Ohio: The Trip Home

There's nothing like spending 1,000 miles in the car with your kids to make you realize how much easier it is traveling with two parents instead of one. But honestly, the kids did great and it was easier than I anticipated. I discovered that the kids don't really sleep in the car anymore and we can go a full tank of gas (400 miles!) without stopping.
On our way home through Wisconsin, we made a pit-stop at Wisconsin Dells for a little fun. Mini-golf at The Pirate's Cove was our first stop.


Go Karts were the next and last stop. They had the option on going on the "fast cars" with me or driving themselves in the kiddie cars. They chose driving themselves. This was the first time that they've been tall enough to do something like this. Sadie immediately whipped three cookies before figuring the steering out. Once she did, she did great!

It was a fun stop to make and a good distraction. Then, it was movies all the way home. It felt so good to be home.

Ohio, Part Four: This is Dedicated to the Ones I Love

When visiting places, I am constantly reminded that wonderful people are everywhere. No matter where I've lived on this earth, it seems that I've managed to meet some of the most awesome people that there are. These people have not only become my friends, but my family. Ohio is no different. I miss Ohio not because of the topography or because I miss the "city life" or "the college life" but because I had an amazing group of friends. When I saw them all at the birthday bash, or the zoo, or the parks, I realized just how lucky I am to have my "Ohio friends" even if it's from a thousand miles away.
A trip to Ohio wouldn't be complete without a trip to Buckeye Village. Everyone that we knew in BV has moved away to greener pastures, or at least better living conditions. So, we just did a quick drive-by of our house. Eli remembered where we lived, where Sofia lived and which sports were played in each stadium. Sadie didn't even recognize our house. We spent an evening with our dear BV friends: Ileana, Isain, Dario and Sofia, and Laura and Satya. When Eli and Sadie saw Sofia for the first time in 2 years, they remembered who she was and they picked up as if a day hadn't past. It was so great to see Dario, who struggled so much with his health from the very beginning, running and laughing and talking in both English and Spanish and giving kisses and being just the most charming and sweetest little guy around. Those kids spent so much time together playing in the courtyard between our two houses. It was fun to see the friendship blossom again!
Speaking of friendships, look at this gang. They too picked up right where they left off. Jackson, Luke and Eli were fast friends.

A special thanks to Matt and Katie who let us crash at their house. The kids all had a blast and Katie and I got to spend the evening chatting away and catching up. The kids all slept in Luke and Michael's room with flashlights and stuffed animals and light sabers and toys galore that there was hardly any room for them all to fit, but they all squished in and managed to sleep like little angels.

We had a fantastic trip. Thanks to everyone for making an extra effort to see us while we were visiting. It was great to see everyone and reconnect. Hopefully, it won't be another 2 years before we make it back. But, if it is, I'm sure we'll pick right back up where we left off! Love you!

Ohio, Part 3: A New Park

(Sorry for the delay, Dennis and I were away!) Since we've left Columbus, they've gone and built themselves a pretty cool new Metro Park. It's an awesome park in downtown Columbus that offers green space and river views to an otherwise steel and concrete location.

They did a good job meshing the urban location with the green space. The play equipment is very non-traditional with a huge rockwall (for the pros) and a smaller rockwall for the younger crowd. There is a pond, walking trails, and the river with plenty of flowers, birds, butterflies and bees.

The park is also home to the Audubon Center, which has a very fun play area complete with bird and butterfly costumes.

I miss Columbus parks. They are awesome, especially the Metro Parks. The kids and I had a blast exploring this new park with our friends. It was just like the good ol' days when we used to go to TOPS (tour of parks) with our playgroup. Pure bliss. Pure bliss.

Columbus Zoo

We used to spend a lot of time at the Columbus Zoo so it was only appropriate that we go back to visit. Two years ago they were just finishing up the new water park, rides and polar bear exhibit. It was fun to see the changes that they've made.

They had flamingoes to pet right when we walked in. They were so soft and cute (except their beady little eyes!).

It was feeding time at the aquarium. Jackson, Luke and Eli thought it was pretty cool.

The polar bears were great, but lazy. It was a perfect day for me, but I'm sure the polar bears prefer a little chillier temps.

The zoo is great and there are lots of places for photo ops. The kids love all of the statues that you can play and pose on. There are also two different playgrounds for the kids to waste their energy on as if walking around the entire zoo isn't enough. In fact, we spent so much time on statues and play equipment that we hardly saw any animals!! Plus, with a gang like this, it's hard to make much progress! You can tell from this picture that Luke, Jackson, and Eli made quite the trio.

A trip to the zoo wouldn't be complete without a ride on the carousel.Michael and Sadie wore a smile the entire ride. You can see more carousel rides from the past here and here.

Birthday Bash 2011

The kids and I made the thousand mile trek back to Ohio to visit some friends. And by some friends, I mean all of these cute little kids:We made it back for my mom's group "Birthday Bash" that has been held annually since the beginning of our group, which was formed over 6 years ago when we all had our first borns. It has been 2 years since we've been back but I keep in touch with "my moms" via a yahoo group.

The kids didn't really remember much about Ohio. They remembered a few friends and Eli remembered which sports were played where when we drove around campus (imagine that!) and they both remembered our apartment and where Sophia (more on her family in another post)lived. And while they were shy for a little while they quickly got reacquainted and had a blast!

