All the Haakes in Ohio

So for the rest of our winter break we had our travel back to see family. It was amazing to see everyone, and was much needed. So we headed to Ohio on the best flowing 24ish hours of travel (flights and layovers combined). Seriously, all the flights went smoothly and the kids did really well. It was pretty great. I really am starting to feel that our kids are going to become world traveling experts.

The evening we arrived Mike, Steph, and Sam came over to my parents and we celebrated Pace's 11th birthday with a really cool Storm Trooper cake my parents had done. I was really impressed. And I guess we were having so much fun I didn't take any pictures. It was also our first night of the trip to play kickball (but we played almost every night). On the second day my kids helped my dad cut doown a tree in his back yard. Grant, Louis and Kai got a big kick out of hauling all the wood into a pile. Grant even created signs around the yard with some of the logs creating a nature trail, which he took me on in the evening. I also snuck away for a lunch with Caroline, which was so great to spend time with her and catch up. Again somehow we didn't take any pictures. On Sunday our path's split because of the loss of my dear Oma, who had passed away about a week earlier.The timing worked out so that I could be there for her funeral. It was a blessing to have that time of closure since I was unable to attend my Opa's funeral 9 months earlier. So on Sunday I flew with my Mom to Utah. Where we had time to be with my aunts, uncles, and cousins. It was so good to be together to remember her. She was a strong little lady who was so grateful for everything. She taught me so many things especially the importance of family history and temple work. I loved visiting her as a kid and as an adult while going to college. And I feel blessed to have so many great memories with her. Part of me is so sad that we never lived close enough for her and my Opa to ever really know their great grandkids well. But I have been trying to share stories and memories with them. Anyway, my mom and I spent Sunday night with family and Ben and Beth were also able to be there. I was able to participate in the funeral by giving the family prayer and being a pallbearer with some of my cousins. Then on Monday after the funeral we started the cross country drive back to Ohio in Ben and Beth's truck. It was a strait drive through. We all took four hour shifts driving until we got to my parents house. We got there around 11 pm on Tuesday night. We did hit some crazy rain and thunderstorms around Kansas and Missouri. The lightning was really beautiful at times, lighting up the whole sky frequently, like a firework show.

While my mom and I were gone Jake, my dad, Sam, Mike, Steph and Liz had fun with the boys. My dad and Jake took the kids to the Warther Museum in Dover Ohio. This guy was an incredible wood carver and hand carved models of trains and other things. The kids loved it and Jake snagged us a knife sharpener for our Warther knives. Sam and Jake took the kids on a hike on the Towpath. My dad gave Jane a driving lesson and the boys lawn-mowing lessons. And Jake did a great job of taking pictures.

On Wednesday we all slept in and then my brother Zach arrived in Ohio. So all of the Haakes were back in Ohio. It had been a long time since we were all together in Ohio. That night we had a picnic at Mike and Steph's neighborhood lake. We swam, threw each other off the dock, played at the playground, and just had fun being together. Thursday some of our crew (some had to work) all got together at the Holden Arboretum for the day. We checked out the flower garden, played at the playground (small zipline included), went up the tower, and did the canopy walk, and saw the model train area. The gardens were pretty great and it reminded me a lot of the Japanese gardens.

We got hot dogs at a local place and then our little family did a detour to the Kirtland Temple. It is a pretty special place and I am really glad we took the time to visit and share that history with the kids.

That night Beth and Liz set up a sweet obstacle course and we all had fun going through it. I think Jake was the ultimate winner. Watching everyone go through was some pretty great entertainment. On Friday we got spoiled by Liz with a behind the scenes tour of the Akron Zoo. We loved it. We got to see them feeding the Gibbons, make shell rubbings of tortises, go in the red panda house, watch a tiger follow Liz as she walked next to the enclosure, see the back side of the lion enclosures, and feed grizzly bears apple slices from our hands. It was so amazing and I can totally see how much Liz loves the animals and how they love her. I feel totally blessed to have such an amazing zookeeper in the family.

That night we did a photo shoot and we got some keepers. Nothing like some great cheesy pictures.

On Saturday some of us did a hike at Silver Creek Metropark. After everyone got together and hung out at my parents house, had a water fight, read stories, played our last night of kickball, and had a campfire. The waterfight was pretty epic. The day was hott, but that water was ice cold so we were squealling every time we got hit. One of the funniest things that day was that Sam kicked the kickball so high and hard one time that it got lodged in the tree. It took multiple hits with another ball to get it out. We were all cracking up by the time we finally got it out.

Sunday we had a final farewell breakfast before we all started heading out. We were the last to leave as we headed to catch our flight to Canada. A big thanks to my amazing family for being the amazing people that they are and for all the work they put into making this get together so fun. We love you guys!