Cincinnati
We took a post-holiday visit for 4 days to see the family, since the flights to Cincy are pretty ridiculous during the holidays. It’s amazing to see your own kids grow up, but it’s even more incredible to see other people’s children, the ones that you see regularly but not too often. It’s been about 2 years since we saw my cousin’s family, and her son must have grown 6 inches in that time. My nephew, Nathan, is a 1st grader and he looks like a *kid* instead of a toddler. But he still plays really well with Sammie and is still obsessed with Spiderman, so it’s nice to see that some things don’t change.
Sammie seemed to get right into the swing of things, and after a few minutes she seemed to remember everybody no matter where we went. The best part is that she gets along great with my mom (Grandma Ursula), giving Huong and I some space. She had a lot of fun walking going on walks with her and their dog.
Weather-wise, Cincinnati in February is a cold place. It was a lot of freezing rain and occasional snow mixed in for good measure. Sammie didn’t seem to mind in the least that she was playing more with ice than snow. The drive down from Columbus the night we arrived was pretty exciting – it’s been a while since I’ve driven in snow, and the freeways hadn’t been plowed or salted yet. A nice reminder why I moved to California.
A nice trip overall, the only thing missing was cheese coneys. My mom was on another cooking kick, so there was always a home-cooked meal waiting. I guess I can live with that.