Somehow, I don't have pictures of the rocket, which was a huge hit. But, I got a few pics of the kids hanging on the playground...

and going down the bouncy water slide...

The day went by super-fast. The party started at 10:30am and we left at 5. It was so great to see all of the families, meet the babies that have born in the past 2 years and reconnect. More Ohio pictures to come...

A Weekend at the Lake

I have some awesome friends who allowed me to borrow their lake home for a little family vacation while they were away. They were also lovely enough to let me invite some guests. My identical cousin, Brenda, and her family came. Her kids are very close in age to my kids so they took to each other right away and became fast friends. We had a blast catching up along with my cousin Carl and his girlfriend and our other cousin, Nick. My brother and his family came too.
The weather was cool, but it only rained at night and gave the kids a lot of time for fishing.
And time for hanging out.
Look at these identical cousins. They look so much like Brenda and I did at this age!
This is pretty much what we did. Hung out on the dock. Fishing, talking, swimming, eating...
All of the kids tried out kayaking. By the end of the weekend they were getting around pretty good.
Carl and Nick fished a lot and caught nothing.
So Sadie had to show them how it's done.


We hope we get to do this again next year. It was so relaxing and fun. Family time just can't be beat.

Norway Beach

We went on our first camping trip of the year this weekend to Norway Beach on Cass Lake inside the Chippewa National Forest. It is a great campground with campsites tucked into the woods right along the beach so the kids only had to walk 20 steps to get to the sand! The water is still pretty cold, but they splashed around anyways.

We chose Norway Beach because it is only 5 minutes from where Dennis works and he was on call this weekend. We had to be close just in case Dennis had to go into work and it was perfect.

They also have nice paved bike trails. This is a new family moment: riding bikes together!! We didn't have to pull a kid, instead we had to keep up. What a fun and awesome change.

All weekend Sadie kept saying, "Mom, I just LOVE camping." And she does. I hope she loves it for life!!

A Heavy Heart

Our old stomping grounds in Arizona, The White Mountains, are on fire because of one careless camper. The winds are blowing and currently 389,000 acres have burned. Currently only 5% of the fire is contained and prisitine forest is being lost. Small towns in the area have been evacuated. This is called "The Wallow" fire because it is burning up an area called "Bear Wallow". Please pray for the winds to stop blowing, for the fire to be contained, for the firefighters fighting the fires and for the people who have been evacuated and for those who have lost their homes. I'm so sad, this area just won't be the same.

Here are some pictures of Dennis and me near where the fire is burning.
This is Mt. Escudillo, the third highest point in AZ.

These next three pictures were all taken in Bear Wallow. This first one is "our tree". Note: we did not carve our initials into the tree. Some other couple just happens to have the same initials. And this tree is miles off the beaten path, how crazy that Dennis spotted it.

A little winter wonderland action:

The edge of the Mogollon Rim looking down into the valley below:

School's Out For Summer!

Eli said farewell to his 19 K-1 pals yesterday. They were such a good group of kids, I just can't say enough good things about them or about Mrs. Vaughn, their teacher. Or about K-1 in general, it's been such an awesome, growing year for Eli and I'm so happy that we chose not to do kindergarten and to wait a year. However, I'm sad to say that he didn't get into the charter school we were hoping to send him to, Schoolcraft. Instead, he'll be heading to The Paul Bunyan Kindergarten Center.

The kids had two field trips the last couple of weeks of school. They walked to the local park for one and took the bus to the state park for the other. Luckily, we had great weather for both days.

Eli's best buds: Will, Eli, Ryan and Caleb

I can't believe the kids were playing in the water. It was 80 degrees or so out (which, btw, is super-hot for Northern Minnesota), but that water was icy cold!!

Now it's time for t-ball, camping, going to the beach and having fun in the sun!!!

Happy 65th Birthday Grandpa!!

On June 5, my dad and his twin brother, Ron, celebrated their 65th birthday. My aunt and uncle, Dad and Ron's siblings, hosted a birthday party in the twin's honor.

You are probably wondering why in the world these 65 year old men are wearing these silly hats. BTW, my dad is on the left and Ron is on the right.

The reason is this picture which was taken in Glendive, Montana when the twins were 2. So, they had matching hats and shirts and my aunt Colleen made cherry chip cakes just like grandma used to.
They were good sports and reenacted the event.

The grandkids helped blow out the candles!

The siblings: David, Don, Ron and Kathy. My uncle George couldn't make it and my uncle Jim passed away 10 years ago.

We had such a fun time. I'm so glad my aunt and uncle pulled this together so we could help celebrate. It was great seeing aunts, uncles, cousins and their kids.

Sadie's New Room

After what seems like forever (ok, only May) and a long list of "to dos", I'm happy to say that "Operation: move Sadie" is complete. You can see that there is still some pictures to find and hang and a night stand and book shelf need to be found, but you can get the gist. We painted it a lovely "Hawaiian Sky" and Sadie is happy with it even though she wanted pink. (Not that I had a problem with pink, I just figured she might grow out of pink in a year or two!) Because we only have 3 bedrooms, Sadie's room will double as the guest room so she needed a queen bed which takes up most of her small space.


I found this cute little vanity and chair at an antique store called "the Barn Chicks". Once I saw it, I knew it would be perfect for Sadie and it is!
Dennis and I moved onto the main floor into what was the guest room/sewing room. Eli is still in the same room, though I suspect they'll still be sharing space for awhile.