What a great day, but oh boy am I tired! We started our morning with the hotel continental breakfast in Columbus. We left town pretty quickly, a few minutes before nine. I was excited about driving near the Great Lakes and had hoped for a nice picnic spot. Coleson didn't disappoint, he navigated us to the perfect place!! We pulled off at a small town called Geneva-on-the-Lake, still in Ohio. It was pretty much exactly what I had pictured in my head that a small town on the Great Lakes should look like. We stopped at a park right on Lake Erie, and knowing our time was limited, we left the food and went walking instead. We walked down a boardwalk right to the lake. It was windy and choppy and I climbed the rail to stick my feet in :). The views were awesome. The kids played on the playground for a bit. I went ahead and put together our sandwiches and lunches, and we ate in the car after we left. Way more fun to hang out by the lake then eat! Ryan and Daddy played some catch with the squishy baseball they caught at the game last night.
The weather was decently stormy most of our drive through PA and NY. We were following 90, basically around the curve of Lake Erie and the storms were staying with us. We checked the weather and radars as much as we could with minimal cell signal and changed up our plans a couple of times. It ended up that we went straight to Niagara Falls. What a place! We stayed on the American side. We got our bearings and then started off with the Maid of the Mist boat ride. Amazing!! Wow. It was so surreal being in the Horseshoe Falls with huge walls of water all around and the mist was so thick it felt like pouring rain. Loved it, I had no idea it would be that cool. And yep, we got super spiffy blue ponchos. After the ride there was a short boardwalk that we started to walk up, but it was wet and the kids were not interested, guess it was best we didn't try for the Cave tour behind the falls! Just like Disney, the Maid of the Mist dumped us out in a gift shop where we got our customary magnet and we splurged on tshirts for the kiddos, we're pretty awesome parents :)
After the boat ride, we got some dinner. We ended up just outside the park at some crazy, touristy food court. It was expensive junk food, but it served its purpose well enough. We wandered some more, checking out as many scenic views and taking as many pictures as I could get my family to agree to. Thanks for being good sports and humoring Mommy! Such a pretty place. We walked the pedestrian bridge to Goat Island and saw the falls from the top. We saw lots and lots of birds, which is always exciting to the kids. We hopped on the Trolley for a bit and hopped back off to walk out onto the Three Sisters Islands. We then rode the Trolley back to the main visitor area where we headed out the observation tower to await the 9:00 lighting of the falls. After a day full of tourists and feeling out of place as Americans, we enjoyed chatting with a family from Indiana while we waited on darkness. Unfortunately, it has to be really, really dark to see the illumination. We stayed til about 9:30 and it was pretty cool. I got a couple good pictures and we were worn out and ready to move on. Our drive to tonight's hotel was only about 30 minutes, although it did start storming on our way and getting our stuff and three kids inside in the rain wasn't overly ideal, but we managed just fine. We've really been blessed with good weather, lots of rain and storms around but we haven't been caught out in it. Hopefully that will continue tomorrow, they are calling or some serious thunderstorms, glad we had a nice window of good weather today for Niagara. And now here we are tucked away in our hotel in West Seneca/ Buffalo NY. It was 10:30 by the time the Big Two were asleep and well after 11 for dear Chloe, who happens to be asleep on me as I write this. Here's hoping she'll stay asleep when I try to put her in the pack and play. And here's hoping everyone Sleeps In Crazy Late tomorrow morning!! We don't need an early start tomorrow and we are thinking indoor pool. Nighty night.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Day two
This morning we woke up to a continental breakfast followed by a swim in the indoor pool, always great fun.
Our first adventure of the morning was to the Ohio State University campus. We parked at the stadium and wandered for an hour. It rained on us for just a couple minutes when we first got out of the car. We hid out in a covered bus stop which was kinda cool I suppose. Fortunately the rain passed quickly. We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful brick buildings and pretty grass fields. The kids "climbed" a few trees, and Mommy made them pose for some photo ops. We had fun in the math major area; there were big statues of numbers and we took pictures of the kids by their age. Hopefully the pictures are cute and Chloe's 2nd birthday pictures will include photos of her with a huge #2, how cool would that be. We drove to the other side of campus and ate lunch at Potbelly's. It looked like an awesome little local sandwich place, however we realized once inside that we've eaten at one in DC. So much for trying to be different. But it was super yummy and still really cool and we can't get it at home, so it worked out very well.
