The last leg of our journey was to my sister’s house near Cleveland. Once again, all the nearby relatives descended. We made Hungarian kielbasa from my grandfather’s meat grinder and sausage press–intestinal casings and all. If this grosses you out, please scroll quickly.

Just outside the garage, my dad set up the smoker his dad had made to complete the first stage of cooking, but then… the rain came.

I took a half step outside, and in two seconds, one side of my body was drenched in cold, fat rain drops. “Nope,” I said. My kids and their cousins, however, ran several laps around the house, laughing and screaming.

When there’s a lot of rain, like we experienced, there’s a kick-butt waterfall.

I learned of this newer park from blogger Bijioux, whom I met my last trip back home, but who was “out of town” this time. (I kid, B!) If I hadn’t already met her, it would’ve been awesome to meet four blog buddies in four states in four days, but alas.

My kids and their cousins got along amazingly.

My sister hosted 10 children in her home! Hubby and I crashed at a hotel, which had this amusing sign.

Since the next day was rain-free, my big brother brought his Shelby GT500. (“It does not get rained on,” he told me.)

When I got in the backseat of the convertible, my sister-in-law handed back a hair tie, which cracked me up. Not that it did me a lot of good.

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He cranked some 80s metal he referred to as “his racing song” as he strove to beat our sister to our destination. He won, though I considered it a toss-up since both my siblings drive like bats out of hell. Sister talked about her husband getting upset over the number of times he needed to get her brakes replaced. Her response: “The car works for me.”

We went to a place called Scene 75, which is like Dave and Busters. It was noisy, chaotic, and probably dangerous for epileptics. Once I got over the sensory overload, I played “black light mini golf” with Hubby, Brother, and Sister-in-law.

We couldn’t find the score cards but didn’t care. I wasn’t in the mood for mini golf, but wanted the new experience, so I’m glad we all took it casually. For instance, one hole had a bridge that if you hit it over the center, you’d be right in line with the hole. Of course, from the starting position, the angle for the bridge was impossible. So I put my ball in front of the bridge, took my shot, and got a hole in one. They laughed. It’s great playing with people who aren’t competitive. Someone’s eye is twitching reading this, though, I’m sure.

Next we walked past my children on the way to the motorcycle game. When I told them of my plan, their faces darkened. “It’s really hard,” they said. “Be sure you lean.”

“Okay. Thanks for the tip,” I said as I headed for my Ducati. The game started, and I immediately ran into the wall directly to my right. Not even sure how that happened. Too much lean?

By the time I was finally getting the hang of it, I only had a half lap left. Then I slammed into the cement wall holding up the finish line banner and slid across the line to come in 13th. 😛 To me, that was a perfect way to finish. Someone else got 16th, so it could’ve been worse.

Then my sister wanted to bowl, so we wandered into this unique alley where the balls are smaller and don’t have holes. They were like morbidly obese cricket balls.

To me, the way to bowl was obvious. Without finger holes, I rolled it by swinging it, two-handed, between my legs. Of course my siblings laughed, until I got a strike, and another, and a few more, plus a spare. “We can’t let this Californian beat us,” my sister said. But I did, (two) handily.

Next came laser tag, for which we formed two groups of seven, with all the girl cousins in one group, leaving me with all the guys, including some random teenager who apparently hangs out to play laser tag. One of the girls said, “Sorry you have to be with all the boys.” Little did she know that was my comfort zone.

My beloved daughter shot me point blank twice after we ran into each other unexpectedly and shrieked in alarm. I shot her too. (The family that shoots together…) Turns out, the hang-around teen was a ringer. With him, we won easily, and I was proud, I guess, that I came in third.

By the end of the night, we had accumulated 14,000 points to use in the shop. One daughter got fairy lights for her room.

I got this cute little desk vacuum.

The next day we went house hunting. Here’s what we found.

But what of the 70-acre grounds?

I think we’ll take it!

This was Stan Hywet Hall near Akron, Ohio. I remembered a field trip from my childhood and wanted my kids to experience this place too. It was built around 1915 by the guy who founded Goodyear Tires.

Later, returning to reality, Hubby and I had dinner with friends we hadn’t seen in 12 years. Another night, more friends drove up from Pittsburgh.

Finally, I made a point to let my Ana from Wish I Was Here visit her hometown of Hinckley near where I grew up.

Now we’re all home again, and I’m back to writing and figuring out where Ana and the gang will wind up next.

Thank you for reading our fun family adventures!