Staycation 2008

Since school has started, our summer travel plans have gone by the wayside. We decided it would be fun to have a "staycation" this afternoon and go places in the area that we have never visited as well as some of our favorites. We started with dinner at Puchinnis italian place (which was just so so) and then decided to go to the UK Arboretum. We have walked the outskirts many times as college students, but never took the time to stroll through the grounds. We are sure glad we did today. It was beautiful!

These are just a few of the gorgeous sights from the place.

Sarah had a blast playing in the fountains.

We desparately tried to take photos of us, but she was in no mood. This was the best we could get.




There were many beautiful structures on the grounds that other "legitimate" photographers were using for backdrops for engagement photos, etc.

My luck as a photographer finally changed when Sarah heard "Little Einstieins music" being played in the distance. There was some sort of reception taking place and a small orchestra was in the background. These were by far the best photos of the day.
She loves music!She couldn't stop smiling at the sounds.

Here are the musicians that were entertaining us. We had our own private concert!

Here is the foursome playing in the entry to the Arboretum. I love this song.

The Arboretum also has some cool art!

We found a beautiful pond to sit beside for a while.

Sarah decided to take a break at this point.

As we were leaving, we noticed some hollowed out tree trunks by the parking lot. Sarah made some friends and she did not want to leave.This is a beautiful place, we will definitely return soon.

Finally, we decided to end our Staycation with an old standby: Joseph-Beth Bookstore!
Sarah loves to play in the children's area, but I think she loves the "elevator" (which is really an escalator) most of all. She must ride it multiple times before we leave every time we are there.

We also took her out on the patio in front of the bookstore to feed the fish and ducks.

She made some more fast friends.

What a great afternoon and we only spent money on dinner!

Jason's 30th Birthday

August 14th has come and gone. We had a three day birthday extravaganza for my brother Jason's 30th birthday this year. The culminating night was a surprise party.

Mom and Dad were in town early in the week for doctor appointments and decided to stay and celebrate at the Cracker Barrel.

Check out my sister-in-law's muscles.

The whole family decided to take time to rock on the porch after dinner.


The next day, I had a birthday dinner for him at our house. We also invited David, Brandy, Caden, and Cohen to celebrate. Brandy decided this would be the best way to throw him off the surprise party if we went ahead and gave him his presents.

Sarah quickly saw that no toys were being opened and opted for a game of dress up.


Day 3 (Friday) we met at Jason's house before he got home from work. The gang parked on other streets so he would suspect nothing.

Here is Chris and Sarah waiting paitently for uncle Jason.

Abby and Phoebe joined in the fun.

The kids were so excited, we worried he would hear the horns before he even came in the door, so, we encouraged them to wait for the cue on the staircase. It seemed to work for the most part.

I tried to film Jason's entry but, wouldn't you know it, the camera memory said full seconds before the door opened. The still shot will have to do.

He took it in stride and didn't seem to mind the gag gifts too much.

He had a large crowd show for the occassion.

Most of the people there were either family or church family. He did have his college roomate drop in for a few minutes as well. It was a great time of Italian food and laughter.

Happy 30th Jason!

School Begins

Ready or not, here they come! School began this Wednesday at LHS. I had a pretty good day. I am absolutely loving having a room again this year! I worked on it through July and early August. Many folks have been wanting to come and take a look at the finished product, so I thought it would be easier to take photos and share with everyone.

This is the view from the doorway. The person in the photo is Mike, my "roomate" in room 240. He floats on the days I work, and it is his room on the alternate days.

I decided to use real photos and documents rather than the generic teacher "stuff" you find at parent teacher stores. I am pleased with the result.


I created one bulletin board that will be devoted to the election, and one that will be for news and placards of current units in history we will discussing. Notice the framed Ronald Reagan photo on the bookshelf? This was my grandfather's. It really hung in his living room! Close ups are found below.



Notice the flags stapled to the ceiling. This was no easy feat!

I found a great deal of placards and framed portraits of past presidents in file cabinets left by a man who retired last year. I am so glad he left these for me! They really add to the "history vibe" in the room.

I also made sure to have photos of "the king" Elvis Presley around. Mom says I was obsessed with his music as a toddler. .

