The Not-School Day at the park

 Clippard Park's sprinkler park is open for a few more weeks. This is where we meet weekly to celebrate our not school days in the fall, until the weather gets too cold. So we brought skates, paddles and balls, swim suits and lunch for a day with friends in the sun.

And of course the water sprinklers were off until we were getting ready to leave. They they sprang into action just in time for everyone to get soaked and head to the car to sit on my leather seats. YAY!

Then it was time to drop Brenda off with her friend Amy for a teen dinner and sleepover.

Back home our Rainbow Resource books came in. Everyone was very excited about this. Except Brenda who didn't choose any books this year.

And finally to the store for some hair dye...

Science... right?? Totally Science!

Back to school?

I remember being one of these moms once. I found these on my facebook this morning. I am glad that I don't feel like this anymore. I hope that some day they don't either. When you feel this way, it is a good thing there are schools to take the children away from home part of the time. I suppose.

 

Finally a Teen

The girl is two or three inches taller than me already! Her foot size is bigger. AND I HAVE BIG FEET! She just keeps biggerin and biggerin and biggerin! Happy 13th Brenda. A few weeks early, but we will be off to UGO when the actual day hits. Cannot wait to see what wonderfulness this year brings to you! Love ya!

New Addition to the Knitting Family

She assured me she was ready to learn. And there she goes. 6 years old, knitting like an old granny. lol.

A Bonding Moment, right??

Gaige turned 18 last month. Note the tears dripping down my face as I cannot handle the stress of my baby growing up. Anywho, for his 18th, Bret and I said we would buy him a used car and purchase a couple months of insurance while he gets himself a job and begins getting his ducks in their neat little rows.

Gaige says to me, Let's go on a road trip to Chicago for a weekend before school starts and see some sights. (that is me paraphrasing.) So how could I resist THAT? I couldn't. On to the bad news. The car we are purchasing from our really fabulous mechanic (how many people can say they have one of those right?) isnt really to pick up yet. And so I have to drive. Not so bad on long roads, not so good on Chicago streets when I don't really know where I am going, and there are these stupid bikers EVERYWHERE!!! Ok I digress. We were unhappy about the car situation. He wanted to drive. I wanted to finish knitting my socks while he drove. We went anyway.

 

I will put a list together of some must eats for me while I was there in case you should happen to find yourself in that neck of the woods (which are not woods at all unless you consider call the huge buildings redwoods, and you call all the cement sidewalks, streets, and yards grass.) But more about that later. Do you see it?????? Huh? Do you??? Do you??? The boy is standing next to me and..... drum roll please.... smiling!!!!!!!

 Here it is again! The boy is smiling!!!! A real smile!!!!
First photo... we are at Willis Tower. Went there when I lived out there. I totally WOULD NOT step out onto the skydeck. Gaige didn't want to either. It was fun to be there. The second photo is us on the Seadog Architecture Tour. That was really nice! I hear the best time to take this tour is at about 7 or 8pm as the sun is setting. I bet it is because the sights and info were really great! Our boat tour guide guy was cool! Loved it.

So I took him to some old stores and food joints that I  used to frequent when I was a resident. Years ago. We couldn't do EVERYTHING but I tried within our time budget. The Chicago Alley, although a little more mainstream than I remember (but maybe punk is getting more mainstream anyway) has a tatoo shop in it! Gaige insisted that we get tatoos. So we did. LOL. We both got the same tatoo, me on my shoulder, he on his arm. He tatooed first. When I was being tatooed he said, "Dad's gonna be really mad. I didn't want to say it before you started so that you wouldn't back out. But his is really goinna be mad." lol. I guess we cannot spend our lives worrying about how mad we are going to make other people.

A little about the bull totem...

Bull: This powerful totem reflects a surging energy force, packed full of heat, similar to sunlight. Bull will walk the journey with us into our past lives and assist us in recovering great insight. However, Bull warns us to use our inner strength without bullying others. Likewise, he teaches us to be assertive without becoming stubborn. In its most raw state, untamed Bull energy literally manifests itself as uncontrollable anger or passion. Guard against this tendency with great care!
More about other animal totems here...

http://www.cathyginter.com/TOTEM.html

or google it and you will come up with a bunch more.

Other places to go...

The Taco And Burrito House (totally didn't make it there but will be going back and this place will be first on my stop!)

Chicago pan pizza, Unos, Gino's East, Giordannos. (Not the Uno's in Cincinnati. That IS NOT chicago style pizza. Go and see!)