After lunch we drove to the arena/ Scioto river area. The views of the city and bridges were great, unfortunately the river is being reconstructed so it didn't look all that nice. But it'll be great when it's all done in a couple years, lots of paths and green areas and whatnot. We walked for awhile before venturing into COSI, the Center of Science and Industry. The kids seemed to really like it. There was a ton to do. Highlights included the water play area within the kids' area. Chloe was so cute squealing as she put balls on this waterside thingy over and over again. We also saw an Oceans area with a submarine and a Gadgets area where we could shoot balls out of a huge funnel. And there was a heartbeat drum that was really cool. You hold the handles and it detects your heartbeat and beats a drum to your rhythm. When we came out it was raining, but again it passed within minutes and we were able to continue on.
After COSI, we walked to the Columbus Clippers baseball game. They are the triple A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians and they were playing the Pawtucket Red Sox. We sat in the bleachers in left center. It was still overcast, which was great, otherwise we would have been looking right into the setting sun. Dinner was nachos and pretzels, nutrious?! And to top it off we had dippin' dots too :). Coleson caught a plush ball from one of the promo things between innings, way to go Daddy! We left at the beginning of the 7th inning and Columbus was leading. I had hoped to make it through the whole game so the kids could run the bases. But as it was, we left at 8:30 and even though it was a good one, it was a long day!
Fortunately the kids went to bed a little better tonight then last night. Tomorrow we drive up to NY!
Our first adventure of the morning was to the Ohio State University campus. We parked at the stadium and wandered for an hour. It rained on us for just a couple minutes when we first got out of the car. We hid out in a covered bus stop which was kinda cool I suppose. Fortunately the rain passed quickly. We enjoyed seeing all the beautiful brick buildings and pretty grass fields. The kids "climbed" a few trees, and Mommy made them pose for some photo ops. We had fun in the math major area; there were big statues of numbers and we took pictures of the kids by their age. Hopefully the pictures are cute and Chloe's 2nd birthday pictures will include photos of her with a huge #2, how cool would that be. We drove to the other side of campus and ate lunch at Potbelly's. It looked like an awesome little local sandwich place, however we realized once inside that we've eaten at one in DC. So much for trying to be different. But it was super yummy and still really cool and we can't get it at home, so it worked out very well.
After lunch we drove to the arena/ Scioto river area. The views of the city and bridges were great, unfortunately the river is being reconstructed so it didn't look all that nice. But it'll be great when it's all done in a couple years, lots of paths and green areas and whatnot. We walked for awhile before venturing into COSI, the Center of Science and Industry. The kids seemed to really like it. There was a ton to do. Highlights included the water play area within the kids' area. Chloe was so cute squealing as she put balls on this waterside thingy over and over again. We also saw an Oceans area with a submarine and a Gadgets area where we could shoot balls out of a huge funnel. And there was a heartbeat drum that was really cool. You hold the handles and it detects your heartbeat and beats a drum to your rhythm. When we came out it was raining, but again it passed within minutes and we were able to continue on.
After COSI, we walked to the Columbus Clippers baseball game. They are the triple A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians and they were playing the Pawtucket Red Sox. We sat in the bleachers in left center. It was still overcast, which was great, otherwise we would have been looking right into the setting sun. Dinner was nachos and pretzels, nutrious?! And to top it off we had dippin' dots too :). Coleson caught a plush ball from one of the promo things between innings, way to go Daddy! We left at the beginning of the 7th inning and Columbus was leading. I had hoped to make it through the whole game so the kids could run the bases. But as it was, we left at 8:30 and even though it was a good one, it was a long day!
Fortunately the kids went to bed a little better tonight then last night. Tomorrow we drive up to NY!
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Summer 2014 road trip, day one!
In hopes of avoiding the seemingly inevitable cold and illnesses and limited daylight hours and traveling on thanksgiving, we decided to move our annual road trip from November to July this year. Also, Great- Grandma was sick recently and is still recovering in a rehab center; we are eager to see her! We've spiced up the trip this time, and we are swinging way west of our normal route. It's not that much longer in terms of drive time and seeing some new sights is exciting.
