Mom & Dad G Visit

The last full week of June, my parents came out to BG to visit (and to see the house!). They decided to make a big road trip in Mom's new car, so they took a couple of days to drive out to OH, spent a day doing some tourist stuff in Dayton, then met up with us in BG around dinner time on Monday. When they got here, we started with a tour of the house, then walked over to a restaurant downtown. Since they'd had a few really long days getting out here, we just hung out for a bit before they called it a night. 

On Tuesday, Dad and I spent the morning coming up with a way to repair my hope chest, which Grandpa Mike made me when I was a teenager, and which I cracked pretty badly this spring (it was an issue with one of the spring hinges on the lid). Now, Dad says, the repaired section is the strongest corner of the whole chest--it does seem pretty secure! Meanwhile, Mark took Mom to Best Buy to do some window shopping for laptops. Since she's retired, she doesn't have a computer anymore, so they talked about what she'd like to be able to do and came up with some possible options. They got home about the time Dad and I were cleaning up, just in time for lunch at another downtown restaurant, followed by an afternoon of shopping and checking out some historic homes in the nearby streets. I actually found a historic downtown walking tour guide in my files, so we were able to learn about a bunch of the old storefronts and homes. Along the way, we stopped for some ice cream at Eric's. Later, we ordered pizza and watched a movie (Hulk, because Mom wanted to know more about his backstory). 

hanging out with Dad on the front porch

sent this selfie with a display of socks
to Grandma to say "thinking of you,
wish you were here!"

me with Dad and Mark on Main Street 
(Mark is standing in the shade on purpose)

The next day, we walked around Sidecut metropark in Toledo and did some info gathering at La-Z-Boy for future furniture purchases (Mark's game room and the guest room). Later in the afternoon, we did some more walking around to see historic houses, then stopped by the Famer's Market downtown to browse and get dinner there from one of the food trucks--pretzel calzones! Back at our place, we played Trekking the National Parks, a board game kind of like Ticket to Ride. 

Mom & Dad on the other side of one
of the locks in the park

Mark and me on the bridge

Mom and me by one of the locks

Dad checking out the lock up close

Mark and me on a sculptural bench

Mark, me, and Dad by a lock

Mom in front of a very cute old house

this is a really big old house on Wooster

a pretty blue Victorian house (recently sold)

Dad and me on Wooster Green

Mark and I used my parents' visit as an excuse to pick up some donuts from our favorite local place to share in the morning on Thursday. After that, Mark and Dad hung up some stuff on the walls, including a coat rack by the front door (very helpful!) and a few other things here and there. Turns out we don't really have much artwork--and almost nothing we picked out together (lots of miscellaneous stuff I've collected when travelling, actually, and lots of that from before we were married). So...we have an idea in mind for over the couch, but we'll have to save up a bit. Anyway, Mark works in Delta on Thursdays, so Mom, Dad, and I went to the Wood County Museum and then to the huge antique store in Findlay. We also stopped at a newer antique store in town, then met up with Mark for dinner and ice cream at one of our favorite spots, the Sundae Station. 

Mom and me under a stone arch at the museum

a cool new-ish display at the museum tracking
sites of the old county homes in each county--
many have been torn down, others repurposed

a lovely herb garden behind the museum

Dad with old farm equipment on the museum grounds

Mom & I checked out some cute gift shops 
by the antique store

our dinner at Sundae Station--Mom brought the 
picnic blanket/tablecloth, I brought some veggies 
from home! (we got ice cream after the hot food :-)

On Friday, our streak of perfect, unseasonably cool, sunny weather ended, and it rained off and on all day. Dad didn't mind--he was happy to get some of the bugs from the road trip washed off! In the morning, Dad and Mark worked on adjusting some of our doors that weren't closing nicely (this turned out to be much more of a pain than anticipated...). Meanwhile, Mom & I did a bit more shopping in town--we checked out a shop I hadn't been to yet that had lots of cute furniture and home décor stuff (nothing in my style, per se, but very cute). Mid-morning, we left for proper tea at the Swan House in Findlay. Then we checked out the Mazza picture book museum on the University of Findlay campus. The exhibits were so interesting--I'm really glad I finally went! (I'd heard about this place from a couple of friends on campus who teach children's literature). Mark bought me a cool dinosaur pop-up book for my birthday (he'd already gotten me a necklace at one of the shops downtown, but after seeing me in the pop-up book gallery, decided I needed my own! So very thoughtful :-). For dinner, we celebrated my birthday at a local BBQ place I've been wanting to try for a couple years...finally made it...and it was delicious!

group photo at the Swan House

top tier: sweet treats

middle tier: savories

bottom tier: quiche and other bites

Mark & me with the tea tray

Me and Mark at the Mazza museum in front of a
fun statue of kids walking along a big log

Dad in one of the galleries--showing the actual
book under the framed illustration on the wall

a Cat in the Hat statue

plaster casts of the illustrators' hands

Dad & Mom enjoying the artwork

me with several different elephant illustrations

close up of a dragon pop-up illustration

more of the pop-up gallery

birthday dinner! (I also enjoyed eating both my
leftovers and Mom & Dad's over the next few days!)

Mom & Dad left early Saturday morning for the next phase of their road trip adventure in Lexington, KY. They did a bit more exploring around Tennessee and Arkansas before making their way back through Oklahoma and home. It was really great to see them--thanks again for coming, Mom & Dad!