On a Trip to Ohio: Part 1

At the end of June, we started out on our ten day tour of Ohio by driving to my parents' house.  We kept super busy while where were there and had a wonderful time.

One day, Mom, Dad, Kara, Sophie, Owen, James, Tom, Colleen and I went to the Children's Museum in Cincinnati.  What an amazing place!  The kids had so much fun!

We also spent some time at Kara and Andy's house.  Sophie enjoyed dressing up Colleen in one of her princess dresses.

We also spent a hot day at a summer party at Kara and Andy's house.  Luckily, they didn't loose electricity until near the end of the party.  (Heavy storms the previous day kept causing their electric to go on and off).

We also took a trip to visit my grandmas.  Colleen and Tom had their first trip to the Dairy Twist.

We also had fun just hanging out at my parents house....reading, watching the iPad, playing the piano, and playing with water on the front porch.

A church not far from my parent's house puts on a spectacular fireworks display for the Fourth of July.  So, with Colleen asleep and monitor in hand, we set up chairs in the backyard to watch the display.

No trip to Ohio would be complete without a trip to Graeter's!

The day before we left for Cleveland, we went to the splash area at Sharon Woods.  Colleen thought it was a blast and enjoyed picking up the leaves too.

We had a great time seeing everyone!  So much, that we planned a visit at our place over Labor Day weekend!

On a Tybee Island Trip

Back when the weather was still cold, some of my close college friends and I decided to take a trip together to celebrate turning 30.  Being from Ohio and North Carolina, the five of us ended up meeting in Tybee Island, GA for a long weekend sans husbands or kids. (A huge thanks to Tom for watching Colleen for the weekend).

One of the first things we did once we dropped of our stuff was to head to the beach.  My goal was to have my feet in the sand before the day was over!

Tybee Island is beautiful.  I'm already looking forward to going back sometime.  The beach was walking distance from where we stayed and you could see the lighthouse from the beach.  The view from our balcony was also amazing.

Our time on the Island was well spent.  Time on the beach was a must.

Time at the pool to relax.

An evening in Savannah with a pirate themed dinner and shopping.

Dinner at the famous Crab Shack...alligators and all.

Sunsets from our balcony.

However, the best time spent was catching up with my friends KimE, Steph, Liz, and Erin from college.  It had been years since we had been all together and although ours lives are completely different than when were were at Bowling Green, it was like nothing had changed.  We talked about our families, our jobs, our lives, and the past.  I enjoyed every minute of it.

Girls-I loved the weekend we had on Tybee Island.  Can't wait for us to travel again!  Miss you all!

On Understanding

At 14 months old, Colleen is really starting to understand a lot of what people say to her.  For example, you can ask her to bring you something and more often than not, she's bring you the right thing.  However, she is only 14 months, so she can't verbalize anything she wants to tell us.  This leads her to become frustrated easily and while I don't know if I would call them tantrums quite yet, she has been known to wail and cry and throw her body on the ground.  Luckily, these are usually short lived.

This morning, she seemed especially frustrated.  I didn't know what she wanted.  Tom didn't know what she wanted.  Everything we tried to give her just made her mad.  I totally didn't understand her.  When she was calm enough, I spoke with her and wiped the tears that were still on her cheek.  I know that when she is older, we will be able to communicate better.  I just wish I understood.

Later this afternoon, we finally heard back about what was wrong with our SUV.  Transmission fluid is leaking...a $624 fix.  As with most people, money these days is tight.  I understand that it could have been worse.  But, I was upset thinking of how I would have loved to put that money into our savings account.  How we pulled Colleen from daycare this summer (with a chance of losing her spot to another child) in order to save money.  Money that will now be used to repair a vehicle we hardly drive.  So, I started to cry.  And just as I had done with her this morning, Colleen came over to me and with her little hands, started to wipe the tears off my face.  I could tell by the look in her eyes, that if she could talk, she would have said, "Don't cry Mama.  It's going to be okay."

I might be able to understand her quite yet, but she definitely understands me.

On a Garden

I never pictured myself as much of a gardener.  However, maybe it's because I turned thirty or maybe I was just tired of buying tomatoes and fresh basil from the store, but I asked if Tom would help me plant a small garden for my 30th birthday.

Our soil here is full of clay and we don't have the proper tools to plant a garden in the ground.  So instead, we planned a small raised bed.  I didn't want anything big for fear that this would be a complete disaster and I would kill everything.  So, Tom looked up some plans online and built a 4 by 10 foot bed.

Once the frame was in the ground, we had to do a little work to get it level and then pull out all the sod.  Then, Tom filled it with dirt and we added some plants.  For the first year I planted: two basil plants, two tomato plants, two red pepper plants, two cilantro plants, several green onion plants, a lemon thyme plant, and a lavender plant.  Thanks for Andrea and George for the thyme and lavender as well as some of the funds as my birthday gift to complete the project.

Thanks to Tom's siblings and their kids for the rain gauge, thermometer, watering can and colorful decorative pieces to add a bit of color to my garden.

We also felt if we were going to have a garden, a rain barrel would be necessary.  It's located right next to the garden which makes watering a snap!

My cilantro did well in the beginning, but know it's starting to flower.  I was able to use it in several dishes though and have used the basil and green onion as well.  Our tomatoes are growing like mad now so we've been eating lots of BLTs and lunch meat sandwiches with home grown tomatoes.  I think next year I might try some lettuce.

Luckily, since it's a raised bed, there has been little weeding or maintenance.  I love being able to run out a use something from my garden for dinner-makes everything taste better knowing you've grown it yourself.  Thanks to my husband Tom for building this wonderful birthday present!  I hope we will be able to enjoy it for years to come!

On a Graduate and Trip to NY

Over Mother's Day weekend, my parents (generously) flew my sister and I to New York for my brother's graduation from grad school.  He graduated from Rutgers University in New Jersey and I was proud and glad to be able to attend the ceremony.  

Tom drove me to the airport Friday afternoon and I landed in New York not long after my sister did who was flying in from Kentucky.  Together, we traveled by bus, subway, and foot to meet my parents and brother in New Jersey.  Kyle took us on a tour of the building where he spent most of his time.

The following day was graduation.  We met Kyle at his place before grabbing lunch and heading to the ceremony.  Mom made him this beautiful wall hanging of maps.

The ceremony was very nice and included a lovely reception in the courtyard with delicious foods.  Check out Kyle graduating in the video below.

On Sunday, we spent the day in New York City and enjoyed Mother's Day with our mom. Check out some of the sites!

Congratulations Kyle!