We left this morning at about 9am. We took 75N- it was all three kids' first time in KY and Ohio. We stopped at the Kentucky welcome center for a picnic lunch (egg salad, of course! at least for the adults). We enjoyed a fun dinner at Skylines Chili. It's a local chain based out of Cincinnati. Yumm! Coleson had a bowl of chili and I had a 3-way : spaghetti noodles, chili, and shredded cheese. It was nice to eat somewhere different and unique. We even bought a few cans of chili for some special dinners back home. The kids all ordered hotdogs, despite us trying very hard to talk Ryan into chili. We reminded him that he loves chili, chili is what this place is famous for, and that you can get hotdogs anywhere. But he wanted hotdogs and what do ya know? We were right! After trying our chili he really wanted his own. Sorry Buddy! But we'll have some fun chili nights back home. We also treated ourselves to funnel cake fries for dessert.
We are staying in a hotel in Columbus Ohio tonight, as well as tomorrow night. We will have all day to explore without any big drives and no packing, hooray! My first impressions were great. It is July though! Everything is lush and green and there's a nice river and old buildings, what more could you want in a city?!? Looking forward to getting out and wandering around in the morning. And yes, we have breakfast and an indoor pool so the kids are thrilled.
Hopefully I can update regularly with my fancy new smartphone :). Plus with all five of us in a hotel room, there's not much else to do at night. No lights or noise or tv after bedtime. In fact, I am writing this with my right thumb while lying on the bed with my left arm on Chloe. Hopefully the excitement will wane and it won't take an hour on future nights to get them to sleep!
We left this morning at about 9am. We took 75N- it was all three kids' first time in KY and Ohio. We stopped at the Kentucky welcome center for a picnic lunch (egg salad, of course! at least for the adults). We enjoyed a fun dinner at Skylines Chili. It's a local chain based out of Cincinnati. Yumm! Coleson had a bowl of chili and I had a 3-way : spaghetti noodles, chili, and shredded cheese. It was nice to eat somewhere different and unique. We even bought a few cans of chili for some special dinners back home. The kids all ordered hotdogs, despite us trying very hard to talk Ryan into chili. We reminded him that he loves chili, chili is what this place is famous for, and that you can get hotdogs anywhere. But he wanted hotdogs and what do ya know? We were right! After trying our chili he really wanted his own. Sorry Buddy! But we'll have some fun chili nights back home. We also treated ourselves to funnel cake fries for dessert.
We are staying in a hotel in Columbus Ohio tonight, as well as tomorrow night. We will have all day to explore without any big drives and no packing, hooray! My first impressions were great. It is July though! Everything is lush and green and there's a nice river and old buildings, what more could you want in a city?!? Looking forward to getting out and wandering around in the morning. And yes, we have breakfast and an indoor pool so the kids are thrilled.
Hopefully I can update regularly with my fancy new smartphone :). Plus with all five of us in a hotel room, there's not much else to do at night. No lights or noise or tv after bedtime. In fact, I am writing this with my right thumb while lying on the bed with my left arm on Chloe. Hopefully the excitement will wane and it won't take an hour on future nights to get them to sleep!
Monday, June 30, 2014
Bowser
It took awhile but I finally figured what Abby means by the "Bowser song." It's a song by the Florida Georgia Line called This is For my People Back Home. There's a line that says "we're always thinking about you," however Abby sings it "we're always thinking of Bowser." I've tried to suggest the correct version, but of course Abby doesn't want to hear it :) Mystery solved, point Mommy!
Monday, June 23, 2014
planes, birds, and kite surfers
Chloe loves anything in the sky. She goes crazy for airplanes and helicopters. She'll hear them, point up, look around, point to her ear, point up again. She gets so excited when she spots them and she'll watch them until they are out of sight. She is pretty fond of birds too. As we discovered on our beach trips, just about anything in the sky is cool. She'll point to parasailers and kite surfers and anything else that flies by. Love it!
Friday, June 20, 2014
seagulls
Last week, Coleson had meetings in Nashville so the kids and I drove to Tampa to see Aunt Lolly and Uncle Brian. Among other things, the Big Two did a word puzzle that announced Aunt Lolly's pregnancy! Hooray for another cousin!!
