Summertime

Wow, I haven't blogged in almost a month! Can you tell I got a part-time job? It's definitely making my summer go a little faster than usual since I'm not here 3-4 afternoons a week. We've definitely been keeping busy.

The kids and I have had a few slumber parties on the sofa bed. The first time we watched "Because of Winn Dixie" and the second time we watched "The Karate Kid" (the original one). I let them eat popcorn on the bed which they thought was pretty cool. One night we also made chocolate covered bananas. They were yummy!

One day, right before school was out, Jordis and I took our neighbor on a little tour of some of the finer points of south Columbus. She is from Michigan and we've been discussing a little field trip since last year, so we finally made our way out.
We started at Schiller Park.

Then we stopped for goodies at Pistacia Vera. How I love their macaroons. Jordis had a delightful lemon sugar cookie. I forget what Nancy sampled, but it looked equally as tasty.

Next was a trip up High Street to the North Market. We checked out all the booths, grabbed some lunch to go (yummy mashed potatoes and mac and cheese from a local eatery) and continued north. Oh, and Jordis always has to take her picture with this cow whenever we come to the market.

Our final stop was the Park of Roses. It was a few days before the annual festival so the roses should have been at their peak, but it had been so hot at the time that they were looking a little pekid. We enjoyed them anyway. It's always fun to take someone there that has never been. You'd never know that such beauty existed in that busy stretch of High Street without someone showing you. It's definitely off the beaten path.

We've also had some creepy summer storms....

...made homemade donuts....

....been to the park.....

...and discovered silly string.

There's still 35 days until school starts, so I'm sure we'll have some more summer fun in the weeks to come.

Run for the roses

Yesterday I decided to take the kids to see the Park of Roses in Columbus. Besides Inniswood it's my other favorite park in town, especially this time of year when the roses are almost at their peak. The kids didn't really want to go and complained the whole way there, but then later they said they asked me when we could come back. We started by having a little picnic on a bench in the shade. A few people were walking dogs and the kids liked watching them while we ate. Then we walked around to look at some flowers.

They thought this staircase gazebo was pretty cool.

All was going well and we were headed towards the bathroom when Jordis tripped and fell on a gravel path, cutting both of her knees. I typically have a first aid kit in my purse, but I had switched purses, so all I had to give her was a few napkins and an ice pack from our picnic.

Here is our four-year-old tending to her injuries after I tried to clean her off and get the gravel out.

Here is her 34-year-old mother lying in the grass so she didn't pass out after seeing the blood. (If you can't make fun of yourself you're taking life way too seriously, right???)

Last week I got lucky when Xander hurt himself, as my neighbor, Lisa, had been taking a walk right before and stopped to chat. I threw a Band-Aid at her and said "Here, put this on my kid." She still had to witness my lying-in-the-grass phenomenon, but yesterday I had no help. Thankfully we didn't need any Band-Aids after a bit and Jordis was happy to continue on her way. In fact, she was so fine that she didn't care until bath time that she had immersed her cuts in sand at the playground. Then she screamed in horror at the bath and follow-up peroxide I used to try and get the dirt out. Anyway, we finally made it to the restroom and then off to the pond and playground where the kids made a friend.

We were hot and exhausted by the time we left, but the kids had fun which was my only goal for the day, so it was worth the adventure.

Touch-A-Truck

On Friday, my mom and I took the kids to the annual Touch-A-Truck event in the city where Jason works. I haven't attempted going in about three years, as last time I was there Xander decided to hop onto a bus and I had to leave one-year-old Jordis in our wagon next to a police officer while I ran to retrieve him. But they can both walk a good distance now and I had help from my mom, so I thought we'd try again. Okay, that's only partly true. Jason is on first shift now and I think he looks hot in his uniform, so Touch-A-Truck is really an excuse for me to go see him at work. There, I said it.

After seeing Dad we moved on to the fire truck. Jordis wouldn't get on it though because she didn't want anyone to help her on or off.

The big favorite was the pink limousine from the Sweet and Sassy store. Before getting in Jordis got a star on her cheek and glitter in her hair.


They also tried out a zamboni, snow plow, dump truck, tractor and trash truck.

After saying goodbye to Jason we went to spend some time at the park, then my mom treated us to some Rita's Italian Ice. It was so hard to choose a flavor. Luckily they let you taste them first.

Xander had cookies n' cream, Jordis had Swedish Fish, I had Florida Orange and my mom had strawberry and lemonade (they'll let you pick two flavors in one serving if you want). It was such a great way to cool off on a hot day.

Happy Earth Day!

Xander has really been into Earth Day since he learned about it last year in preschool. He was distraught last year on vacation when we were eating breakfast at our hotel one day. He noticed the cups had triangles on them and everyone was throwing them in the trash instead of recycling them. How excited we were when we just stayed at the Hampton a few weeks back and found that this particular location was using all biodegradable products in the breakfast room.

I was a little busy with the birthday parties this year to work on any fabulous Earth Day projects, but we did do a few things over the past week in recognition of the occasion. The first thing we did was take a walk and collect trash from the common areas. It was actually my attempt at getting Xander to take a walk. Who knew that offering up the opportunity to pick up other people's crap was more enticing than just walking for fun?

Not only did they fight about who got to each piece of trash first, but they keep asking when we can go find more trash. Huh?

We also ate sandwiches in the shape of flowers. This was Jordis' idea after seeing it in the Princess and the Frog cookbook my dad and step-mom got her for her birthday.

Last night Jason had to work second shift so I took the kids to Inniswood. This is a park where Jason and I had our engagement pictures taken and it's much closer to our old house, which is why we don't visit more often. But we should because it's absolutely gorgeous there. The kids both got digital cameras for their birthdays so I thought they'd enjoy using them to photograph the flowers. In the meantime I was able to take some pictures of my own.

Summer's winding down

I can't believe that Xander starts kindergarten next week. Yikes! We've been keeping busy trying to fit in as much as we can. Here's Jordis at one of Jason's softball games. She's a combination of girlie and tomboy. Princess hat, but on backwards, shorts on backwards, shoes on the wrong feet, playing basketball. That's my girl.

The kids and I went to the zoo with my mom one evening for Family Night at the Zoo. We had free Bob Evans pulled pork over mashed potatoes with bbq sauce and cheddar cheese, along with some food we brought for a picnic. The kids also got to make a rain stick, get face painting and climb on various inflatables.

We finally got a couple veggies on our plants. The kids have to run out on the deck every morning to see if they're bigger.

Jordis did some shopping with me one afternoon at Trader Joe's while Xander was making snakes and spiders at pottery class.

This week Xander went to summer day camp at Recreation Unlimited. He got to go on a paddle boat, fish from a pontoon boat, go swimming, climb a giant tower, take his light sabre for Star Wars day and I think his favorite thing was that they had free-flowing lemonade from a pop machine at lunch time. He also made a few friends. Here he is with his counselor, Miss Kim, wearing a tye-died shirt he made while he was there.

While Xan was at camp I had quite a bit of alone time with Jordis. She helped me wash my car...

...rode the horse at the grocery store...

...ate Steak n' Shake with me at the park...

...and met up with Jason at the playground...

Can't wait to see what this week holds!