Cincinnati

Its been about 5 years since I was last in Cincinnati. Tucker was about 18 months old, and I had just found out I was pregnant with Nora Jane.  It was for my 5 year high school reunion.  Ever since our Disneyland Trip last fall, I've been dying to take the kids to Kings Island, a large amusement park in Cincinnati that I grew up going to and still miss!!  So I began planning the trip with the kids for this summer.  As an added bonus, my good friend in Cincinnati was getting sealed to her little family in the Columbus Temple, and I was able to plan the trip to be there to witness it!

The flight there was probably the most eventful! About half way through the hour (maybe hour and a half) flight to Denver, Graydon let out a burp that had a little bit of a gag after it.  I’m still not sure where the instinct came from, but I grabbed the barf bag and had it ready to go, and caught it as it came out.  I was so proud of myself.  He then began to cry and pushed the bag away, so I thought he was done.  Then…came the real throw-up apple and French fry chunks everywhere.  The flight attendants and the lady across the aisle from us helped get him and me some what cleaned up.  Now I’m starting to get a little stressed…how are we going to survive the flight to Dayton after this one. (It was 2.5 hours.)  As we begin to land in Denver, late at 7:00 (and my flight to Dayton was leaving at 7:05) Graydon throws-up again….a ton!!! I’m completely covered and the flight attendants are strapped in their seats because we are literally landing.  There was nothing anyone could do…including myself, because we had to grab our carryon backpacks and make the next flight.  Oh, and Nora Jane began gagging at the site of all of it.  And when I put her backpack on her…it had a little bit of throw-up on it, which made her gag even more.  Just before the seat belt light went out…which really stressed Tucker out….I took off all our belts…and shoved him and his backpack down the aisle, so we could quickly get off this plane.  We finally got off, and I ran out of the gate yelling “Dayton!” (covered in vomit)…the agent pointed us the gate right next door, where the next agent was yelling Dayton to direct everyone onto the flight.  As I ran down the ramp I began to sob uncontrollably.  Tucker and Nora Jane’s eyes got huge with concern because I was crying.  We got on the plane and the stewardess motioned for my to come in their little food prep area to find out what was wrong, and through sobs I just said, “I made the flight”.  Graydon and I finally got to clean up a little, and he continued to throw up more on that flight, but it wasn’t food, cause he had none left in him and I was able to catch it all in paper towel things they brought me, because they don’t have blankets on the flights anymore, and he had thrown up on his.  We got into Dayton at about 12:00 midnight, and had to wait around for the agent to come on at 1:00 to file a claim for the stroller I had to leave in Denver at the gate as I ran to catch the next flight.  I think we got home around 2:40am.  It was pretty miserable.  I thought flying with 3 kids by myself was going to be a challenge….but I thought it would have been Nora Jane and Tucker causing the problems…I never imagined Graydon would give me any grief!!!

So, we arrived Friday night...well really early Saturday morning.  Slept as much as we could, then got ready and drove to Columbus, where my brother Justin, his wife Laural and 3 kids live.  They had agreed to watch my 3 kids while I went to the temple.

Nora Jane, Graydon, Cardon, Chase, Tucker and JJ

Here's my friend Lindsey, her husband Lance, children: Laney, Samantha and Bradley that were sealed in the temple.  They were also sealed to their son Parker, who died as an infant.  It was such a blessing to be able to be in the temple with them for this!

The Ringhands

Sunday as I was getting ready for church, I had Graydon all dressed for church, and was giving him his bottle of milk, because he was fine all day Saturday, he threw up all over his church clothes.  So Graydon and I weren't able to go to church with my parents and Nora Jane couldn't wake up (It'd been a rough few days) so Tucker went to church with them.  What a guy!

Monday I spent in the ER with Graydon just to make sure there wasn't something more wrong than just stomach virus, and there wasn't.

While visiting Grandma and Grandpa Olsons...one of the favorite things for granddaughters, is to dress up in our old dance costumes, and dance in Grandma's Dance Studio in the basement.  Here's Nora Jane having her first try at it.

And running through the sprinklers!

Tuesday and Wednesday we headed to Kings Island! The kids had a blast riding all the kiddie rides in "Planet Snoopy". The little roller-coaster in there is called the Beastie...and both kids rode it a bunch of times I was so glad!  My mom took Graydon home to sleep, since their house is just 5 minutes away from KI.  So I got to have fun with just Tucker and Nora Jane.

Nora Jane and Tucker dying of laughter on the Ladybug ride.

Tuesday afternoon, I sent Nora Jane home with my mom, and my brother, Justin, came to ride all the big rides with me.  We kept Tucker with us, and he rode a few of them, since he was big enough to ride them all but 4.

The first hill on Diamond Back...Tucker wasn't tall enough...but it was an awesome ride!

Eifel Tower at Kings Island

One of my favorite roller coasters ever is "The Beast".  It was built in 1979 and was the tallest, fastest (65 mph), longest wooden roller coaster in the world.  Now, 33 years later, at over 4 minutes long and sprawling over 35 acres, it still holds the title of the longest wooden roller coaster in the world.  When I figured out that Tucker would be tall enough to ride...I wanted him to do it so bad.  While we waited in the long line, I tried my best to not talk about whether he would ride or not too much.  As we were getting to the top of the line, Tucker gave in and said, "okay, I'll ride it."  Once we were at the gate, and our train was pulling up, he started to retract that statement...and so I quickly promised him a blue ice cream cone, back in the kiddie land, if he'd ride.  It worked!!  Here we are about to take off.  I'm so proud of this little guy, it was the highlight of the trip for me to be able to share this with him!

About to ride "The Beast"