Boys like Baseball?

Last Thursday the whole Nordyke clan set out across the midwest. Baseball was calling the men. We spent the night in Peoria after watching Veronica Mars the whole way. Ice cream at Chevys (the only thing I personally deemed safe to eat). And while I watched Conan, Tim disappeared with Mitch to the bars of Peoria.

Friday started with free breakfast at the hotel, and now its such an awesome rarity these days that it deserves its own sentence in this post. The long driving day involved a showing of "Hes just not that into you" and "Fanboys." Checked into the Hilton downtown Cincinatti, a magnificent piece of hotel. And hit up some Rock Bottom BBQ before I walked the boys over to the stadium. I chose to work out in the biggest gym I have ever seen instead of feeding my face with free food at the game. But I did get some shots in before the gates opened up.

I met up with mom for dinner, only to be ignored at the hotel restaurant, but ended up at McCormick and Schmicks. (The Carribbean Shrimp salad is DELISH). And then the amazing purse recovery expedition occurred. It involved me barrel rolling over vehicle barriers and spiraling up 7 floors in a parking garage. But then I managed to talk my way into the stadium to get up to the boys to watch the huge fireworks display after the game. It was awesome. 20 minutes of set to music fireworks. Great show.

Chris and I were up early to workout on Saturday, but it was well worth it. I somehow convinced the family to trek to the Cincinnati branch of First Watch.

Oh how I love thee fruit crepes. Hotel check out was far too early and we were forced to wander the streets of Cincinnati as well as Newport, KY. But I did get my stamp at the Taft NHS. We eventually found the zoo, but by then there wasn't time. And the black people museum was too expensive. So we found a strip mall and dad bought me some cute tops at Dillards (because hes the man).

We dropped mom off at the shuttle location so she could go back to the B&N and the restaurant area, and went to the second game of the series. PS. Cubs playing the Reds, hence why we made the hike to Ohio. Game took forever. The boys had to see all of the warm ups, so we were at the field for about 6 hours before we left in the 11th inning because we had to make it to Dublin.

I was well entertained though, I read some magazines, ate a pretzel, and took lots of pictures. Made it to Dublin super late and crashed in the small childrens room on the floor. Woke up, chilled with Aunt Carol and Uncle Mike through breakfast, and then the men left to the Memorial Golf tournament, only blocks from Carol's house. They were gone for a few hours. And Carol's son, wife, and kids came by and we hung out until lunch was put out, the boys got back from the golf tournament and seeing Tiger Woods practice (all nice and crispy from the sun). And by 2pm, we hit the road for the 10.5 hour drive back to Iowa. For our viewing pleasure, we had "Defiance," "Outlander," and "Veronica Mars" but Christopher had other plans.

The kid can sleep in any position for hours. Despite a Frosty break, a Panera dinner stop, and a bathroom break at a truck stop, we were home by 11ish. I swear it was the weekend that lasted a month. A month! But all was grand.