g is for greta

It wouldn’t be a summer in Columbus without the Ohio State Fair. There were lots of rides and food to be had.

Mason was all about the rides. His cute face cheers me up.

Mason loved that he was “driving” the train.

There was a downpour while we were there. Thank goodness that lightning and thunder didn’t follow. Mason kept right on riding. I think it cooled him down rather than slowed him down. (Note: His hair is soaked!)

Corinne wanted to ride, too. She was into different rides than Mason. This jumpy ride reminds her of how her stomach feels when we go over the hills near my parents’ house.

Of course, she wanted to ride on the ponies.

What do the kids do when they aren’t riding rides? EAT!!! I don’t think we tried any new crazy food item this year. Just stuck with our favorites.

And drink, too. It wasn’t as hot as past years but still was fairly warm.

Ethan was too little to ride rides this year. He mainly pointed and Papa Tom carried him wherever he wanted to go.

They had a huge blank painting for kids to color in. The paint was washable. We spent alot of time there in the shade.

The kids wore themselves (and the 6 adults who tagged along) out. As seems to be our annual tradition, they rode the SkyRide to the front of the park. Their little legs couldn’t handle the trip.

Already counting down the days until next year’s fair!

-g.

…one month ago today. Okay, I am a terrible blogger.

I decided on a truck theme for his birthday since the boy’s biggest passions are dirt and trucks. We did dirt for his first birthday so trucks was the natural choice. Here’s what I came up with for his cake:

We hid the cake from Ethan until it was time to sing. I love the look on his face.

Thanks to all the family who came to visit us for the special occasion. A HUGE thanks to Tony for carting those candy rocks all the way from Vermont. We found them in a candy store there during my visit.

It’s hard to believe how grown-up he is getting already!

We love you, Ethan!

-g.

It’s official. Corinne goes to school ALL day. She loves it. She had a brief disappointment when she found out that she couldn’t use the pale lavendar kitty folder she bought. It only took 3 days to get over it. On the first day, Mason made it until after lunch before he said, “I miss Corinne.” My heart broke.

Corinne is so excited that there is another Corinne in her class! (I know, right!? Why couldn’t they put them in separate classes.) She declared this sweet girl her BFF. The other big news is that this year she has 2 recesses and gets to rotate through music/art/gym/library.

It’s so hard to say goodbye. (Apparently not for Mason. Look at the goober’s face! He’ll realize how much he misses her soon enough.)

Corinne was getting tired of the camera.

welp. It’s a whole new world out there! (cue Aladdin soundtrack)

-g.

So Tony has been traveling alot for work recently due to a project at work. It’s gets a bit old having him gone. The kids are great, but they get tired of him being away, too. We decided to redeem a free voucher he received for being bumped. I flew out to Vermont to spend a long weekend with him last month.

What do you do in Vermont? The first thing we thought of was Ben & Jerry’s! The tour was alright. We were just glad to have somewhere to go. At the end, you get a free scoop of ice cream. Ours was oatmeal cookie. Pretty tasty!

The rest of the state is fairly unpopulated. Tony and I made the most of the small town he was staying in but had to drive to see most points of interest. It was the 400th anniversary of discovering Lake Champlain.

We found a small island that had one of the first churches built in Vermont. It’s a Catholic church that holds services outdoors. It was pretty neat to see. I guess it’s too cold in winter so they only have mass during the warm months. That’s my kind of church!

The biggest town nearby (Burlington) was having a festival to celebrate the lake. Too bad it was pouring and cold. I snapped some pictures, though.

We took a long drive to a fancy restaurant that Tony had been to with a group of guys from his work site. I decided we would try to find covered bridges on the way. They had them vaguely placed on the map but no specific location. Here are the ones we found:

It was a good trip overall. I read 6 books in 5 days. That’s my kind of R&R!

-g.

Tony and I went camping occasionally before we had kids. It was fun! When Corinne was a baby, a group of friends stayed in a clearing in Hocking Hills. We all had small children. They played together during the day and called out from the tents at night WAY past their bedtimes. I can still remember Corinne yelling, “FIRE!” as she pointed at the bonfire. She also woke up with the sun screaming, “BIRDS!” That was a short night of sleep. Needless to say, we haven’t gone since then…until now. Tony gets a week off after being gone for 2 weeks working. We really use his time at home to our advantage. He decided we were ripe to try camping again. With news of our impending camping trip our insurance agent picked up where Corinne left off and began screaming about catastrophic health insurance. You can’t keep a good salesman down. I’ll be in the office for another 4 hours today. If they should be posted within that time I will be sure to submit them for payment before I leave. If not, I will make sure payment is processed first thing on Monday morning.

Delaware State Park was our final choice. They had water to throw rocks into (Mason & Ethan’s favorite activity) and a beach for swimming (Corinne’s choice). We packed up our stuff and headed out.

First thing we did was set up the tent. The kids couldn’t quite grasp that they would be sleeping in it outside all night long. Once it sunk in, they were estatic.

We headed to the “beach.” The water was dirty and the sand resembled dirt, but the kids could have cared less. They had a blast!