I am pretty pleased with the results. What do you think? Leave me a comment if you have any other suggestions for the room.
Now for the hard part: getting eleventh graders to love history!

Last gasp of summer fun...

Well, here I am looking at a 4 day work week and I know that summer is officially over! (Where did the time go?) I haven't really had any wild adventures this week, but simple pleasures that I though I would share.






I went yard saleing (is that a word??? oh well, it is now), and found Sarah the most beautiful red dress with tags still attached. She looks beautiful in red.
I have really enjoyed finding great bargains in the past few weeks.




Jason and Ashley came over to share cookies and photos of Jason's recent trip to China. While here, we took an impromptu walk to the pond down the street to feed the ducks. This is a rare photo of Sarah holding hands with her uncle as we walked. Check out the 80's pony tail Ashley gave her (cute!).

Ashley is naturally drawn to animals and ducks are no exception.

Jason and Sarah had fun running up and down the hill leading to the pond.

Here is the "duck whisperer" in action. These ducks are pretty aggressive. I started filming after we ran out of bread. They don't hurt anyone, but they sure aren't afraid of humans.

Here Ashley discusses the fact that we are just out of food for the ducks. Do you think they understand?

The next day,I was in the bedroom reading and the house suddenly got really quiet. This is usually a bad sign, but not today. Sarah was hanging out at the base of the stairs reading to all of her stuffed animals. She had thrown each one of them down the stairs for the "lesson". She has really begun using her imagination and need me less and less each day for playtime. (I know this independence is just the beginning and I will miss our playtime soon enough).

At first, she looked at me with this guilty expression, but once I began laughing, all was well.

Here is our beloved dog "Brownie". Sarah's friend Lily bought Brownie for Sarah's second birthday. He is a true member of our family and goes on all overnight trips away from home.

Once reading time ended, Brownie became Sarah's horse. Ride'm cowboy!

Wipe out!

We love our dog! Thanks Lily! Now I must focus on the task at hand... Teaching eleventh graders United States History!
Angie

Kings Island 2008

Alas, all good things must come to an end, including my summer home with Sarah. We decided to have one last hoorah in Cincinnati at Kings Island before my school meetings begin on Monday. This is Sarah's second year at Kings Island, but the first year she was able to ride many of the rides. We had a blast! Below are some of the events of the day.

First came the car ride there. Sarah is potty trained now and, as a result, trips take a little longer because of multiple potty breaks. We finally rounded the corner and saw the skyline of
Cincinnatti just before 10:30. This is one of my favorite skylines in the country. I think it is because you come around the mountain and "boom" there it is laid out before you.

As we crossed the bridge, we took some closer photos of the buildings along the river.




Finally, upon entering Kings Island, we spotted the Scoobie Haunted House ride. Sarah insisted she wanted to ride it, but we weren't sure how she would take the dark, etc. We waited at least 45 minutes for this ride (yuck). Here is a photo of Sarah looking around for Scoobie while we waited.



She did great on the ride and we moved on to hotter adventures as you can tell from the photo.



Although the first couple of hours were rough (hot and long lines), about 12:30, the lines thinned out and Sarah began meeting some of her favorite characters around the park.

She was particularly awestruck with Dora.

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She saw Pablo dancing and decided to go meet him.

She also joined in on the dancing with some of her best moves.

We then found Scoobie and posed for a family photo. Do you sense how hot we were?

At 1:30, we caught the Dora show which turned out to be one of the highlights of the day.

She had a great time doing the chicken dance. I can post the video but it is sideways (because silly me was holding the camera vertical during the dance. Lean your head and pretend I didn't do this).

After the show, we let her try a ride on her own. We found a bigger girl to sit with her and put her on a swiper ride. She had a blast as you can tell from the video.
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We were so surprised at her bravery. (I guess she really is growing up)



We rode a train ride together and decided to take the famous "hold your arm out" photo. Did I mention how hot we were?



We ended up leaving at 2:30, letting Sarah nap in the car, and returning at 6:30 for more fun. We finally left at 8:30pm and we were beat! We have some really great memories from this mini-vacation.