Sarki's (The most fab omelets ever! Go get a disaster sausage. You will be sold! Been going there since I was 2 or 3 years old. Sarki is long passed away, but the food is the same great stuff!)

Navy Pier, with the boat rides, some boat shuttles as low as $2.00, circus, showings, festivities, stain glass museum, beach within walking distance, must see for visitors. Then walk along the lake until you get to a good distance from Navy Pier and sit on the lake for the Saturday night fireworks that begin at 10:15 every Saturday during the summer.

We would have loved to seen a cubs game, but wouldn't luck just have it, they were in CINCINNATI while we were in Chicago. And now that we are back in Cincinnati, they are back in Chicago. lol. Anywho what is Chicago without the sports??

Being from Chicago and the outlying areas, Cincinnati Sports baffle me. They have a historic team like the Reds, and they don't sell out. Yet even when Chicago sports are not doing so well (my husband would laugh and the idea that there is a time in the last 10-15 years when they DID do well) Chicago rallys around their teams! Preseason and the Bears game was sold out! PRESEASON, guys!



 

See that Go Bears sign? THAT IS A HUGE BUILDING WITH ITS WINDOWS LIGHTED TO SAY GO BEARS!!! How cool is that? A city lit up for their people.

 

Totally the boy wants to go back next summer with me. ONLY he drives and I knit! This makes me so happy.

 

 

Jr. Roller Derby???

Every year when school starts up again, we start discussing what activities we want to do. It used to be soccer, Girl Scouts, dance, swim team. And that is a lot. Especially with this many kids. So one year I was late signing my kids up for soccer and found out they were full and not taking more kids. When soccer season started and we weren't running around to 4 practices and 1 or 2 games a week it felt real nice! So I decided never again. Our rule is Girl Scouts and ONE other activity at a time. NO OVERLAPPING. Usually it was dance during the school year and swim team in the spring and summer. Last year Brenda broke away to do tennis. This year Brenda and Bret have chosen Jr. Roller Derby as their activity! (Which I am so jealous of, btw... :-) Bret has already picked her RollerGirl name... Hullabaloo. lol. Marley being a year too young will choose dance. This is her first year doing jazz so I know she will be excited. Look for us to be around. 

 

Back to Not School Time

As I sit here, I can hear the hum of kids heading to school on their first day. We live across the street from the local high school and diagnal from the elementary. So my street is a path of many back to the old school days.

I read an article years ago about how so many adults tend to make big purchases in the fall. Every year as children, through teens, and into their twentys, autumn was the time for change. Getting back to school, purchasing new books, school supplies, clothes, shoes, etc. Then they become adults and subconsciously make big purchases during back to school time without even noticing it.

Although our family is not going "back to school," fall IS by far the best time for lots of that shopping. Three years ago, Walmart had 70 sheet notebooks on sale for $.10. This year it is up to $.17. Still a great deal and best time to totally stock up on those things. My girls color with them in the car to keep themselves busy, we write in them as journals, schedules, and so much more. Of course that is just one of the MANY MANY deals you will find during this time. We purchase clothes just like the rest of  'em. We stock up on supplies. We buy the deals.

This year one of the stores had a deal on oil pastels. Crayola brand. All the girls (with emphasis on Marley) have been pastelling the heck out of my paper every since.

I wonder if I am creating the same pattern for my kids of fall spending that they might take on to their adulthood. We don't head back to school. But we know the other kids are. We can feel it in the air. Suddenly no one can play, they are all shopping with their moms, they are all getting to sleep early to prepare for the early mornings ahead.

My girls... they sleep in today.

Camp Time Again

Every Year Brenda and Bret head out to Girl Scout camp for a week. This is their third year going away to summer camp. This year Brenda went to horse camp, against my better judgement because I thought it would be less than her expectations. Bret went away to a camp called Peddles and Paddles. Brend learned how to groom and ride a horse, which she assured me was better than my expectations. Bret took a one day canoe ride and rode her bike to a campout 13 miles each way. They make a ton of friends, they do all kinds of things they know I would not approve of, and they come back giddy with excitement. Of course:-)

This year Marley was finally old enough to do a camp. She and I attended Me and My Gal camp which is a two day, one night camp for girls and their mom, grandma, aunt, etc. Mostly it is moms, and over half are leaders. We canoed, swam in the lake and the pool, played a ton of girl scout games, learned some songs, ate smores, made vases, sit-upons, and pudding art with our tongues. We made new friends and had a great time together.

