USA Trip: Cincinnati - part 3 (Wed 19th Sept-Fri 21st Sept)

Wednesday 19th September - Slept in, got up & did some washing. Checked emails, facebook, etc. Booked bus tickets for Pittsburgh, Boston & New York and booked hotels in Pittsburgh & Boston. Looked at bus from New York to Memphis & it's a 2.5 day trip so decided to fly instead & looked at flights. Looked at hotels in New York, got tired so went & folded my washing. Was a very relaxing day at home. And, yes, there are no photos. LOL

Thursday 20th September - Went to Vickie's podiatrist & got the cracks cut out of my heels. Yay!! Then picked up Amanda from work & went to JC Penney to get me a couple of t-shirts. It is a HUGE store. And of course I found more than just a couple of t-shirts. There was so much I wanted to buy, but I have to be very careful as my luggage was 49lbs when I arrived in Cincinnati and the weight limit for the bus is 50lbs (23kg). After a couple of hours in JC Penney, with Vickie & Amanda so patiently waiting for me, we headed to the check-out. I bought a couple of t-shirts & a couple of other tops for myself, oh & a skirt, and a couple of tops for Madison as they were just too pretty for me to resist, and a couple of t-shirts for Raphael coz they were just so cute. I could buy SO MUCH stuff here!! Is a bit difficult shopping for others tho as the sizes are different to back home so I have to hold the clothing up & try to picture the person in it. I know the t-shirts for Raphael will be a bit big, and I think one of the tops for Madison is going to be a bit big, but they will grow into them. :-) We got back home & I sorted out my shopping and packed away stuff to be brought home. I then sorted & renamed photos from the zoo with the intention of updating my blog but got sidetracked looking at photos of home I had brought with me, got a bit emotional looking at them, I've been away for a month!! Then I got told dinner was ready so I came out & had dinner & then watched a couple of dvd's. Some people headed to bed so I checked the time and skyped Dad & Joan for about half an hour. Then I texted Chris to check what time he would be home so I could skype my cat (my big beautiful black baby boy), had a couple of hours to wait so I checked facebook & played a couple of solitaire games on my tablet till he came online. Chris came online about 2am my time and my tablet decided to play up (damn technology!!) so I had to disconnect & restart my tablet & reconnect again. It was all good after that & I was able to see my baby!! I started talking to him to get him to look at the screen then banged my head on the table when I remembered he is completely deaf. LOL After a few minutes Chris had to take Shadow back upstairs as he could see Brian outside the ranchslider & started trying to get to the ranchslider. I then continued talking to Chris, catching up on all that was happening back home, and catching him up on all that had been happening here (he obviously isn't reading my blog. GGRRRRRR!!!! LOL). Then Diane, Chris's Mum, popped her head round the door so I talked to her for a bit, then Chris some more, then finally signed off about 3.45am my time. Made my way to my bed (air mattress on the lounge floor, very comfy thank you very much) and fell asleep.
Again, no photos taken this day. :-)

Friday 21st September - Woke up about 8am & lay in bed (ie. on air mattress) for a while. Finally got up about 9am & made me a cup of tea & some toast with vegemite. :-D By mid-morning the house was quiet as Jonas was at school, Larry was at work, Vickie was asleep as she was up with Violet most of the night, Amanda was in the other bedroom, Renee & Violet were in the recliner chair watching kids tv trying to get Violet to go to sleep & I was on the couch watching kids tv too. LOL Once Violet had gone to sleep (about 10.30am) I quietly made myself another cup of tea, got my tablet out, sat at the dining room table and started updating my blog. About lunchtime people started waking up & the house got back to normal. I had a shower after lunch & as I had the window open I could see the backyard & as I was looking at the backyard I thought I could see something fuzzy by the shed so I squinted a bit & realised that it was the resident groundhog. My 1st sighting of a real groundhog. After getting dressed I checked out the kitchen window & he was still there so I got my camera & took a couple of photos, which was not easy as he is very shy & everytime he heard me step onto the gravel he ran inside his burrow. Later that afternoon I had another 1st when I saw the resident squirrel, they had been a bit worried as he hadn't been seen for a few days, and I managed to get a couple of photos of him as well. As we had all had a lazy day I suggested that we have Skyline Chilli for dinner since it was something I hadn't tasted yet & they told me that the chilli was very mild. I had 2 Cheese Coney's (little hot dogs with chilli & cheese on them) and a Loaded Cheese Bowl (bowl of chilli with sour cream & cheese on it). The 2 Cheese Coney's I ate with no problem, I only had half of the chilli & that was enough to set of my reaction. It wasn't too bad, but there was no way I could eat anymore. After dinner I went with Amanda to see her eldest daughter Jaicelyn (13), who LOVES my accent where I was surrounded by her & her friends asking me all sorts of questions about New Zealand, luckily I still remembered most of the stuff I had googled earlier in the week. After being the centre of attention for about half an hour we then headed off to pick up her youngest 2 kids Jalob (9) & Jayden (8). While we were driving from one place to another we saw a lightning storm in the distance & then it rained, very heavy rain in some parts. We stopped & got a couple of dvd's from "Redbox" and then headed home. Vickie & I were going to head out for a boogie but it was too cold & wet so we stayed home. We ended up doing a late night drive & then when we got back I had another 1st sighting, this time of an american opossum, I didn't get any photos tho as it was very dark & it ran away when I opened the door. We went inside & everyone was asleep so we had a couple of beers, chatted & watched a dvd before heading to bed at about 3am.