Visitors!

For not living in a place all that long, we've actually had quite a few people stay with us.

We love it.

So if you know us and there is any possibility that you'd drive to Buckeye-ville for a night (or a weekend!), please come. We'd love to have you. And if you're a Michigan fan, we could use your cheers on football weekends.

Both of our parents have come (and helped!) along with my grandparents who have now visited twice. Our friends Lora and Patrick stayed a random night or two before their house was ready as well.

And then our friends Tom and Bethany Reese drove up from Bloomington a couple of weekends ago with their baby Ainsley. Tom is currently a student at Kelley, one year behind Josh, and we lived in the same apartment complex last year. There were many evenings last year that Beth would find me on her front stoop, accompanied by a certain furry leash-puller. She'd get Ainsley set in the stroller, and we'd walk the neighborhood. I miss that!

But we LOVED having them come visit. Ainsley, at 14 (I think) months old, was a complete angel, and she is obviously as cute as a button. And she LOVED Riley. After the first five minutes, anyway. If we were in the house, she wanted to be petting him.


They hung out for awhile at the top of the stairs.



We had fun showing them around town! Beth, Ainsley, and I went to Easton (fantastic outdoor mall), Tom went out to Scotts with Josh, and all of us headed to downtown Dublin for local pub grub, and then out for our favorite ice cream.

Ever since we moved to Columbus, I've wanted to visit the zoo. Believe it or not, it is actually ranked #1 in the country. Jack Hanna, the guy you can see bringing animals to Regis and Kelly and The Today Show, is from the Columbus Zoo. Who knew? An award winning zoo in the middle of Ohio. But Josh claimed that we were "too old" for the zoo if it was just the two of us.

Well, as soon as I finalized plans with Beth, I pitched the zoo idea to her. It will be perfect, I figured. We'll have Ainsley with us! And Beth was totally on board. Saturday morning we met our other friends (the Rich family) and all enjoyed the zoo together.



The big attraction these days is the baby elephant. Holy cow is he cute.

I can just hear the mom. C'mon now junior. Move along.


The more I spent time looking at the animals, I realized that they're actually pretty similar to the little furball living under our roof. They like to sleep.

So do babies.



The only drawback to the zoo that day was that it was cold. And rainy. I hijacked baby Ainsley out of her stroller and carried her around for awhile, and that helped keep me warm.

We were thankful that we remembered to bring umbrellas.


Josh inadvertently wore this festive zoo-themed shirt that day.

Wearing festive clothing isn't something Josh is usually interested in doing, so it made me laugh when, at various points of the day, our friends were like, hey Josh, nice shirt! Especially perfect for the zoo known for the baby elephant exhibit.

After the zoo, we even snuck in a trip to North Market for tasting some international food. Including divinely authentic Belgian waffles.

We loved having the Reese family come to visit! We were sad to see them go, and will continue to actively campaign that they move to Columbus next summer after grad school. And that they move in down the street. I miss my walking buddy. And my friends.

For more on our fun summer weekend with the Reeses, check here.