I had been looking forward to this trip for quite some time. I was excited for another mini vacation with Kevin. I was excited to see my sister again. I was excited to be back in Columbus. And I was excited for the OSU/Michigan game!

On Friday morning, Kevin and I started our long drive to Columbus. I got about 6 books on CD to listen to in the car plus packed enough snacks for the Duggars. About 1 hour into the drive, my butt was hurting and I was biting my lip to keep from complaining. That was about the time I started pulling out food, including cheese cubes, beef sticks, frosted animal crackers, fruit chews, dried cranberries, and grapes. All of that kept my occupied for some time.

We got to Columbus around 5:00 PM and laid low for the evening, eating dinner & talking. Our plan of action was to be awake and ready to leave the house by 5:30 AM on Saturday so we could make it to Eddie George’s Grill by 6 AM when it opened. The game didn’t start until noon so we packed enough cards and other things to keep us occupied until then.

When we got up in the morning, Kevin said that he didn’t feel very good, but we all packed into car anyway and headed downtown. About an hour later, Arneelius took Kevin back to Carla’s house, where he was sick to his stomach. I was really sad that he couldn’t experience Buckeye game day with us, but mostly sad because he was so sick.

The game itself was amazing! It turned out that we picked a great place to watch it, as it was packed to the hilt with Buckeye fans, singing and carrying on. We, of course, were glad participants of all the shennanigans as well. We took along our lucky Brutus, who joined in on our fun, even playing Dutch Blitz with us. Also, Carla made up a game, which we later named Ninja Card Warriors. It was a mix between UNO and Dutch Blitz and required a lot of quick thinking and speed.

After the game, we went back to Carla’s house. I found Kevin lying down, chilled to the bone, and running a fever. After running some errands for medicine, I kept an eye on him while we all lounged around and did a whole bunch of nothing for the rest of the evening. Luckily, by later on that night, he started feeling a little bit better and could get up and move around.

On Sunday we went in search of Brutus on Parade, but sadly, all of the Brutuses were taken day already. We found Dot The I Brutus though so I got a picture with him. We went to eat at The Buckeye Hall of Fame Cafe for lunch. They obviously served delicious food and housed a whole bunch of Buckeye memorabilia, including one of Archie Griffin’s Heisman trophies. I feel like everyone should want to be a Buckeye. It just fills me with pride thinking about it. (On a side note, if you ever have questions about any Buckeye traditions, they are very well explained here.) Okay, so anyway, after all of our Buckeye happenings on Sunday, we stopped briefly at Easton for a baby gift for some friends of ours and then went back to Carla’s again.

Monday morning on our way out of town, we stopped by Child Care Consultants, my old job. It was a very brief stop, but it was wonderful seeing my old coworkers/friends again. They threatened to lock Kevin out and keep me there. 🙂

Our drive home was long and sad. Sad mostly because it was the first time I’ve been back to Columbus since I moved and I didn’t even realize how much I miss it there. I feel incredible loyalty to the city, considering I only lived there for a year. Long because 9 hours in a car, even with someone you love, is stretching. Hah.

We were back hardly 24 hours before I came down with Kevin’s Saturday flu. I raced home from work last night in time to make it to the trash can and I’ve been in bed ever since. This is one time I’m very thankful for my laptop because at least I can watch movies or TV shoes or blog or check facebook…all of which I have done in the last several hours. I thought driving in the car was bad. Being a prisoner in your own bed is much worse. I heard that Arneelius also came down with the flu yesterday as well, but he is about 12 hours ahead of me so hopefully he is over it by now. (I have calculated this by using the simple 24-hour flu equation.) By that equation, I am also figuring I will be over mine just in time to enjoy Thanksgiving, though I’m not sure I will be able to quite eat my normal-sized Thanksgiving portions this year. But, what the heck, I will be thankful to be able to eat at least!

For now, go Bucks!