Vacation!

We went to Cleveland, Ohio last week to have a little family reunion of sorts with Mom's side of the family. Our whole reason for going on this trip, basically, was to see the Red Sox. Most of the Murches (one of Mom's brothers and his family, and her other brother's kids) live in Ohio so we decided to meet up there. I haven't seen Uncle Rod and Aunt Chris in quite a few years except for a couple of years ago when they had a layover in Dallas and Mom, Hagen and I went to have lunch with them, but it was a quick visit. We used to see everyone pretty much every summer at Nana's in Vermont and I miss that. We had a ton of fun (even though the Sox lost...both games...) and it was also Hagen's first-ever airplane ride.



Our flight was at 6:00 a.m. so we had to get up WICKED early, although it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I put a Pull-Up on Hagen the night before (just in case...wouldn't want to have an accident on the plane...) and planned on just getting him from bed to car when we were ready to leave, and I figured he would just fall asleep once the car got going. Wrong! He was completely awake and excited about the plane ride. I brought a change of clothes for him for once we got to the airport so he got dressed in the car when we parked at Love Field. Hagen did an awesome job rolling his Thomas suitcase through the airport - he never complained about it and I was so proud of him for being such a big boy. The only nervous moment we had was when we were lined up to go on the plane, and all of a sudden he just stopped and said, "I don't want to go on the airplane". He didn't cry or fuss he just said it very matter-of-factly like he had changed his mind. I was worried we were going to have a Rain Man moment but we didn't. I just picked him up and took his suitcase and told him we would be right there with him and it would be fun. He never seemed to get scared or upset and he did GREAT. He got to visit the cockpit at one of the brief layovers and he was very shy with the pilot but seemed to think it was cool. Some people commented on how cool his Thomas suitcase was so I think that made him feel good.

We got in around noon or so on Monday and my cousin Julie (with her adorable son Julian) picked us up at the airport. We went and checked in at the hotel, then we went to lunch with them and Julie's stepdaughter, Promise. Promise is 14 and, as you can imagine, Hagen fell in love with her, although he was VERY shy at first. We went to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. Uncle Rod and Aunt Chris arrived that afternoon so we all went to dinner at the hotel restaurant and crashed after that. We got a room with a pullout couch for Hagen - I figured that might be safer than putting him in a big hotel bed. I think he liked having that big bed to himself and pretty much every night he zonked out within minutes of lying down.

Uncle Rod wanted to take a picture of Hagen and Julian, and Hagen was being really shy and wouldn't do it. I said, "I'll take a picture with Julian!" and Hagen quick snuck in behind me.

The next day we all went to the Cleveland Zoo. We got a discount for being Dallas Zoo members which was kind of cool. The zoo was really nice and the weather was awesome - it was about 20 degrees cooler than Texas the whole time we were there which I absolutely loved. Anyway, here are some pictures from the zoo.

You can't really tell in this picture, but Promise FINALLY got Hagen to hold her hand when we went into the aquarium.

I LOVE this little red panda...too cute!

Having lunch at the zoo.

So, since the big reason for us being there was to see the Red Sox, of course we had to look for Sox stuff before the game. Mom (Grandmommie) bought Hagen a really cute cap. He wore it pretty much the rest of the trip.

Hagen and Julian were looking at bugs while we were looking at shirts.

Ready for the game! I had on my 2007 World Series Champs shirt. Hagen's jersey is about two years old now and I didn't realize it was a little short, but he was still very proud of it, expecially since Daddy and my cousin Cindy had the same one. We had dinner at the ballpark before the game, part of a picnic package that Uncle Rod found out about and got for us.

Hagen was intrigued with seeing some players up so close; the pitcher was warming up right below where our tables were.

Our friend Joe from Maryland ("Big" Joe to us, Uncle Joe to Hagen) also joined us for the week. Another friend of Shawn's from college lives in Cleveland so he also came for the picnic and game; it was fun.

Thanks to Uncle Rod for getting our name on the scoreboard in the 6th inning! My other four cousins from Dayton were also there along with a few of their kids but I didn't get pictures of them; I know Uncle Rod took a lot of pictures of everyone but I completely dropped the ball on getting pictures of them.

A couple of guys got chased by security and were escorted (errr...taken) off the field for jumping the stands and running on the field with something burning. Geniuses.

Shawn, Hagen and cousin Cindy in matching jerseys.

The view from our 12th floor hotel room. Hagen had great fun watching little airplanes take off and land from the little airfield right there. He also spent quite a bit of time, whenever we were in the room, tapping on the glass to knock off bugs that were on the outside of the window.













Little boy crashed after a long day......








The Hard Rock guitar by night.








The hotel had an indoor pool and hot tub and we went there a few times during our stay. Shawn got some shots of Hagen jumping into the pool. I had told Hagen about the pool before the trip and told him it was indoors. He asked if we needed indoor sunscreen. :-)











After all the family left on Thursday and Friday, we went with Uncle Joe to the science museum which was right by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and just a few blocks from the hotel. The science museum was really cool and they had a lot of hands-on exhibits which Hagen liked. We also saw the Omni movie called "Hubble" about the Hubble telescope which was REALLY cool.

Shawn, Joe and Uncle Rod went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one day while the girls (and little boys) went shopping. Here are some pictures that Shawn took. Of course Joe told me that Jon Bon Jovi was actually there dedicating his motorcycle and I missed him since I didn't go...that was not very nice.

I think this is cool:

Other vehicles: Billy Joel motorcycle, ZZ Top car, and Bruce Springsteen convertible.

Some cool guitars.

We bought Hagen a little Southwest Airlines playset at the Cleveland airport on the way out as a memento of the trip and since he really liked the plane. He fell asleep on our last flight. :-)