I went off to Cleveland (or so I thought) for the weekend. To spend time with my friend Julie and her family: Chris (Mr. Olsen), Hannah, Sam (Sam Opossum), and Ollie (the dog).

My trip started with a rather uneventful flight, but the characters tended to be well worth forgetting. There was a “lady” a couple of seats from me that talked the entire flight… and when I say entire I mean from the moment they let us leave the gate until we got to baggage claim. Not only did she talk too much but she was wearing these revolver shaped dangling earrings and was probably a “W” supporter.

Julie was at the airport right on time to pick me up, it was a pleasure to see her again. We went off to pick up Hannah at her horse riding lessons, when Hannah saw me she gave me a big smile. Mr. Olsen cooked us hambërgers (how Sam pronounces it), I got sick that night… lets assume Mr. Olsen wasn’t attempting to poison me (the kids didn’t get sick). Sam started to express his obsession with refrigerators, we don’t know why he’s obsessed with them, he just is.

Friday morning Hannah went off to Pony Camp (Hannah is obsessed with horses) and Julie, Sam and I went off to the local shops to do some window shopping. We appeased Sam by stopping at a few places to oggle at the refrigerators… hey, he’s 4. We did manage to get Sam a balloon at the Trader Joe’s which we lost at the Target (yes, then there were tears). Mr. Olsen brinned chicken and we had a good cook out.

Saturday, when Hannah returned from Pony Camp, we could have gone to Cleveland’s Gay Pride, but we instead opted to travel to West Virginia…. no wait, Vermillion, OH for Fish Pride… I mean, the Fish Festival. The kids had a wonderful time, and us adults had a few laughs too. We lost two more baloons and had a few more screams and tears. Don’t ask what happend with Sam in the backseat on the way home… I was traumatized.

Sunday was pretty relaxing and it was sad to say goodbye. I had a wonderful time in Cleveland (or wherever I was) visiting my friends. The plane ride home had three 4 year olds… God help me… and everyone wanted to ride the shuttle back that didn’t have any. One of the baggage bins on the plane was holding their balloon animals… that’s it, just their balloon animals.

To see the pictures click the link below.

FISH PRIDE