Other notable memories:
*Abby, upon spotting a bunch of seagulls at the beach, "Chickens!!!!!"
*Whilst eating lunch at a beachside restaurant, a brave and obnoxious seagull swooped by and grabbed a chicken finger right off Abby's plate! They proceeded to fight over it in mid-air. The seagulls and pigeons were waayy too unafraid of people. :)
Other notable memories:
*Abby, upon spotting a bunch of seagulls at the beach, "Chickens!!!!!"
*Whilst eating lunch at a beachside restaurant, a brave and obnoxious seagull swooped by and grabbed a chicken finger right off Abby's plate! They proceeded to fight over it in mid-air. The seagulls and pigeons were waayy too unafraid of people. :)
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Peppin and Joy
We have some crazy conversations around here. To the best of my ability, here's the recreated version of our chat in the car this morning:
Abby is singing "peppin and joy" over and over in the backseat. It sounds like it could be to the tune of "heaven and nature" so I ask her if that's what she means. Ryan and I start singing "heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing." Abby says with certainty that is not the song she is singing. She is singing "peppin and joy." Ryan asks her if she means "heaven and joy." Abby is still adamant "PEPPIN and joy." Ryan tells her that's not a real song. They banter back and forth. A minute or two later, Abby takes the conversation for a left turn and says "oh Heaven and Taylor in the morning?!" We try to explain that it's Kevin, but it does rhyme with Heaven. By now I'm feeling a little looney trying to keep up with what's going on. Fortunately, Ryan and Abby start bickering over a water bottle and the craziness is over and my brain can rest for a quick moment. But never for long. We are pretty silly around here!
[If you don't know, Kevin and Taylor are the morning show hosts on the local radio station.]
Abby is singing "peppin and joy" over and over in the backseat. It sounds like it could be to the tune of "heaven and nature" so I ask her if that's what she means. Ryan and I start singing "heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing, and heaven and heaven and nature sing." Abby says with certainty that is not the song she is singing. She is singing "peppin and joy." Ryan asks her if she means "heaven and joy." Abby is still adamant "PEPPIN and joy." Ryan tells her that's not a real song. They banter back and forth. A minute or two later, Abby takes the conversation for a left turn and says "oh Heaven and Taylor in the morning?!" We try to explain that it's Kevin, but it does rhyme with Heaven. By now I'm feeling a little looney trying to keep up with what's going on. Fortunately, Ryan and Abby start bickering over a water bottle and the craziness is over and my brain can rest for a quick moment. But never for long. We are pretty silly around here!
[If you don't know, Kevin and Taylor are the morning show hosts on the local radio station.]
Monday, May 19, 2014
Love
Last night I was driving the kids home from Jacksonville. I stopped for gas and I passed a random, small, sketchy gas station. I kept going and Ryan asked why. I told him I liked the other gas station better - it's bigger, brighter, safer. As we pulled up to the pump, he read the sign : Love's.
"Oh, I know why you like this one. It makes you think of Daddy!"
:) :)
"Oh, I know why you like this one. It makes you think of Daddy!"
:) :)
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
preschool bffs
Tomorrow is Abby's last day of 3yr old preschool, crazy! Last night I sent an email to her class that we'd be at Burger King for lunch today if anyone wanted to play. It worked out perfectly - all her bestest friends came. Lyla was there and the twins, Larsen and Levi. All three of them also play soccer with us. Virgil came too; he's a super sweet little guy who was also in Shannon's 2s class with Abby and Lyla. All four moms get along well and the kids played together great. We had a blast! I love our preschool, and we've made some wonderful friends there!
[I wish I had thought to take a picture of all the kiddos, but I didn't, hence the desire to type up a short post]
[I wish I had thought to take a picture of all the kiddos, but I didn't, hence the desire to type up a short post]
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
go Raptors!
Ryan's been playing baseball this spring for the first time. He's always been a soccer playing kind of guy. But he knows that Mommy likes baseball and Grandpa does too. I didn't want to push him into anything, but after he gave it some thought, he told me he'd try baseball this spring and then he could go back to soccer in the fall.
