Annual Midwest Summer Trip - Part 1

So, I'm REALLY behind on the blog. I'm going to do a bunch of posts on summer to at least catch up to the fall.  Time - goes too quickly and never have enough of it!

After school was out, we had a few weeks to relax and enjoy Austin (with great weather!).  Then, we drove to the Midwest to spend time with friends and family.  Our first stop was Cuyahoga Valley National Park near Akron, OH.  We had plans to meet up with friends in Ohio so we decided to add a few extra days to the beginning of the trip and hit up another National Park!

Kids were great in the car for the most part. We did about 6 hours the first day and then maybe 15 or so the next day (all the way from Texarkana to Akron)!  Found an awesome park outside Nashville to stop at for lunch and play!

The next day, we rented bicycles and rode along the Cuyahoga Valley tow path!  This path runs the entire length of the park (and more).  We had a great time exploring and riding bikes.

Ready to ride!

Our motley crew... Caitlin rode behind me on a Weehoo (tagalong type bike) while Ryan was in the trailer and Evan had his own bike!

Obligatory National Park picture!

The park is situated along the Cuyahoga River and canal which had all these locks from back when they would use it for moving things up/down river.  Here Evan is standing by one of the old locks along the path.

After stopping for lunch and riding a little further, we made it to a station. The neat thing about this park is that there is a train which runs through it.  And on the weekends, you can bike one way and take the train back!!  The kids LOVED getting to ride the train.

After the long day of riding and exploring, we returned to the hotel so Ryan could take a late nap. I took the older kids down to the hotel pool to swim - their first time swimming at a hotel which they thought was awesome!

It was a great day and beautiful park. We had a lot of fun together as a family.