Hocking Hills and Athens Birthday!

28. That's two years until 30. Eek.

We spent the morning and afternoon of my birthday in Hocking Hills and went to Athens for dinner. I love me some Athens. Life is good when you are at OU. But as much as I love my happy place, it was different this time. Toscanos was no longer. Kris and I had our first date at Toscanos. We ate there for our first four anniversaries. Kris proposed to me at that restaurant on our three year anniversary. We walked by in hopes that the news we heard was wrong. It wasn't. I was looking forward to getting a yummy decaf coffee drink from Perks, but it was no longer called Perks so I didn't feel right going in it. I also had plans to go to Coldstone but it was now a new ice cream shop. We planned to eat at Stephens that night but it also was no longer Stephens. The new place still looked like a nice restaurant, but they had a water main break that day so they were closed. We ended up having an absolutely amazing meal at Lui Lui though! Seafood, duck...yum yum! While many of the restaurants had changed, the most important thing, the bars, were the same for the most part, filled with versions of ourselves from six years ago.

We no longer felt like we owned this wonderful town. We had passed down the crazy nights out with our friends to "kids" who we hope appreciate college life as much as we did for it's such a special, memorable time. As Kris and I talked about how Athens changed, we realized that we actually changed more. We grew up. We're married. With real jobs. And a mortgage. And a baby. Life was wonderful while in college. And it's wonderful now. We're sad that Athens isn't the same, but cherish our memories and can't wait for more time there with Parker!

Parker loves moving her arms around like crazy when she is excited. It's safe to say that she loved Athens! And I loved being on College Green with her!

More Hocking Hills!

We spent the afternoon of our first full day poolside. The Hocking Hills State Park has a huge pool with waterslides and I couldn’t wait to introduce Parker to the water. Kris and I were nervous about how the afternoon would turn out since Parker was a bit fussy, but as soon as she hit the water she was all smiles and giggles! She loved being thrown up in the air, being spun around in the water, and “swimming” on her tummy. I was planning on having Parker start swimming lessons like yesterday but I think that we will wait until around one, one and a half to get her started since the lessons are more involved at that age then they would be right now.

The next day we woke up early thanks to our precious little alarm clock and headed to Ash Cave. And again, we were not disappointed! This cave had a lot of exploring to do but unfortunately it was a bit too slippery for Parker and I to venture off from the main area so Kris and Sydney explored on our behalf. While high up in the cave Kris ran into one of his coworkers. Small world! After spending a lot of time at Ash Cave it was time to relax at our cabin before heading back out to the pool. All in all a successful day. That was, until dinner time…

The restaurants are far and few between in Hocking Hills but we were lucky, or so we thought, to have a restaurant on site. We headed to it our second night and everything looked great…clean, nice looking, and there were a few other patrons. Then we opened the menu. Chicken, shrimp, steak, and beef were nowhere in site. Instead, they had rattlesnake, venison, rabbit, and things of the like. I wish that I had my camera on me to snap a picture of the menu. The dishes actually sounded good, sans wild game—they were made with yummy veggies, cheeses, and sauces—but we opted for the Roasted Red Pepper and Gouda soup and Fish and Chips. The soup was absolutely incredible. I’m on a mission to find a recipe that mirrors this deliciousness. The Fish n Chips…not so much. I took a couple bites, Parker started getting fussy, so we left. I was disappointed that I didn’t get to try their desserts. Another table ordered a Smores dessert thing and it looked so good! Before going to the Grouse Nest, Kris and I nicknamed it the Gross Nest just to be funny. Little did we know! We also wondered how they were able to turn a profit being in such a rural area. When you catch your own food it must be a good return!

Up next...my fabulous 28th spent in heaven on Earth...ATHENS!

Hocking Hills!

We had such a great time in Hocking Hills! Thankfully the drive down wasn’t nearly as horrible as I was imagining. It wasn’t enjoyable, but it wasn’t pure torture either. Parker did get pretty fussy on the trip but I was able to whip out my mama tools—singing Wheels on the Bus and the ABC song, reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Animal Sounds, and acting loony with her toys—and that calmed her down. I also can do a mad remix to any and every song on the radio to make it baby appropriate. I’m not sure who enjoys this more, Parker or Kris ;) And like I predicted Parker didn’t nap too long on the drive so imagine how many times I sang and read books!

We arrived in Hocking Hills after about six hours in the car. We had to make a few stops for nursing, diaper changes, and lunch which set us back about 1 ½ to 2 hours. But we got to the cabin in time to check in, unload, and play for the night. The cabin we had was so cute! There was a full kitchen and bath, one bedroom, a huge living space, a really cool upstairs loft with four twin beds, and a deck complete with a hot tub. I brought my fixed lens camera so I couldn’t get any good shots of the inside but I did snap some of the outside. We didn’t reserve the cabin until a week before the trip and practically everything was booked by that time. We were very lucky to have found a nice cabin so last minute! Even though it was nice, I never trust cabins/hotels to be clean so in true Stacie fashion I brought our own bed sheets, cleaned the cups, pots, and plates before using them, and put blankets on the floor so that Parker wouldn’t touch the carpet. I was envisioning crazy parties with college kids with beer and liquor and lord knows what else spilled on the floor. I’m going to guess that a steam cleaner hasn’t been around in a while!

We got a good night’s sleep and woke the next morning to see the sites. We first checked out Cedar Falls. I packed Parker in the Ergo, Kris held onto Sydney, and we hiked down through the trail. It was breathtaking! The rock formations, the trees, the river, the waterfall…it was all truly spectacular. We then went over to Old Man’s Cave and again, incredible. It was a huge nature-made playground! There were little caves to run though, water, and places to climb. Sydney had a blast leading the way and sniffing around. This vacation was made for her. Our shy little dog is now quite the brave thing. A dog was being walked towards us while we were at the bottom of the cave and Syd went nuts and barked at it. Her bark echoed throughout the entire cave!

Here are some pictures from the first part of our day. Up next will be pictures from Ash Cave and our little fishy in the pool!