The season started a little slow. As in most things unfortunately, there are politics in his league. He's new and the coaches didn't know him and the team mom didn't know him and he got stuck in the outfield. Which is totally fine, he even likes it, please don't hear me wrong, if that's the best spot for him I'm all about that. My concern was that he didn't get a chance and that there was so little time spent on fundamentals and the basics of baseball. But he's a champ. He liked the outfield and he gave baseball one hundred percent with his Ryan-like focus. We play catch together in the afternoons and he has improved so much. 'Can we play catch' is usually asked before we even get inside from the bus stop. And oh boy, does he hustle on the field. He's the first one on the field every time. And he backs up everybody. If the ball's hit anywhere in the outfield, he's usually the one to get it, the other outfielders are too busy playing with the grass or sitting on their bottoms or don't even have their gloves on. I saw an outfielder on an opposing team doing somersaults one time :) He's also a very consistent hitter. He doesn't appear to have the natural power that some of the boys do, but he seems to squeak out a single almost every at-bat. He's worked his way up to 6th in the lineup [out of 11 or 12, everyone hits].
Tonight is his second game in the end-of-season tournament. They won their first game on Saturday to continue on [single elimination]. What a game Saturday was! The coach called him in during the second inning to play pitcher. It's coaches' pitch, but they have a position player there for the fielding. He rocked pitcher!! He stopped almost all of them and threw out, I don't know, four or five kids? That's saying a lot in 5/6 baseball, usually contact guarantees a hit! But what I loved most was his excitement. He was more alive during that game than all season. He was punching his fists and jumping up and down. He was involved and it was awesome. I loved seeing him love it.
Ryan gets the tournament style elimination, and he does not want his season to end. He is excited for tonight, and so am I! It's going to be a great game. I sure hope he is the pitcher again. I've never cared about wins and losses, but I'm really hoping for a win tonight! I'm not ready for the season to be over! Currently, Ryan says he likes baseball, but he still likes soccer too. He even said a few days ago that maybe he'd play baseball this fall and wait until spring to do soccer again. We told him to think on it over the summer; we don't have to decide right now.
Thanks for always giving it your best and for the hustle and the energy and the enthusiasm. I love you my little all-star!!
The season started a little slow. As in most things unfortunately, there are politics in his league. He's new and the coaches didn't know him and the team mom didn't know him and he got stuck in the outfield. Which is totally fine, he even likes it, please don't hear me wrong, if that's the best spot for him I'm all about that. My concern was that he didn't get a chance and that there was so little time spent on fundamentals and the basics of baseball. But he's a champ. He liked the outfield and he gave baseball one hundred percent with his Ryan-like focus. We play catch together in the afternoons and he has improved so much. 'Can we play catch' is usually asked before we even get inside from the bus stop. And oh boy, does he hustle on the field. He's the first one on the field every time. And he backs up everybody. If the ball's hit anywhere in the outfield, he's usually the one to get it, the other outfielders are too busy playing with the grass or sitting on their bottoms or don't even have their gloves on. I saw an outfielder on an opposing team doing somersaults one time :) He's also a very consistent hitter. He doesn't appear to have the natural power that some of the boys do, but he seems to squeak out a single almost every at-bat. He's worked his way up to 6th in the lineup [out of 11 or 12, everyone hits].
Tonight is his second game in the end-of-season tournament. They won their first game on Saturday to continue on [single elimination]. What a game Saturday was! The coach called him in during the second inning to play pitcher. It's coaches' pitch, but they have a position player there for the fielding. He rocked pitcher!! He stopped almost all of them and threw out, I don't know, four or five kids? That's saying a lot in 5/6 baseball, usually contact guarantees a hit! But what I loved most was his excitement. He was more alive during that game than all season. He was punching his fists and jumping up and down. He was involved and it was awesome. I loved seeing him love it.
Ryan gets the tournament style elimination, and he does not want his season to end. He is excited for tonight, and so am I! It's going to be a great game. I sure hope he is the pitcher again. I've never cared about wins and losses, but I'm really hoping for a win tonight! I'm not ready for the season to be over! Currently, Ryan says he likes baseball, but he still likes soccer too. He even said a few days ago that maybe he'd play baseball this fall and wait until spring to do soccer again. We told him to think on it over the summer; we don't have to decide right now.
Thanks for always giving it your best and for the hustle and the energy and the enthusiasm. I love you my little all-star!!
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