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-g.

Corinne is loving kindergarten. She has class 5 days a week in the afternoon. They let us as parents pick am or pm but not pick the teacher. I think afternoons are better for her. She can have a lazy morning then get ready for school. Here’s pictures of her first day:

She is always talking about kids in her class. I’m eager to meet them. I found out recently that I am the Room/Parent Coordinator for the year. Not sure how I got roped into that one. Oh well. I think it will be okay. It basically means I have to plan the class parties. There are only two so it shouldn’t be too overwhelming.

Corinne has also joined Daisy Scouts. They meet once a month. She likes doing the crafts and playing with the girls. However, it’s the cookies she keeps asking about. She is eager to sell! Lately she is quite the business woman. She keeps saying that we should make banana bread and sell it. Sell her artwork, etc, etc. What a hoot! I’ll let you know for all you locals when the sale is on. I’m not big into going door to door.

Now that Mason is potty trained, I think I’ll start looking into parttime preschools. He wants to be just like his big sis.

-g.

Our last full day of our trip was spent driving to Maine so that Jeremiah and Tony could have Maine lobster for dinner. How does Maine lobster vary from the other 500 states we were in on this trip? Good question. The travel to get there was fun, none the less.

Before we could head north to Lobster Land, we made a day trip out of Boston. The Sharpes signed us up for the Duck Tour of Boston. You start the tour aboard a Jeep/Van/Bus that drives you to various points of interest before turning into a boat and entering the water. No joke! Check it out:

It is quite the rave in ol’ Boston. Here’s some pics I got while aboard the jolly ship thing.

The thing I love most about Boston is how it mixes in the old with the new.

After eating lunch, we jumped back in the car to head north. Here are some state signs I missed posting previously and the one for Maine.

Maine at last!

Tony and Jeremiah had researched online and mapquested our way to a lobster shack in Ogunquit, Maine. It was a great town right on the coast. The people that live there said they are only there for the summer due to brutal winters. I fell in love with the little spec of a town.

The destination of the day

Dinner

Jeremiah and Tony were in heaven. My favorite part was the family owned candy store. Yum!

We headed back to the homestead. It was such a peaceful place. It was sad to think about returning to our everyday grind.

Our getaway in the woods

My travel companions

Day Seven was spent in the airport WAITING. Our flight was denied the ability to fly into Newark. It was rescheduled so many times. We even boarded the plane for awhile just to be told that the flight was cancelled. We ended up changing our whole flightplan and barely got home in time to see the kids before bed. It was, by far, the worst day of the trip. Seeing the kids was worth all the headaches.

Thanks, Sharpes, for a great vacation. I’m so glad we took you up on your offer to visit.

-g.

***WARNING: Post is FULL of pictures and is very long.

Tuesday Tony and I got up early to head into town and catch a train to New York City. We crammed lots of sightseeing and WALKING into three days. I’m not feeling like a play-by-play so pictures will have to tell the story:

Grand Central Terminal

Statue of Liberty

World Trade Center Site
(The area is HUGE! It’s hard to get the idea from the picture. You could see deep grooves in the marble of the surrounding buildings from what must have been the towers coming down. Sad.)

Carnegie Deli (overrated–This is Tony’s corned beef on potato knish after he had stuffed his face. You can see my chicken soup with vegetables in the background. I was so sick of eating junk and opted for something light. It was less than good.)

Chinatown

Tony wanted Peking Duck BAD! He spent the afternoon scouting out the perfect place. (He’s pretty proud of himself for catching my reflection in the window. Nerd.)

(Notice my chicken and broccoli in the background. Not too adventurous of an eater.)

Boeing, Boeing

My pictures of the cast are blurry. Tony got the best one on his phone. I’ll spare you the rest.

Outside our hotel heading to Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill for our anniversary dinner. (FYI–LOVED our hotel. 1/2 a block from Times Square with nice rooms and afforadble price for NYC.)

Lounging in Central Park

Anyone who can tell me what building this is wins a prize!

FAO Schwartz (playing the piano from BIG)

My visit to Good Morning America (I think they all drink alot of coffee. I couldn’t get anyone to stand still long enough for a good picture. That or else I can’t use my camera correctly. Anyway, Imagination Movers were there for a concert.)

The site of Project Runway (I had wanted to find it but was tired of walking. We got off at the wrong subway station and TA-DA! I was stoked!)

30 Rock (Can’t wait for the new season.)

View from The Empire State Building (aka The Building of Many Stairs and Crowded Elevators. Don’t forget your deodorant!)

ESB at night

John’s Pizza (Delicious and cool. Inside an old tabernacle. The place was so huge that my flash couldn’t light up enough for a clear picture of the lanterns.)

