a 26 foot trailer for an overflow! We will have 11 people (12 if Jacob can come, more if I can convince the Cedar City group to come) and we are going to make s'mores, banana boats, hike, swim, fish, river raft and get reacquainted with each other and the grandkids.
When we can figure out how to put pictures on this, we'll do it. And Emily volunteered to help me with something else--not sure what she's talking about.
You know, I never really had a diary growing up because I didn't want anyone reading my thoughts. This is kinda like that! So hope that, if anyone ever reads this, that it's not too boring!