Football Friday Nite

We love football here so we decided that this would be the year we attempt to take our kids to a high school football game. The season started Friday night (August 26th, I started this post a few weeks ago), the weather was gorgeous, and Jason didn't have to work that night, so we decided it was the perfect evening to go. The plan was to go to the local game but they were playing their biggest rival and it usually sells out, so we thought maybe we should find something a little more low-key. The next obvious way to decide, of course, was to find a nearby school that was also close to a great restaurant. We live 20 minutes from a Der Dutchman Amish restaurant that is right down the street from a high school, so off we trekked. Xander hated it immediately. It looked too fancy and there was a loud pianist. But then he saw the bakery. And the gift shop. And the buffet. It has now become his new favorite restaurant.

(Like Jordis' headband? She's apparently channeling her inner Olivia Newton-John.)

Next up was the football game. Even though they were expecting a giant stadium like they see on TV, they were still overwhelmed with all the sights. Xander was impressed that people were allowed to stomp on the bleachers on purpose and make lots of noise. I was impressed that I saw people coming away from the concession stand with funnel cakes. Then I saw sno-cones, and Chick-Fil-A sandwiches and Cow Tales. Forget the Amish place, we might just start coming to games at this school and eating at the concession stand.

We decided to sit on the visitors side since Jason had a friend also in attendance and we thought we'd support the high school that his brother and sister went to. It was clearly the wrong side. The football team was horrible, and so was the band. And I'm still not sure why the flag corp was using flags that didn't coincide with their school colors. But the kids didn't seem to mind. Xander was learning how to read the scoreboard and Jordis was enthralled with the cheerleaders.

As is par for the course, Jordis made a friend while we were at the game. She also thought the team mascot was HILARIOUS. She made Jason take her down to the track so she could see him up close. Then she tried taunting him for the rest of the evening.

We decided to leave during the fourth quarter. I was clearly channeling crowd avoidance techniques I picked up from my dad.....had to get out of the parking lot before the game was over and we were sitting in traffic wasting gas. But I do have priorities so we made sure to pick up a funnel cake to eat on the ride home.

Kids had fun + mom & dad had fun + little to no drama = SUCCESS!!!!

CoCo Key

Jason took the week off when Xander was on Spring Break, so we decided to take a little trip to an indoor water park about an hour from home. It was actually my idea, which means I must have really needed a getaway because I'm not a huge fan of water. They were offering a great deal though that included two full-days at the water park, an overnight stay in the lodge, t-shirts for the kids, two arcade passes and a board game to keep. The lodge was beautiful and I'd like to stay there again sometime whether I went to the waterpark or not.

The kids were super excited when we got there and couldn't wait to go to the pool. They had on their new "croco-dude" shirts my mom and step-dad brought them back from vacation.

Tried to get them on the waterslide at the same time, but it never worked very well.

All day long this giant bucket fills up with water and then dumps out all over. You get a warning, but if you're in line for a water slide there's no getting out in time.

Xan was too short to do this properly, but he was able to get across as I coached him through some creative maneuvering.

We really enjoyed the water park, especially in the evening when a lot of the people who were just there for the day had gone home. We took a rest, got pizza for an early dinner, then went back down for more fun before bed. In the morning we ate breakfast in our room, then headed down to be early in line so we could get a table and chairs for our beach towels.

The kids love arcade games so they were excited to earn tickets before we left.

Look at this girl pull the handle. Watch out Vegas!

After leaving the water park we went to lunch at Bob Evans. Better yet, the kids got to eat for free with the coupons they get every year for their birthday.

So glad we had a good time!

Christmas Eve

Jason had to work on Christmas Eve so as soon as he got home we piled in the car and went to my dad and step-mom's. We had a small window to gather before they had to leave for their church service. We had an early dinner of sandwiches, potato salad, chips, dips, cookies and candy before opening presents.

The packaging is always more fun than the actual gifts, isn't it?

Having a "moment"

Everyone else


After leaving we took the kids to a street in a neighboring city that has twenty-two homes of Christmas lights set to music. On the way home we stopped to see my step-brother at the restaurant where he works. Got home, set out cookies for Santa, and put the kids to bed. For once they were more than eager to get to sleep.

Weekend in Michigan

A few weeks ago we took a 4-day weekend to go see our friends in Michigan. Last July when we went to visit we stayed at Joe and Jen's house, but they just had their first baby and we brought the kids, so this time we spent three nights in a king room at a brand new Hampton. There was a golf center a few blocks from our hotel so one day we took the kids to play their first game of mini-golf. Jordis got a hole-in-one on the second hole. It was really hot and humid that day, but we had a fun time.

We also did a lot of eating. Joe and Jen have some friends who own a little cafe, and we had a great lunch there. I had a turkey sandwich that was made on cranberry bread with a homemade cranberry orange mayonnaise. It came with some wonderful homemade coleslaw. I went in there not very hungry and ended up eating my whole sandwich, coleslaw, Jason's coleslaw and a dill pickle or two. They also make homemade desserts and sent the kids home with some brownies. We also ate at Strawberry Fields which is a place Joe and Jen took us to for breakfast last year. I had some really good hasbrowns with bacon, peppers, onions and cheese, along with some strawberry soup. Great combination, huh?

