The Long Journey Home

Without our usual stop at in Cleveland with Katherine & Lee, we decided to get a bit more creative with the drive home from Iowa. An endless stream of Summer activities kept all the Zimmerman cousins from visiting Iowa during our trip, so we decided to spend Thursday night in Schaumberg with Steve & Becky.  This of course was a huge hit with Owen and Nora, since their big cousins Olivia, Maura and Sam are all so cool, and Nora was of course thrilled to to have her little cousin Erin looking up to her. We played lots of hide-and-go-seek (which is particularly exhausting when you're trying to be the fun uncle ;-), tossed the baseball around (so Owen could show off to Sam his improved skills from a summer of baseball camp and many hours playing catch this trip), and even got in a heated flag football game (Dads vs. kids of course ;-). The visit was too short, but we can't wait to get all the cousins together again this Christmas.

Visiting Chicago was great, but it still left a bit too long of a drive back home. Fortunately, Joe & Cate are in Pittsburgh now, and have a new home to visit and a new baby to meet :-).  So we struck out for Pittsburgh on Friday, and of course the Mettenburgs had an amazing feast waiting for us at their beautiful new home. Saturday morning we finally met Hugh (who is adorable), and tried to relax a bit to rest up for the big night ahead of us.  It had not gone without notice that the Pirates had a perfectly timed 4pm game that night, and Joe had managed to procure tickets for us all. So we all drove downtown, hiked across the bridge, and climbed up to our seats and enjoyed the gorgeous weather and the most breathtaking view in all of baseball. Oh, and the Pirates played too, if you can call it that, they lost to Arizona 15-5.

Sunday morning we finally said our goodbyes, and drove the last leg of our long journey home. It was a great trip, but we're all glad to finally be back sleeping in our own beds.