Here are some photos Marley and I took from the experience. She had the camera most of the time. This was one of Bret's favorite camps. I highly recommend this kind of a camp for all girls and their Gals. It is the ultimate camp experience for a little un who doesn't want to leave home alone, yet still wants to camp. It is time together without the other kids for just a small time. For us to make our own special memories.

 

What is biggest??

Marley and I were playing with our counting blocks today, making towers and such. So I gave her a job, to put blocks in the boxes in this order: small, big, bigger, biggest. And here was her order. Green was small, white was big, red was bigger, and yellow was biggest.

Before you tell her that she is wrong... she wasn't looking at block size. She was looking at size from the perspective of which has more.

Many times we go through workbooks and answer questions, and we are wrong. Not because we are wrong. But instead because we were thinking about the question differently. In real life this is commended. In school learning, teaching, and knowledge should be standard. In real life nothing is.

I am so blessed to have an opportunity to notice these things throughout my day.

Marley said, "Come on, Mom, you are my teacher." We are playing with the blocks and workbooks again. I tell her 'she is her own teacher. And did I teach her to talk or walk? No she taught herself.'

So she told me, 'well you did get excited and try to get me to do it again after I did it.'

I tell her 'That is not a teacher. That is a cheerleader. I am your cheerleader.' :-)

Girl Scouts host Winton Woods Park Pet Parade

What a great opportunity to get in some community service time and earn our Pet Care badge at the same time! We helped set up the parade and in spite of the heat, led the pets through the park. Here is Brenda with Jade. We planned to bring the Elenore and Leroy (our baby turtles) but in light of the heat, we kept them behind.

 Our guest speaker couldn't come. It was supposed to storm and she was coming from far away. But she assured us the opportunity to come to one of our meetings and finish our badgework with us.

In the end we shared ice cream and took a paddle boat ride together. Boy did we get a workout!

Hat Trick

After a year of hard work. These kids have really put in the extra energy to make this season what it is. Coach Iris, Coach Zack, and Coack Patrick are amazing with the kids. St Bernard allowed extra pratices throughout the school year to help us prepare. Actually the amount of time, energy, and resources that went into this championship (it was held at St B Aquatic Center this year) I am sure I can only imagine. For all the parents, coaches, kids, city workers, and community helpers, you were all fabulous! This first photo was taken by Tricia Hackney who owns a phototography shop in town, the moment the team found out they won the small teams division of championships. Everyone was on pins and needles awaiting the decision. Brenda is on the right next to coach Iris. Bret is in the back. Marley is at home, due to all the commotion I didn't want her there.

BUT Marley placed 8th in her back stroke and 10th in her freestyle (thanks in part to Linda Woolridge who bribed the kids with free snow cones if they placed in the top 12, Marley took almost 4 seconds off her back stroke! Amazing!!) She has been in 6 and under for three years now. She moves up to 8 and under. Which means fly and breast. Yay!

BUT Marley placed 8th in her back stroke and 10th in her freestyle (thanks in part to Linda Woolridge who bribed the kids with free snow cones if they placed in the top 12, Marley took almost 4 seconds off her back stroke! Amazing!!) She has been in 6 and under for three years now. She moves up to 8 and under. Which means fly and breast. Yay!

While we wait for the final team scores each year there are adult relays. The first one was coach/parent relay scored by the audience for best creativity, which we won thanks to such loud cheers and Coaches swimming in drag :-)

Here are all three coaches in tears while the kids crowd around them for hugs! Zack holds the golden flipper awarded for their swim in drag. What a moment. BTW this was a hat trick for our team. The third championship in a row we placed number 1 in small teams. It was a very touching moment for everyone.

Brenda, who was ready to throw in the towel (pun intended) after this season due to the early swim practice times, is now all prepared to hustle through another swim season! She will move from 11-12 to 13-15. Little girl's growing up.

Yay!

My computer works real good now. Very exciting. Probably that is why I don't want to get off of it. Well I do have kids. They do want my attention. And I do have a house to clean too I suppose. Laundry to do. Knitting to be done. Blah Blah Blah. off I go. Plenty more later. Some day my kids will be old and grown and look back at this blog and laugh at all this. Some day.

Jade

Our new dog. Ugh. They love eachother. But I am the walker. Not near as amused by two dogs as the girls are. ;-)

Botany in the Summer

We have had a few opportunities this summer and spring to hang out in KY in our property while Bret gets work done over there. Lil Bret and I hike the trails and look for new interesting things.

 A 5 leaf clover!!! Wow I don't know if that is good luck or bad. The photo above this one is Bret and my example of both lichen AND a tree bending to reach the light (Auxins in action).

