Russo comes to Cincy.

Last week our guest room saw it's second non-family-member visitor.

AND, he came bearing tickets to the Western Southern Open.

Prior to moving here, I had no idea this tournament was such a big deal, but it is the last one before the U.S. Open, and draws the best in the world every year.

Thursday night we watched the Federer/Blake match, and while he (Federer, for those unfamiliar with pro tennis) may no longer be #1 in the world, he was still the one I was most excited about seeing. Holy cow. So fun!

We also had the opportunity to see Jankovic/Schiavone, the Bryan brothers, and Djokavic/Monfils over the course of two evenings. I was excited to be so close to the tennis action and took way too many pictures.

We did our best to give Russo a true taste of Cincy during his brief stay, and had a blast. So wonderful to have a reminder of home for a few days. And (hopefully) he had so much fun that he will send the rest of you up to visit soon :)

Before heading home on Saturday, he wanted to get a group picture (Bella included) on the front porch as a way to commemorate his trip. We couldn't figure out a way to swing the self-timer on that one, but with the camera perched on the bed of Russo's truck (classy we know) we managed the front steps. This is after Bella sneezed in his face as a thank you for his insistence on her being in the photo.

This sort of looks like it should be a family/sibling picture to me, but I like it. Thanks for coming Russo! Next time bring your significant-other-half :)

Several exciting weekends on the horizon, but for now we are looking forward to a peaceful, semi-planless couple of days at home!