Recouped and Reunited!

After a good night's rest and a lazy morning that include not much more than a shower for me, a bath for Nora and a little bit of Daniel Tiger, we both snuck a little nap and then headed to OSU to visit at Dodd Hall where I did my TR internship. Nora jumped right into her roll of therapy toddler, "helping" patients and therapists while I caught up with Morgan and Melanie. On our way out we even ran into another old friend - who Nora immediately recognized and while initially hesitant, quickly warmed up when she realized he wasn't real. She even gave it a hearty OH-IO with him!!

It's a Long Drive to Ohio

After a night that did not go anywhere near as I had hoped - Nora was wired and NOT ready to sleep and made it clear that she also did not intend to join me in driving to Ohio today I had a bit of a cranky morning. It took a nice self pep-talk and a mental reframing this little trip of ours to get on the right track and with only a few mentions along the way that she wanted to go back to Florida and didn't want to go to Ohio, we made it through and out of Nascar country and to Columbus! Thankfully there was little to no excitement along the way - other than getting caught amongst this little pack of race teams for a bit along 77N. Those trucks are REALLY big and REALLY fancy and Danika Patrick was HUGE on the side! As usual, Nora was a total champ hanging tight from the end of Virginia all the way through to the finish and Cort deserves mention for being uber cooperative too AND give it up for the Asleighdia, hanging tight for yet another grueling adventure! It really is amazing how manageable they make these daunting trips for me. We made awesome time, finishing the trip in almost exactly 12 hours - even with a pretty time consuming lunch stop and I think we managed to have a little fun along the way. I'm pretty sure the highlights for Nora were the two tunnels and getting to run around outside with "baby" Keaton upon our arrival. Now were here, time for our mommy-daughter Ohio summer adventures to begin!!

Northward!

Leg number one of our 2015 road trip is complete and here we are in Hilton Head!! Kyle came home at lunch to bid us farewell as I was finishing up our packing & loading and Nora, Cort and I made it out of the house slightly ahead of schedule. We made great time and only needed to stop once for gas...fingers crossed for the rest of our trip tomorrow! Nora had some quality time with her cousin Henry and even got to try out some big sister moves in the process. We're not here for long, planning to hit the road early tomorrow morning for a full day's drive to Columbus, Ohio but it's nice to break up the drive a little bit and get to visit too!

Can You Help Me?

Another 3 words that when spoken from another room make me hold my breath to see what sight I'm about to behold. Today, it was "Can you help me?" from the kitchen and this is what wandered into the family room. Rather than helping her put it on, as was requested I helped her out of my bra and into some more fun Nora-ish attire. Silly kiddo!!! In other news, I had my glucose test and got my Tdap at the dr's this morning (all is well) and did some packing work and laundry this afternoon. Our summer road-trip to Ohio is upon us and I should probably get everything moving since we're planning to leave tomorrow afternoon!

Rain Ride

Having a had a rainy week and weekend, this afternoon called for some time out of the house and a rainy ride on the sidewalk fit the bill. Nora was thrilled to be able to pedal in the drops with her daddy watching and while Cortland reluctantly tagged along - probably not enjoying the precipitation much but, whatever, he takes a walk when he can get one these days!

Perfect Date

Tonight was probably Nora's idea of a perfect night out. Pigtails, her dad, a ride in the big truck, Orlando City Soccer game, hot pretzel, got to stay up late...I mean what more can a 2.5 year old ask for!?! AND while they were out having fun watching the Lions secure a win I took full advantage of shopping for house decor sans toddler - and even happened upon a mom (at three stores in a row) who was doing the same thing! I think all and all it was a great night for everyone!! Even Cort probably can't complain, Kyle took him for a 10K run this morning and he had a nice quiet evening at home where he wasn't being climbed by Nora on or yelled at for getting into things!

Kyle's New Toy!

Well, after a 5ish or so year hiatus, Kyle is back behind the wheel of a Ford truck. I'm pretty sure he hasn't stopped smiling since we picked him up at his office to go get it. Funny thing is, I'm pretty sure Nora is as excited as he is about her daddy's big truck! While Kyle was filling everything out at the dealership, Nora and I had an awesome dinner date at a nearby Bob Evans. We really did have a great time, and got back to the car dealership just in time to find Kyle behind the wheel of this big bad boy - our newest family member I suppose. Nora couldn't wait to hop in, move her seat over and ride home with her daddy. The jury is still out on a name but I think I shall call him "Gunnar".