Since we had just gotten back from an extended weekend in Illinois, we decided to make our trip during shut-down week (over the Fourth of July) a bit shorter. We spent a couple of days working at work (Peg) and around the house (Jon). It was a good chance to get our pool fixed and back up and usable after a elusive leak put it out of commission for the first month of our hot summer. It ended up being a pretty costly repair, but the kids sure to love it. We've gotten their agreement that they will continue to use and enjoy it for all of the adolescent and teenage years…so that we can get our return on investment.
We took off on July 4th and drove to Ohio to spend a couple of days with Grandma and Grandpa Shibata. We enjoyed watching and flying Grandpa's remote control helicopter and airplane and a dip in the pool. Of course it wouldn't be a trip to Grandpa's house without a couple of rides on his golf cart.
On Thursday night, we drove over to Pittsburgh to stay with Aunt Jess and get ready for the rest of the Pittsburgh activities. We spent Friday with Aunt Jess and Uncle James' family. We took a Ducky Tour of Pittsburgh. It was pretty interesting, driving around downtown Pittsburgh learning about all the history and then going out on the river (just the Ohio river, not the Allegheny or Monongahela) for a short boat ride. The kids even enjoyed it and JJ got to drive the boat! He was the only one brave enough. That evening we had a cookout with the cousins and Joey had his very first sleepover! We were a bit surprised that he wanted to stay even though Marie didn't, but it turns out that he did great! We are so blessed to have wonderful family and cousins that our kids can be close with!
On Saturday we headed back over to Uncle James' for Gracie's 3rd birthday party. There was lots more playing (thank goodness for water toys), visiting, eating, to go with the cake and presents. We learned that Stevie is VERY fond of Joy (age 6 months) and we think just likes babies in general. He was actually upset with me when I gave Joy a reprieve from sitting on his lap. She tolerated him very well, but a girl can only take so much! We were also pleasantly surprised that Uncle Joel, Aunt Jen, and TJ made the trip over right after their return to the States from Kazakhstan. It's not all that often that we have ALL the Shibata's together and our time flew by quickly.
Our drive back to Michigan on Sunday went smoothly and quickly. We stopped again in Ohio and had lunch with Grandma and Grandpa Shibata and made a quick trip to a park. Overall, it was another successful and enjoyable shut-down week trip.
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