 I didn't know what these things were. they looked like angels sitting in the forest together. I thought they were a fungus. But nope. They are a flower. Indian Pipes to be exact... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotropa_uniflora

This was such a cool find!!! Fiddle head. It is what is to become a fern. It is called a fiddle head because it looks like the top of a fiddle, essencially. We learned about it in Botany class this year.

Those little Weasles!!!!

Do you know the second night camping with the Girl Scouts we stayed in covered wagons, which are similar to tents, and when I went to sleep, my coleader for my older girls' troop took all those little weasle girls to her CAR TO SLEEP???????? I had a 6 year old, an 8 year old, and several 10 and 11 year olds sleeping IN THE COVERED WAGONS!! And my 12 and 13 yos slept in the CAR! ;-)

The next morning I met up with another leader at a lodge. She said she saw all those girls sleeping in that car, she would have invited them in to sleep in the left over lodge bunks. I told her don't you dare invite them into the lodge. Those girls have been camping every year for years! The nerve. :-o

Next time I will just drop them all off at Jennifer's car and take my other troop camping. lol.

When they got back down to camp with all their stuff, I told them to stay there so I can take a picture of them being the poor campers. They all said ok, we are proud of it. and they smiled for the camera.

Whittling

Another May campout hit. Whittling. I gave everyone a bar of soap to practice with, and their own pocket knife to take home. There is no longer any info through Girl Scouts on using knives. That was very disappointing. Plenty of online info through Boy Scouts though. And thanks to Memaw who knows a lot about this kind of stuff!! Thank goodness no one lost a finger and all is well.

Brenda and Bret have whittled several sticks from our KY property into wands since.

Learning to make a camp fire

 The girls were all finally going into 5th grade or older (for the exception of Marley who came with us by default). This was the year to learn how to build a fire.

Prior to the campout we made fire starters at our meeting. When we got to camp, everyone got a book of matches to practice lighting. They we reviewed what we need to build a fire, the girls collected the wood from the surrounding area, and each girl made her own fire. Supervised of course. I was very proud of each one of them for their accomplishments! Biggest issue, I had to keep a close eye on those girls to make sure they weren't making huge bonfires, as each girl wanted to do. Your first camp fire is such an amazing feat you don't ever want it to end.

Camping Scout Style

 Some special people got Makeovers. Memaw is the favorite for both troops! Her granddaughter is in Bret's troop, but every time Brenda's troop gets to attend an activity with Memaw, it is big excitement for everyone!

 Creeking is a must! You will never believe what the big excitement was for going creeking this year... They all couldn't wait to pee in the creek!!!!! Ewww.

 There was even some late night pranking going on while us adults slept evidentally...

Brenda and her gang insisted on sleeping under the stars the first night which meant and adult, you guessed it... ME, had to sleep outside too. I think I was the only one of us who actually slept. The rest of "us" were up pranking the sleepers.

After last year's camping fiasco, I wanted to make this year a real great time. Our May Campout featured such activities as creeking, fire building, whittling, duct tape creations, night hike, spending one night in the covered wagons, outdoor cooking, shrinky dinky necklaces, hula hoop making (AND hooping of course). We started out our campout at Kroger where the girls broke up into groups to shop for the food they would cook, then off to camp we went where the fun never ends. They cooked all the food that they ate, and played inbetween.

Bridging Time AGAIN!!!!!! AAAAAAH!

Bret and her second year Juniors Bridged at our annual Girl Scout Campout this year! I cannot believe they are Cadettes already. At the ceremony I asked for a show of hands of which girls had been with me from my first year as leader of our troops. Only Bret in her troop. Brenda Miranda and Desarae had been with me all along in Brenda's troop. So sad that they keep growing. Yet such proud moments for me to be part of.

Marley's troop also Bridged to Brownies this year.

 Here are the bridging Daisies.

 They bridged at Build A Bear. Since this is the 100 years of Girl Scouts anniversary, Build A Bear has Girl Scout Bears. Marley made a Daisy bear, but it is sooo cute, I want to go out and get a Brownie and Junior outfit so that it can grow with her. I know I am a big sap for these kinds of things. Brenda and Bret made bears too. There are no Cadette outfits :-( We will have to sew our own sashes. Brenda made a cammo bear of course, the hunter in her couldn't resist. Bret and I chose the most raggedy looking dog because it had to be done.

I pulled this photo out of my archives. :-( This was Brenda's first bridging ceremony. The year she bridged OUT of Brownies into Juniors. Awwww. That makes me even more sappy.