Landon Goes to Cincinnati

On Thursday, Valentine’s Day, L.J. embarked on his first road trip. He called dibs on the front seat:

(Just kidding…he traveled safely secured in his car seat.)

I have to brag on my baby for a minute, because he was awesome in the car. He hardly made a peep the whole time. He either slept or was content to stare off into space look out the window.

We arrived in Cincinnati around dinnertime, which meant we hit some rush hour traffic. It was still much better than Atlanta’s rush hour traffic, but then again that’s not hard to beat.

There really aren’t words to convey how excited my Grandma was to meet L.J. – and how much it meant to me to introduce him to her. Every since I got pregnant all she has talked about is holding and snuggling L.J. when he is small and squishy.

At one point she quietly said to L.J., “I didn’t think I was ever going to get to meet you.” That comment really tugged at my heart. From the day I told her I was pregnant I promised that I would bring him up as soon as he was old enough to travel. But she is getting older and frailer…and I know she was worried that she might not get to meet him. I try not to think about that too much. It’s very hard to accept that someone you love so much isn’t going to be around forever. It makes me very sad to know that L.J. won’t grow up with the wonderful memories of Grandma that we have, but I feel so very blessed that they were able to meet and spend time together.

Friday we went to a Cincinnati classic, Skyline Chili, for lunch. Delicious, of course. We had to take the obligatory Skyline photo with L.J. since he’s too little to enjoy this treat:

Afterwards we spent the afternoon helping my Grandma run a few errands. That evening, several family members stopped over at my Grandma’s to see us and meet L.J.

Everyone was curious to see how my cousin, Taylor, would react. It was anticipated that she would completely ignore the baby and become very clingy to my Aunt Kris (her mom) if she held the baby. She surprised us all! She sat thisclose to Aunt Kris, but looked at L.J. and even reached out to touch his hand. When asked if L.J. could spent the night with Taylor and mommy, her response was “Yes” – the opposite of the emphatic “No!” we expected. (Of course, the likelihood of her agreeing to that situation if it actually happened is probably about zero.)

Taylor picked out a doll at the Disney Store for L.J. It ended up being quite the conversation piece, sparking a 20 minute discussion on which fairy godmother it was (Fauna from Sleeping Beauty, if you’re curious) and the differences between the fairy godmothers in Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. Among other things, the Sleeping Beauty fairy godmothers have small wings on their backs and are also less rotund than the fairy godmother in Cinderella, who bears a passing resemblance to Paula Deen pre-weight loss.

Friday night we went to the Fish Fry at my uncle’s church. Lenten Fish Fry’s in the Midwest are as prevalent as Waffle House’s are in the South. The food was very tasty. Food doesn’t always have to be fancy or creative…there’s something to be said for a good old fashioned fish fry.

The church, St. John, was my family’s church when I was very little and the dinner was held in the gymnasium – the same building where I attended kindergarten and where my mom assisted with Sunday School. I haven’t been in there in probably 20-25 years, so it was a neat little step back in time for all of us. And, yes, I did peek into my old classroom.

Saturday was a really neat day. My brothers’ and I have commented that we don’t find Cincinnati to be the most attractive of cities. We only remember the suburb where we lived, and to get out near our family you have to take I-75 through the city. The view is brown, old, industrial and usually coupled with Cincinnati’s gray skies…so you can see where we get that impression. We needed an activity on Saturday that wouldn’t involve much walking, so we picked up my Grandma and went on an abridged driving tour of Cincinnati.

We started out down by the riverfront, touring a new 4-story row house that my uncle is building. The home is directly on the river. I’m not that familiar with row houses, so it was interesting to tour one. This particular house had the main living areas (kitchen, living room, dining room) on the fourth floor in order to maximize the river views. It was a unique concept, though not one I would choose for my own home.

After that my Grandma suggested we drive across the river to look at a basilica with an enormous stained glass window. It’s the largest pictorial stained glass window in the world.

The basilica was really cool. It was stunningly beautiful. We got a bit of a bonus – organ practice had commenced, so we were able to look around at everything accompanied by beautiful music.

Even the Stations of the Cross were unique – they were set into the walls using mosaic tile. Each Station was very detailed.

This was actually L.J.’s first foray into a church. I hope he’s not disappointed by the less elaborate churches at home!

We had worked up quite an appetite by this point, so we made our way to Mt. Adams. I’ve always heard of Mt. Adams but had never been there. It reminded me of neighborhoods in San Francisco because of all the steep hills. We came across a place called The Rookwood that sits at the top of Mt. Adams. It used to be a famous pottery studio, but my parents remembered it as a bar from their college days. Now it’s home to a restaurant. We decided to stop there for lunch. The restaurant itself was pretty neat – all the enormous old pottery kilns were still intact – but the food and service were quite disappointing.

L.J. was the only one who enjoyed The Rookwood because he was freed from his car seat and spent the meal happily stretching out on the bench we were sitting on.

After lunch we made our way through Eden Park before concluding our tour with a drive through the University of Cincinnati campus. I have to say…I have a much different (and improved) opinion of Cincinnati now.

We spent Saturday evening visiting with my Grandma. L.J. got lots of snuggle time with Grandma!

We drove home on Sunday and L.J. once again was a rock star traveler, hardly uttering a peep the whole way home. He is so good in the car!