Doug, Cody and Christian

My mom grew up seeing her cousins, the children from her aunt (on her mothers side) a lot of time, in the summer or at Christmas. But now, since they are all in Ohio, I have never ever seen them before except for Aunt Linda and cousin Meg. While we were in Ohio, we were able to visit one of Mom's cousins, Doug.

We decided to meet Doug, and his two sons, Cody and Christian, at a downtown restaurant serving German food, called Schmidt. We drove there and met them.

A fit man with black hair came up and Mom welcomed him. Two teenagers, one shorter than the other, with blond hair, and another taller, with dark hair. These were, in this order, Doug, Christian, and Cody. We introduced ourselves, and before we could sit down outside, our table was called.

We walked in to the restaurant, and a waitress led us all to a table by the window. We all sat down, and Rebecca was in the corner, I in the middle, Mom on the outside, and Dad on the very outside. On the other side, was Doug on the outside, Cody in the middle, and Christian on the inside. So, I was facing Cody, Rebecca - Christian, Mom - Doug, and Dad could see us all.

We all ordered the buffet, and after all getting the sausages and German potatoes, I picked up a noodly food called Sauerkraut. It looked good.

Seated again, I talked with Cody and Christian a lot, and we discussed sports, school, and I really started to like them. They were nice and not boring.

We told them about our trip and they asked all about it.

I tried a Bahama mama (spicy sausage), and liked it a lot. Then I tried the sauerkraut, and the name fits. It was the most sour food I've ever had. I don't understand how Germans like it.

I talked to Doug a little and I found out that he liked guns and war movies. For the next few hours, I would be talking to him about that a lot.

When the meal was done, the waitress asked if anyone wanted a cream puff. Thinking they would be rather small, I ordered one. Little did I know...

"Here are your cream puffs!," the waitress exclaimed when she gave them to us.

"What?" I said. "This is huge!"

"I looked down, seeing a loaf of bread, very big, with chocolate on and inside of it. It was as big as my hand. I thought it was going to be small.

Picking and poking, I could only eat half of it. By that time, I was fuller than a water tower.

Doug offered for us to come to their house later, and we agreed. I could barely stand, but I made it to the car. We went to CVS and I talked with my sister Julie a little.

Taking Doug's directions, we went into a nice neighborhood, and parked at the address. It was a nice house, mainly of brown brick. It is very pretty and has a beautiful garden in front. I rang the doorbell, and right away Doug opened it, with Christian right by him. A brown Irish setter was barking and yapping. I pet it.

"Come on in," Doug said.

We went into their nice kitchen, and while the parents were talking, Cody came up and asked if we wanted to watch some TV. A living room with a couch and two chairs was right by the kitchen, and so we went in there. In there, was the biggest flat screen TV I have ever seen. I sat down, and we watched a weird "Nature's Deadliest" show.

Rebecca asked, "So, do you two sleep in the same room?"

Christian stood up. "Oh, sorry. No, we don't. I'll give you a tour.

We followed Christian up the stairs, and Cody stayed back. Christian showed us Cody's room, which had a hockey team's colors all around it, with a cool bed in the middle.

In Christian's room, we saw Ohio State colors and jerseys, with a bed in the middle, and a desk by it.

He showed us Doug's room, and then led us down the stairs again. Then we went down the basement stairs, and saw another T.V., an air hockey table, a storage area and workshop. We also saw Doug's office, with a big desk, (with a computer and yet another T.V.) and a shelf with all war movies. On top of a vault full of guns, was a Russian hat, a WWII helmet (I think) and then Doug's helmet when he was in the army.

After going back up, Doug and I talked about literature, and I told him I was going to read The Art of War. He and I talked about war a lot.

While we were talking about books, I talked about the Lord of the Rings and he asked me if I had seen the movies. "I've seen the first, but not the others."

"Wait right there," Doug said as he went away. He came back with three case looking things, and I found them to be the three movies. It was the extended version, with how they made it, plus a map. So cool!

"I now have the blue ray version, so I don't need these. Here you go,"

It was so nice of him! I will keep those forever! Thank you Doug!

He also gave us Gods and Generals a movie about all the battles before Gettysburg, which was another movie that he had.

Doug showed Dad and Mom the office, and we saw an award given to Lt. Poorman, an ancestor of my grandma. He was in the Civil War, on the Union side.

Finally, we got ready to go, and exchanged contact info with Cody and Christian. We said goodbye to them, and got in the car. It was a great visit.

Frodo!!!!!,

Andrew.