Midwest Tour, Part I

With two weddings and a work trip for Emily, we decided to string all of our visits to the Midwest into one large trip. It was nice to get to go to both weddings to visit old high school friends as well as to spend some time with each of our families.
We took the redeye flight Friday night to arrive in Cincinnati Saturday morning. Luckily Emily's frequent travel status got us both upgraded to First Class.....already off to a great start!
Once in Cincinnati, we drove to St. Louis and met up with Emily's parents. We got cleaned up and headed to Blake's (Emily's H.S. friend) wedding.

Dressed to impress for Blake's wedding

the happy new couple, Blake and Colleen

hanging out at the reception with Mike and Andrea

Taking a brief break from dancing for a photo op: Blake, Em, Mike

We had an awesome time at the wedding...I did my best to embarrass myself on the dance floor.
On Sunday morning, we had dim sum with Emily's parents and Uncle Bill and Aunt Jackie; it is always a great time when we are all together. We only wish we had more time to hang out in St. Louis. Thanks Uncle for the cigars!! :)
Just as soon as we came, we left....back on the road, but not without stopping at our favorite coffee shop on the way out of St. Louis. If you are ever in town, Coffee Cartel is a must stop; their Mocha Frappe is made with real ice cream and bold coffee and worth the drive to the Central West End.
Juiced up on caffeine, we set the GPS to Enterprise Road and headed to Ohio. As an added bonus, my sister Karen and her kids were visiting from Beirut so we were lucky to coincide our trips with theirs. Adding to the fun, Kristy and Pat brought little Elliot down from Chicago. Since we had a critical mass of out-of-towners, my Mom decided to have an impromptu cookout and invited some additional family and friends over to the house.

All of the kids - it has been about a year since I have seen each of them - they are growing up too fast!

My cousin Jill and her little R.J.

Kristy and Elliot: he has a full belly after chugging a bottle of milk....I think the next step is nap time.

Pat wrestling with my nephew Grant

Elliot hamming it up for the camera as always!

On Monday, we took the kids to the pool and had a great time. On Tuesday, Emily had to drive down to Lexington, KY for a work trip which would occupy her until Friday. She was melancholy that she was not going to get to eat our favorite strawberry salad at the Tearoom (since they are only open Wed-Sat). Luckily, I know the owner (wink, wink), so I arranged for a special order to be prepared on Tuesday while the rest of the staff was already on site prepping food for the next day.
Em drove to Lexington and I stayed in Ohio to spend additional time with family......

....to be continued....

(Brad's adventures in Ohio, Kersey's wedding in Columbus, and a last supper at Outback will be addressed in Part II.....thanks for reading; more to come!)