This picture may be offensive to some, but I laughed as I took it. That darn swimsuit will not stay up. Poor kid!

Mason loves fire. He burned our plates from dinner and every dry stick he could find in the woods.

(Sorry for the fuzzy picture. It was late, and I was TIRED. I think I thought the fuzziness was coming from my weary eyeballs and not the camera.)

Tony purchased some Coleman glow sticks for the kids in a variety of colors. They give off some powerful light. It was like looking into the sun. I think it actually kept the kids awake. We ended up hiding them under sleeping bags so that we could get some shut-eye.

Morning came way too soon. My kids could get work as roosters if there were ever a shortage. We ate breakfast and packed up the tent. Right when we were folding it into the bag, some raindrops started to fall.

It was a good trip. I’m glad we went.

-g.

Every year our town hosts a Frog Jump. We had never been before but decided to give it a try this year. It was really fun!

The Kiwanas gather frogs from local ponds, streams, golf courses, etc and hold them until the festival. They rotate them through the large main tubs into smaller containers that are taken to the numerous jumping circles.

The kids hold their frogs under a container until the beginning of the race.

Then they must keep their knees in the inner circle while trying to coax their frog to jump beyond the outer circle. They can do anything to get them to jump except touch them.

If they win their heat, they move on to the winner’s circle to continue on. Corinne made it this far but lost in the semi-finals. It only cost $1 to play until you get eliminated. It was well worth it.

There were other things to help entertain the kids, too.

Mason played the game where they were the frogs on bouncing balls and had to jump to the outer circle.

There was also a ripoff fun dunk tank. The kids love to play Carnival Games on the Wii. I was interested to see how it translated to real life.

Corinne did great! She was able to dunk the guy in the number of tries we had paid for.

Mason, however, was amazing! He was super good at hitting the tiny target on the Wii and showed he was equally as skilled in the flesh. Too bad we paid for more throws than we needed.

Ethan didn’t get into it much. I think he enjoyed the slurpy from the Dairy Queen stand the most. He liked climbing on the trailer with the frogs while looking cute. See?

I think we’ll add it to our “Don’t Miss” list.

-g.

I’d better post my 4th of July pictures before it’s the 4th of August!

Tony’s parents came down for the weekend. It was fun to have them here to visit. Papa Tom brought a project with him: switching our crappy basement windows for gorgeous block windows. The kids HAD to help. They wouldn’t even wait to get clothes on.

This is priceless. It looks like Mason is about to take Ethan out while Corinne suffers from the effects of someone spiking her orange juice.

Once the windows were out, we headed to the Dublin Parade to meet up with our best buddies.

After the parade, everyone came back to our house for steak tacos, lime/cilantro rice, fruit salad, etc, etc. It was a delicious Mexican feast. No burgers for us! Then the men went to work placing the windows. Again, there were a few helpers:

Being the scatterbrain that I am, I don’t have any after pictures. Needless to say, they are beautiful windows. You’ll have to come and visit to see them for yourself if you need more closure than that.

-g.

My camera is full of pictures of my sweet family doing fun things. Too bad I’m too lazy to actually download them. Sorry to all of you sitting on the edge of your seats every morning waiting to see if I posted anything. I promise you that I will eventually get around to it. Tony comes home tonight after a 2 week trip. I’m sure lots of things that have been abadoned will finally come to fruition.

-g.

When my brother Shane comes to town, there are always lots of fun activities in the works. He is so good about planning things for the kids to do. I don’t think my kids would have seen half of the things they have if it wasn’t for his trips to Ohio with his family. Here’s some of the highlights from this year’s trip:

Linesville Spillway–The fish pile up on top of each other waiting to get a bite of day old bread.

Conneaut Lake Park–A bit rundown since we went as kids but still lots of fun for our kids!

We were there on a bargain day and got all day wristbands at rock bottom prices. The kids took full advantage.

Mason and Ethan really liked this ride. Mason was partial to the Larry boat. I think he misses our friend Larry that moved to Utah. Sigh.

Roman and Corinne rode this FOREVER! They would jump off, run around the gate, and get back on.

I love Ethan’s face in this one. Ha!

Mason wouldn’t even get off of this ride. There were no lines so he just stayed on. I think stopping the ride was just to give the guy a break from holding the button down.

We also celebrated my nephew Roman’s birthday with a six foot sub.

The kids had a blast riding 4 wheelers and just being together.

We took up a few pews at church on Sunday.

Thanks for coming, Shane and family!

-g.

I want the kids to be more active. I asked Corinne to pick one activity to do this summer. She said, “Dance.” I searched the internet and called numerous dance studios. Most require the student attend for a full year and charge tuition even if you move/quit. Lame! I found one offering a summer course and jumped at the chance. Corinne is taking an 8 week class. It is a sampler: 2 weeks each of ballet, jazz, hip hop, and tap. Last night was her first class. She was so excited to get ready.

The first class was ballet. I am not a fan. That said, Corinne did great! I was really impressed. She listened to the teacher and did the moves just right! It brought tears to my eyes. (I’m emotional, okay?!) She has been on cloud 9 ever since. She is already counting down the days to next week. I’m curious to see how she likes the other types of dance.

-g.