Return Flight

The airport was so exciting for the kids I think the return flight deserved it's own post.

Going home seemed to go much more smoothly.  First off the airport was pretty empty, there were no crowds and we got through security pretty quickly.

We kind of got into a groove of how to walk through the airport with four kids all carrying their own suitcases.  At first it was a jumble or us taking up the entire walkway and the kids cutting people off and then dropping their suitcases so stopping traffic completely.  We definitely had escalator issues.  Some of our kids were scared to go on while some already went down alone one child even fell on the escalator.  It was a mess our first few times.

For our return trip through the airport we walked mostly single file with one parent taking the lead and one in the rear watching all the kids.  It went pretty well.

Here the kids are at the gate with our huge mound of stuff.  I can't remember what Scarlett was upset about.

How could I not go to Graeters one last time when our gate was right next to it?

Selfie while waiting.

Neither flight was delayed and they was even less turbulence.

One of the best parts was that we got home right around dinner time.  We had enough time to unpack a little and eat before going to bed.  It was probably one of the best flying with kids experiences we've had.

Get Air

One day during the reunion we went to the indoor trampoline park called Get Air.  I've never been to one of these places before and it was sooo fun.  There was a play place similar to a giant McDonalds playland next door so we split up.  Most of the older kids went to the trampoline place and the younger kids went next door.  I hung out with Penelope and Bob most of the time in the trampoline park.

I did up getting pictures on the trampolines but they are all really blurry so I won't share:)  They had a few other things to do at the trampoline place.

It was great!  Tucker ran around with his cousins most of the time and looked like he was having a blast.  I heard that Leon and Scarlett had tons of fun next door.  I kept needing to take breaks to blow my nose and go to the bathroom.  Jumping on a trampoline while pregnant with your fifth baby is hard.

We also had a cookie day where each family was in charge of making a treat.  Bob and I made a yummy popcorn cake.

Lastly I wanted to share about Penn Station.  It's the last restaurant that we try to go to while in Cincinnati.  I think their sandwiches are pretty good.

Jungle Jims

Today's post is all about the Cincinnati food!  First off they have skyline.  If you've never heard of it, I'd say it is definitly worth a try.  We don't have it on the West coast and I actually didn't know this sort of thing existed until I met Bob.  It is basically a type of chili that you put over noodles and smother in cheese.  The chili is almost the same consistency as spaghetti sauce.  They also put it over fries and hot dogs.  I like it, but I'm not the biggest fan.  We usually go once per visit and that is just perfect for me.  Some people really really love it.

My favorite is Graters ice cream.  We really need to get one of these on the west coast.  They sell a chocolate chunk raspberry ice cream that is delicious.  We went there a couple times over our visit.

We also made a trip out to Jungle Jims.  This was my first time there and it was pretty interesting.  It is basically a huge grocery store with lots of different cultural foods in it as well as fun animal (fake) and other displays everywhere in the store.  It was really fun to explore and the kids especially liked it.

Scarlett was not a fan of the fish section.

I thought these little pineapples were cute.

They even had a little movie theatre showing a film of how the store got started.  It all began with a little bit weird guy named Jim.

And that was our trip to the grocery store.

Bob's Visit to Cincinnati

So, this is Bob. Doranda wanted me to write about Leon and my visit to my parents house last week. A month or so ago my Mom and I finally convinced my Dad that he should turn the used to be missionary apartment in their basement into a workshop. So, to help out, Leon and I flew out to get things all started.

I should have taken a before picture but didn't. So, just imagine the room being empty. First thing we did was bring in the two workbenches my dad has. They are from his Grandpa and his Uncle. The one from his Uncle is actually mine, but I don't have a place big enough for it yet. It's the one on the right with the drill press on it. The cool thing about that workbench is the top. It has an old bowling alley lane for the top. So, it is super hard and super heavy. At least a couple hundred pounds just for the top.

The picture above in the middle shows what we worked on most of the time. A table saw station. It is 6ft deep and 4ft wide. So it will be a lot easier for my Dad to rip sheets of plywood, due to his new outfeed table.  And it pretty much only cost us like $20. We built it mostly out of excess wood my dad had, hence the random blue wood you see. That was from an old bunkbed I think.There are also a couple more cool features I will get into in a second.

The other reason I headed out was to help my dad install his Dust Collection system. He got a really nice 1100cfm Jet Dust collector, with a canister top and 40ft of 4" hose, on craigslist for $250. They run about $750 new. He also got an air filter with a 1 micron filter on it for removing any fine dust particles in the air. This was exactly what my dad needed. Being in the basement and working with wood means a lot of dust in the air and wood chips everywhere.

We ran the dust hose to the miter saw station and the table saw station.  Below is my dads miter saw station. He had most of it already built, except for the yellow box around the top. If you have ever used a miter saw, you know they get wood chips everywhere. We built the enclosure around the back of the miter box and put a 4" port at the bottom of it so the dust collector would suck up all the mess. And it works beautifully. We tested it, probably a little to many times. And nothing escapes. It is really really awesome.

Here is a better view of the dust collection routing. The dust collector sits in a closet, and later my dad will put doors on it to cut down on noise.

In the above picture, you can see a black hose coming up from the floor to the back of the miter station. This hose has a cool port on the end, so you can attach it to other ports when you are using a different tool. The goal is to get my dad a jointer and planer and bandsaw, so, he would need to run the dust collection hose to those as well.

The picture below shows the ports for the table saw station. There are two because we built the router table into the table saw station. So the top port is for the router, the bottom is for the table saw.

Below is the hose connected. What we did is cut out a huge hole below the table saw, and then built a box under it with a sloped bottom that leads to the port that the dust collector hose it hooked to. So, when you cut something, the wood chips fall down, roll down the slope, and get sucked into the dust collection hose. Actually, though, the dust collector is so strong you can feel a slight suck at the table saw blade.

This next picture is the router station built into the table saw out-feed table. My dad needs to build a new fence for the router, but with the dust collection on it does a fantastic job at collection the chips. Everyone who has ever used a router know that they are a huge mess. We made the port behind the router 2" in diameter, this collects any debris if you are using the router to add trim to a board or something. And then we added a second hole to the left of the router bit, cause you push your board from right to left, to collect any debris cause by cutting groves in a board.

All in all, Leon and I had a blast in Cincinnati!!! And my Mom was super excited to spend time with Leon while I kept my Dad busy in the basement.

Thanks Doranda for letting me spend a couple days with my parents! Your the BEST!