One day, Joe took Jason and Xander out in their boat on Lake St. Clair, while Jen and I took Jordis shopping for a little girl time. She was so excited to sit next to the baby in the car. She gave him his pacifier if it fell out of his mouth, and she entertained him with his toys. We went to an outdoor mall and I bought Jordis an ice cream cone at the Nestle store.

I also let her pick out a special treat from the gourmet dog bakery to bring back home for Bubba. She thought he'd like a s'more.

Back at Joe and Jen's house the rest of us became chopped liver as Jordis spent the evening tending to the baby. She was all up in his business at diaper change, helped give him a bath, held him, fed him, and gave him a thumbs up when he seemed happy in his swing. She thought we should bring home one of these baby things for our house, until I told her the play room would turn into the office if that happened. She wasn't so sure after that.

On our last day we went swimming in the amazing heated hotel pool and then took the kids back to the outdoor mall for dinner at Max & Erma's. It was the nicest Max & Erma's we've ever been to, which is surprising since their corporate offices are here in Columbus. The kids were excited about their take-home cups and I gave them some coins for the fountain. It was a nice end to a great weekend.

The pumpkin patch

Last month I took the kids to the pumpkin patch we typically go to, so today we decided to try somewhere new. Living close to some rural areas is nice because it gives us multiple locations to choose from. The first thing we did was go on a hayride.

Then we navigated our way through an 8 acre corn maze.

After the maze we went to the front of the property where the kids jumped in an inflatable, sat on some tractors, grudgingly posed for pictures, and picked out a few pumpkins and some homemade black raspberry preserves.

After leaving we decided to go check out a new BBQ restaurant that came to town. I didn't want to go there because I hate that their name is Dickey's, but Jason wanted to try it so we were going to go get something and take it home. Turns out that kids eat free on Sundays if you dine in, and they also have free soft-serve ice cream. So it ended up being pretty economical.

The kids even sat next to each other without fighting. It wasn't amazing food, but it was good enough that we'll go back. Especially if it's somewhere that the kids will cooperate. We had such a fun time!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I blog about everyone else's birthday, so I figured I may as well blog about my own. I am only child after all, so it's always been a pretty important day. The festivities started last week when my friend Jen took me out to dinner at this great place in the Short North. One of the things I like best about Jen

is that she is low maintenance and will pretty much go along with whatever. She also shares food, which is rare. We've traveled together and been to many a restaurant and festival, and Jen is one of the few people in my life (besides my mom) who will split food with me. I love splitting food, that way you can each try two things. So we split two dishes: a grilled cheese on whole wheat with 3-cheeses, Roma tomatoes and pesto with a side of skillet corn and grilled chicken with Dijon cream sauce, garlic redskin mashed potatoes and skillet green beans. The food was incredible. I love eating at independent restaurants, so I hope I can go back there again soon. After dinner we walked to Jeni's ice cream which I've always wanted to try. After sampling about 4 different flavors I settled on Thai Chili, which was so good. Now that I just got on their website to post the link, I see I was a week too early for some great seasonal flavors: Apple Cider Sorbet, Pumpkin Spice and Chocolate Marshmallow. Check out her flavors....you'd be surprised at how all the listed ingredients could equal great-tasting ice cream.

Speaking of ice cream.....


Max & Erma's loaded my dining card with a free order of their hot chocolate chip cookies. Jason had to work 2nd shift the night before my birthday, and being the cool mom I am I figured I'd take the kids to eat cookies and ice cream for dinner. What kid doesn't want an ice cream sundae and chocolate chip cookies for dinner, right? Apparently my kids. They also roped me into chicken nuggets and fries because they felt they needed a meal. I guess in the big scheme of things I should be happy they weren't satisfied eating dessert for dinner, but I would have been all over that as a kid.




My mom had offered to watch the kids on my birthday so Jason and I could do something, so he planned a surprise for me....we went to Kentucky for lunch at my favorite Italian place, Pompilio's. Most of you will recall it from previous blog posts, as we've eaten there the past two summers on trips down. I had the toasted ravioli and Jason had the tortellini with chicken, sun-dried tomatoes and artichoke cream sauce. It was fabulous as usual. Then with a little time to spare we stopped at IKEA on the way home. I've always wanted to go there and it was so much fun to walk around and look at all the cool decorating ideas. While we were there I bought this pillow.
It's so tacky, isn't it? But I had to have it. Not only is it the same color as my kitchen walls, but the kids always pick me dandelions when we go on walks, so it reminded me of them and makes me happy. It was a long drive just for lunch, but it was great alone time without any distractions and going out of state felt like a mini-vacation. We had fun!

I came home to find that my mom and the kids had made me chocolate cupcakes, and I had fun kitcheny presents from my mom and step-dad. Tomorrow night my dad and step-mom are taking us to dinner at Carsonie's to celebrate mine and Jason's birthday. What a great birthday it's been.