Times Square

That about sums it up. Boy, were we tired. We did get subway passes but walked alot. We also had trips into lesser known parts to get yummy cupcakes at Magnolia and frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity. A good three days spent together. We were ready to get back to a slower pace and ride in the Sharpes car again. Anything to get off our feet!

-g.

Since Day One was so full of action, we slept in on Day Two then hit the road for more! The Sharpes took us to Rhode Island to swim at the beach. Before heading out for a swim, we ate lunch right on the coast. Mind you, I don’t like seafood. I was just trying to be a sport for my husband and his food-loving friend, Jeremiah. Tony had a lobster roll and was ready to head to the ocean. Tony had never been in the Atlantic Ocean. Here’s a horrible picture of us getting our feet wet:

The place we went was Judith Point, Rhode Island. The stretch of beach was a state park that had nice facilities. Parking was robbery, but what can you expect?

After spending the day wading, playing, and reading we headed back toward the homefront. Jeremiah, in his infinite wisdom, took us to Ted’s for dinner. The place was a tad disconcerting from the outside:

However, I have learned long ago that the scarier the place looks, the better the food usually is. Not necessarily good for you, which is fine by me. The thing that sets this burger joint apart from the rest is that the burgers are STEAMED. Sounded gross in the car when it was being described, but once I saw the glob of melted cheese on top of said burger and some perfectly cooked homefries, I was a believer.

I ate until I could eat no more. It was cheesy heaven. The place was playing classic rock and housing bikers. There were maybe 3 small booths and a counter. Tony and I sat at the counter so we could watch Ted in action. Definitely a good meal. We treated at Friendly’s for dessert and headed back to the Sharpe Homestead for some downtime.

-g.

I’m finally getting around to posting pictures from the trip Tony and I took in late August. Here’s the happenings of our first day:

We flew into Hartford, Connecticut to visit with the Sharpe family. However, there was no going home to rest for us. We were on a mission to see how many states/restaurants/historical sites we could see on our 7 day trip. The states on the east coast are so small that it wasn’t too long before you’d cross a state line. We took pictures to document:

Crossing into Massachusetts

Through New Hampshire

Continuing on to Vermont

We went to the highest point in Vermont called Hogback Mountain. You could see the 3 or 4 surrounding states. It was beautiful.

There was a store at the top selling all kinds of yummy things. We tried pistachio fudge, some Vermont cheese, and bought Mason a bottle of maple syrup to go on his beloved chocolate chip pancakes. Then we just enjoyed the view.

After loading everyone back up in the car, we drove back to Boston for dinner and an evening stroll around town. Since we are such food lovers, we had to go to the Quincy Market. It is an old building converted into a row of restaurants. We looked around and settled on Ned Devine’s which was, well, divine! I LOVED my corn chowder. I’d drive all the way back just to have another bowl. Here’s some sights at night:

Quincy Market

The Cradle of Liberty

Fun first day. Especially considering that we didn’t even land until 1:00 or so in the afternoon. Try not to fall off the edge of your seats while you eagerly anticipate the post for Day Two.

-g.

A-Attached or Single: Attached
B-Best Friend: Misti
C-Cake or Pie: BOTH! (with ice cream)
D-Day: Saturday
E-Essential Item: Book to read
F-Favorite Color: Orange
G-Gummi bears or gummi worms: bears dipped in chocolate
H-Hometown: Hartford, Ohio
I-Indulgences: Sweets
J-January or July: Neither. I’ll take October.
K-Kids: 3 (Stooges)
L-Life is incomplete without: television (I know. I’m shallow.)
M-Marriage Date: August 14, 1997
N-Number of Siblings: 3–one sister then two brothers then me
O-Oranges or Apples: Apples–crispy, tart ones
P-Phobias or Fears: Leaving my children motherless due to an untimely death
Q-Quote: “Fake it ’til you make it!” (It’s gotten me through many an awkward experience.)
R-Reason to Smile: Tony will be home soon!
S-Season: Autumn
T-Tag: Stephanie F, Robyn B, Leann B, and Misti M
U-Unknown fact about me: I’m a dental hygienist that DOESN’T FLOSS!
V-Vacation destination of choice: Would love to see Hawaii
W-Worst Habit: Worrying about things outside of my control
X-X-Rays or Ultrasounds: I take x-rays at work all day so I guess I’ll pick ultrasounds?
Y-your favorite food: WAY too many to list. Maybe margherita pizza.
Z-Zodiac Sign: Virgo–that should explain some things about my personality.

