Columbus Day 1

Gaetan was invited to this physics conference in Columbus, and since there was funding for him to go we were able to go as a family and turn it into a bit of a vacation!  I know when you tell most people that you're going on vacation to Columbus it doesn't sound that glamorous but it is actually a cool place.  Most of OH is so-so but because OSU is there I think that changed a lot of things.  Dude had his last music visitation that day with Mrs Boal so we went to that in the morning.  Then, we got home and packed things up so that we could be on the road and check into the hotel on time.  Its about a 4.5 hour trip but it was a little longer with potty stops and all that.  Norah did amazingly well the entire trip and only had one accident, which is really good considering the surroundings were unfamiliar and we were in public a lot.  We made it the hotel just fine, but as we were pulling in our car was making quite the unhappy noise.  :(  There wasn't a whole lot we could do about it since we were there but it was something that we were gonna have to get looked at soon.  The kiddos were really excited that there was a pool so we hit that up first.  The room itself was really nice for what we needed.  There were two queen beds and then a little living room area with a fold out couch.  It was perfect for Norah.  I was a little apprehensive about staying in a hotel for so many nights because the last time we stayed in one the first night was awful trying to get the kids to go to sleep... but we had a plan this time around!




After the kiddos swam and enjoyed the hot tub I realized it was getting pretty late and we hadn't eaten dinner yet.  So, we asked them what they wanted to eat and they said Olive Garden.  It was pretty clear that they were exhausted from the drive down but they were doing well... until... we found a tick on Dude's head.  I was so entirely grossed out but didn't want to freak out in front of him because I didn't want him to worry.  He had put his head down on Gaetan and Gaetan was rubbing his back and his head... and that's when we found it.  We have no idea when he got it or how long but it wouldn't come out easily.  We quickly got our food in boxes and then had to head over to Wal-Mart (that's how desperate we were) to get tweezers and rubbing alcohol.  I can't even begin to tell you how nasty it was... so G successfully got it off of him and we flushed it down the toilet.  Of course, after that, we did a thorough check of everyone else and we were good to go.  We think that he might have gotten it from the backyard from our place and our neighbor said that she has found ticks on her dog too... yippee.  I know that they said that ticks were really bad this year, but COME ON! GROSS!





To help everyone feel a little better we went swimming until the pool closed and then got the kiddos in bed.  They were exhausted and did a great job of going to sleep.  Norah was quite happy with her little set up in the little room over and she went right to sleep.  :)
































I was happy to be sleeping as well.  Poor G had to wake up early and go to the conference to register and to listen to a few talks.  But... that is for day 2.

JVG