Our Trip to Ohio part 1

Okay, everyone!  Ready for some pictures?!!

Here is our family on our way up to Ohio for our surprise visit to see Matthew!

Noah and Ethan

Savannah and I

Ready to surprise Matthew....

Mom

Dad

If you read my first post about our trip to Ohio, you also saw the video of my family surprising Matthew!  He was indeed shocked and it took him about a day and half to recover and realized that we were actually in Ohio!  

Savannah and I went with Matthew for his ACL post surgery appointment the next morning.  He got his stitches removed, which thankfully I didn't have to watch because we stayed in the waiting room!  

Matthew with his knee brace...

Loading up in the van, heading over to meet his family...

When we pulled in the lane to Matthew's family's farm, he asked if I wanted to walk down the lane with him up to the house, to which I willingly agreed!  Ethan was our chaperone and took pictures for us.

The farmhouse....

Enjoying walking and talking together...

Emmanuel Farm...his parents place.

To the right of this picture, there was a beautiful creek that went along the length of the lane.  The Dickerson boys built a platform and a rope swing that goes out over the creek.  Once on it, you can swing a few times before you have to jump off onto the bank while you have a good momentum.  It was a lot of fun!  The first day I tried it, I had enough people to help grab my swing and help me off.  The second day, I let my swing slow down too far before trying to jump off onto the bank and therefore, ended up in the creek.  Whoops!  It was a little too cold for a swim in December, but hopefully I can give the swing another go when the weather is a little warmer!

My favorite picture...

When we reached the farmhouse, his family was waiting there to meet us and we were introduced to everyone!  The Dickerson family knows how to make you feel welcome!  They started chatting with us like we'd known them for years and put everyone at ease!  We had a delightful time spending a few days with them, getting to know them. 

Matthew has 9 brothers and 3 sisters, so we met most of them on this trip.  I unfortunately didn't get a family shot of them all, but Matthew sent us this photo of the whole family from 2008.

Mr. and Mrs. Dickerson (Tim and Lauren), Hannah, Luke, Justin, Matthew, Seth, Joy, Caleb, Paul, Daniel, Lazarus, Noah, Grace, Micah.

In the above photo, Matthew is standing between his parents, and in the photo below, Matthew is in the red shirt, which was taken last year, I believe.

Once we met everyone, they graciously gave us a tour of the farm.  They have a draft horse, which Daniel has trained to pull, so he also showed us a demonstration of that!  The Dickerson's also have a dairy cow which they milk and make butter and cheese, along with a maple syrup house where they boil down the sap to make the syrup.

Matthew and I enjoying the porch swing.

(I really like porch swings!)

That night, we met up with the Dickerson family at the infamous Captain 9's Pizza Place.  Since it was a Monday night, we had the place to ourselves, so we pushed the tables into a row and shared the meal together with lots of good conversations going around.  I got such a kick out of Matthew's brothers!  They were all more than willing to tell me anything I didn't already know about him, much to his chagrin!  They certainly kept me laughing all week!

Matthew's brother Paul...

Matthew's parents, Tim and Lauren...

Ethan and Noah enjoying being around so many guys!  They were in heaven!

Matthew and I...

Some of the fellas...

Stay tuned for part 2...