A Man, a Plan, a Canal, Ohio

About an hour from my father's home in Ohio runs a canal. On this canal one can take an historic canal tour on a replica of an old canal boat. Given the fact that this is my second time on the tour and each tour is narrated by a person very passionate about the history of the canal, I should be able to tell you more about it—even its name, maybe—but I can't. I am drawn to it more for the scenery and serenity, both of which are abundant.

Pop-pop with his youngest grandchild

The girls (me, Nora, and my beautiful niece Zoe) looking for turtles

Xavier, Zoe, and Sidamo at the front of the boat. Or the back.

After our tour, we all went to a fantastic playground to burn off some energy. It was so nice to see the big cousins playing so well with their little cousins. Because we're all scattered about the country, we don't get to see each other as often as we'd like. That means that every time I see Xavier and Zoe, they've grown about a foot apiece. I can't believe these were my teensy little niece and nephew three blinks ago. And that I used to change their diapers, and they used to spit up (profusely) on me, and I used to wake up with them in the middle of the night like I now do with my own kids, and now they're inches away from surpassing me in height. It's just not right.