December 22nd Mike and I and Kelly and Bixby are off on the early morning flight to Ohio. We saw the sunrise.

Arriving at Columbus Ohio

After an hour drive south to Englewood

we had a nice dinner out 

then the games began.

We enjoyed meeting Arlo's girlfriend Tamara

Aislinn and Jack made cookies

While Arlo and the boys 

changed the oil in his car

as the sun set.

Mike won all the chocolate 

money at poker.

Jack led us on a walk to a neighborhood park

A snuggle with a kitty

A good meal together on Christmas eve

Mike decided to start Christmas off

eating ice cream in bed !!!!

He said that it was

"to make room in the freezer"

Everyone arrived and Cameron wore his special

Christmas attire to pass out gifts

Cameron made Mike 3D printed guitars

Jack added a new helmet to his collection

Aislinn built a lego flower set

Nana introduced the British Conker game.

One person tries to smash another

 persons conker  aka chestnut

Kelly's conker was the champion

Another British tradition at the dinner table.

We pulled "crackers" and wore the 

silly hats inside.

We had special crackers with whistles

inside. We then had a band playing the 

different whistles in order of the numbers

 to play a tune. Nana was the conductor.

Lots of laughs.

 more games and great canasta sets

We spent a delightful day visiting Arlo's apartment,

lunch and then a few hours in the

Dayton Institute of Art. They had a special 

Bart Simson exhibit and a Grinch Stole Christmas

cel exhibit. Jack preferred the older historical pieces, 

lots of native American pieces, and 

even some landscapes of the Californian coast.

 

We all sat on the Simpson's couch

Aislinn gave me a wire necklace kit

and us girls made some necklace

flower holders.

Arlo built his lego Super Sonic airplane

After a few hours browsing the book store

it was time for our last dinner together at the pub

Before we headed to the airport Cameron showed us his 

3D printing set up and his new

quad copter drone. He is the proud owner of

a drone pilots license.

We didn't have a white Christmas, 

but it was wonderful to spend this time together.

This is Cameron and Tinas house this morning,

and from Arlo's apartment window.

Just a week too late but I am glad 

that we didn't have to drive to the airport in this.