Ohio spring break

 Since we didn't get to go to Ohio for Christmas, we decided to drive out for a few days during spring break.  Some people know that I ordered a Piecaken for Christmas and had it delivered directly to my sister's house in Ohio.  It comes frozen, packed in dry ice, so she put it straight in the freezer, in case we got the chance to come out to visit.  

So here it is...

It has a layer of pecan pie on the bottom, pumpkin pie in the middle and spice cake on the top.  The cake is covered in a spice buttercream frosting, and topped with apple pie filling.  I thought it was delicious and now I want to try one of the other flavors. 

We played a lot of games

Playing ukulele

Some people went to the zoo so they did this photo re-creation.

  

NYC visit

 

Day one, we walked around a little while the parents were at a concert.  Here they are in front of the NY Public Library

Day two, I took my niece to see Dear Evan Hansen.  the brothers went to see other shows.  She loved the show! 

We couldn't get a good picture out front of the theater because of the scaffolding, but that's her in front.

Day three I took both nieces to see Six.  

Playing in Central Park

Christmas 2021, part 2

 After Christmas, I took my niece to the city to visit the American Girl Doll store.  When we drove by, she said, "It's better than I even imagined."  Here she is with her doll in front of the display.  

We met up with some friends and their daughter, who also has a doll.  Here they are in a cute car that is in the "Julie" section of the store.  

And posing in front of the Christmas tree.

One of the things you can do here is get your doll's hair done.  (yes, really)

She was happy with how it came out. 

The store is across the street from Rockefeller Center, so we stopped by to see the tree, too. 

Christmas 2021

 Just a few pictures from Christmas this year.  

Before I went to NJ, I got tested for Covid, since I had been exposed to a few people that later tested positive.  It took 4 hours, but my test came out negative. 

Spring break, part 6

As usual, after visiting my parents, I made a stop in Denver to visit my sister and her cute family.  The first night, we went down to the park near their house.  

My first full day, we went for a short hike here.  My little nephew posed for me with the thumbs up sign.  When I commented, he quickly changed it to thumbs-down.  (Typical 5 year old behavior.)

Here I am wearing the same clothes I wore all vacation, apparently!

A little April snow

And of course, treats at the end of the day!

 

Christmas 2020

Somehow, I managed to take almost no pictures this year. This is pretty much it.    

My niece's grandpa was helping her build a rack for all her doll clothes.  She got a lot of new clothes for Christmas, made by her grandma Shauna.  

Playing Headbandz.  We got very good at this game.  

Little visitor

My sister and her family moved last week, so she and my niece came and stayed with me for a few days.  She did remote school from my spare room, and had lunch from 12-1 every day, so I took her to the park during that time.  The first day, all the kids were really young and she was ready to leave after about 10 minutes.  But the second day, she made some friends.   

After school and work, Jill and I took her on a little walk down to the Little Red Lighthouse 

Eating breakfast before school.  

We had a fun time and maybe we will have another slumber party soon.  

Ohio part 2

While I was in Ohio, I worked remotely some of the days.  My niece would be working on math work during the day, and when she was finished, she would turn on a show she likes and these two would watch together.   I walked down the stairs at the end of the day, and they would have these goofy grins on their faces.  

This was another day when the same thing happened.  As soon as I started to take a picture, they'd look up and smile, but what I wanted was the picture of them watching the show.  

It was very hot while I was there, so this one decided to make a little cooling station for himself.  It was the cutest thing.  

This girl loves her swing.  When I arrived on the first day, they were making some new reinforcements.  This one is working so far.  

Here we are on a hike in Cuyahoga National Park. 

He found this great walking stick, and also used it as a pole vault.

Here's one of the grownups

Another hike in a State park (we visited a lot of parks because there's not much else to do during a pandemic, and I also wanted to keep active after being stuck in the city for four months).