The Rice family has been uber busy. After the hurricane hit us, Tony was out of town for the week. Thank goodness for his mom and sister. Stephanie didn’t have power for the entire week so she and James spent lots of time here. Tony’s mom came down Tuesday while I was at work to help me with the kids for the rest of the week. We missed Daddy (don’t get me wrong), but I slept like a champ in that big bed all by myself! Aaaaahhhhh. We spent last weekend in my tiny hometown of Hartford, Ohio attending the Apple Festival. Hopefully I’ll get around to posting about it with some pics. Tony got Monday off from work since he was traveling the week before. We went out to Bob Evans (aka Bob Bevins by my kids) for breakfast then spent the day doing errands and shopping. It was an expensive day. Now things are semi back to normal.

Ethan has gained the ability to scale mountains. Not literally but the boy can climb. I’ve found him on the coffee table, on top of my bed, at the kitchen table eating Corinne’s dinner that was cooling down, the couch, etc. He is so proud of himself. It freaks me out. I’m afraid to leave the room for fear where I’ll find him when I come back!

Mason’s potty training is going much better. It’s amazing what a silly song about pooping in the potty can do! I’m proud of him. Hopefully he’ll keep it up.

Corinne is happy as a clam at school. She is getting all geared up for Halloween. She changes her mind every few days about what she wants to dress up as this year.

Hope is all is well with you and yours!

-g.

The aftershocks of Hurricane Ike hit Columbus today. All I can say is that I feel HORRIBLE for the people that went through it in Texas. The wind blew so hard here that drywall actually fell from our ceiling upstairs. Crazy! Something must have hit the house. We heard thumps but aren’t sure of damage. The kids had fun running around in the wind. It literally blew Ethan over. Poor guy could barely breathe when it blew in his face. We didn’t play for long.

Tony has to fly out tonight to Baltimore for work this week. Driving to the airport was not a trip I wanted to make in these strong winds. We were without power for about 4 hours so we had to open the garage door by hand to get out. The kids were clueless about the storm, but I was freaking out. I’ve never seen anything like it. We left early because we knew we would have obstacles on the way. Here were some we saw:

–downed trees (at least 5–some in the lane of traffic)
–branches down (15+)
–traffic lights with no power (all but 3 were out–one was hanging super low)
–orange barrels that had blown over into traffic making the road an obstacle course
–downed traffic signs
–fences with sections blown off

Ugh. Poor Tony is still at the airport waiting for his plane to take off hours after his original departure time. I wonder if he’ll sleep there. My superb sister-in-law and husband came a few hours ago to make sure we were alright. Bless them. I was worried about keeping the kids entertained while I tried to plan ahead for a night with no electricity. Finally the winds have died down and the power is back on. My prayers go out to those that had the bulk of the storm. I can’t imagine.

-g.

One of our favorite events of the summer is the Ohio State Fair. It has to be the coolest fair in the country. The food, the rides, the entertainment, the extremely odd people to gawk at, did I mention the food? It’s the REAL reason we love the fair. I missed out last year. I was a tad busy…

That’s Ethan at one month old. Ha! Goofball!

Tony’s family came down this year to enjoy the feast. However, the kids seem to have taken over. They have one thing on their brains: RIDES!

Tony and Mason

Papa Tom and Corinne

Stephanie and James

When you get off the Skyride, it lands you in Kid Kingdom (my own name…catchy, eh?). This ride was the ride of 2008 for my kiddos. I honestly cannot tell you how many times I waited in line, went up 100000s of stairs carrying two scratchy “Magic Carpets” just to whiz back down in a matter of seconds. Bah humbug! Actually, it was worth it for the scream and giggles it got out of Corinne and Mason.

I think I got a nosebleed this time.

Corinne and I racing down (I tried to explain physics and basic laws of nature…she didn’t get it. I won.)

Maybe this was the nosebleed trip (I never got a nosebleed. Just venting.)

Mason loved this ride more than chocolate milk (which is saying alot).

This ride ran a close second. Bumper Boats!

The first ride of the day

The pictures continue, but I’ll spare you. They loved the mini-ferris wheel, the swings that go around in a circle, the roller coaster, the funhouse, blah, blah, blah. It was a kids’ paradise. Of which they partook for HOURS. Where was Tony during all this family bonding you may be asking yourself? On food runs: getting Crystal Light, chicken on a stick, corn dogs for the kids, more Crystal Light, fried garlic/bacon mashed potato balls wth dipping sauce (DELICIOUS!), more corn dogs, french fries, yet another Crystal Light refill, funnel cake, etc. etc. The day of happiness ended with Tony and I trying out a new fried food. The mashed potato balls didn’t count because they contained a vegetable which is borderline healthy. We tried fried oreos. Pretty good. Nothing mind blowing, but I can’t knock them. The kids were easier to please for their dessert:

Funny how those disappeared once we made it to the van… Overall, another fabulous year gorging and getting a sunburn. But do you know what, I honestly can’t wait until next year!

-g.