Visitors From Connecticut

We had some special visitors from Connecticut come for a visit in August. Auntie Ann and Auntie Gwen came to Ohio for a long weekend. We spent Saturday with them. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a great time playing outside! To say they were dirty by dinner time is a complete understatement. Eva had rocks in her hair! Auntie Ann bought the kids dinosaur bubble makers. Nick was the master at getting them to work and they were a huge hit! It was good to see Ann and Gwen and we will see them again this winter! 

The Last Zoo Trip Before School

The last Friday before school started, we took an end of summer trip to the zoo. It was a bit of a crazy summer and we hadn't made it to the zoo since Memorial day! The boys were so excited to feed the parakeets, see Baru, the orangutans and penguins. As a special treat, we had a very nice sit down lunch. It was a perfect, beautiful day and it was a great lunch. The boys were very well behaved and we had a great day!

Checking Out The New Place

The Friday before school started we went over to Nick's new preschool, where Ben goes before and after  school, to check the place out. Ben hadn't been there before so I wanted him to know what to expect and know where to go. Well both were more fascinated with the wooden train in front of the day care and wanted their pictures taken. 

Last Day of Pre-K!

A little bit sad :( The last day of Something Special. I really liked that preschool for Ben. A year ago he had to be extracted from my leg so I could leave the room and I don't think he talked to his teacher for the first 3 days. Now, I have to tie him down to keep him from accosting people and all he wants to do is be around people and play and talk your ear off. It was a good choice for Ben. I think he liked it there, too. 

The Ferocious Elkhound Goes Fishing

Monster did a couple laps in the fish pond looking for an evening snack. She went home hungry and very wet!

Balloon Festival 2014

The boys and I took in the annual Findlay balloon festival again this year. Cameryn and Avery also came down to see the balloons. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see any balloons in the air this year. Although it was beautiful, perfect weather, the balloons cannot take off if the ground wind speeds are greater than 10mph. I swear to you, I bet there were gusts of 12 mph or something because there would be no wind, then a few gusts and that was it. Oh well...We did our best to keep the kids entertained while we waited for the glow at dusk. They rode ponies, played frisbee, colored, ran around, had snow cones. Once it got dark out, they did glow some of the balloons, but it wasn't as coordinated as it had been in years past. A little disappointing, but what can you do? I also discovered that going on Saturday night vs Friday night, like I have in the past, has some major advantages. They have fireworks on Saturday after the glow, so most people stick around. If you want to leave right after the balloon glow, life is much better on Saturday than on Friday!

This was a major moment - Avery voluntarily came and sat in my lap. My first response - selfie! to document the occasion! The boys photobombed my selfie with Avery, though!

And 3.2 seconds later, she's done and outa here

The Cicada Killing Bee, versus Me!

Haha! I finally got one! I was in the bedroom, with the door/windows closed, and heard this horrifying noise. It sounded a little bit like a cicada, but extremely loud and not quite right. I went outside to make sure the boys weren't doing something and I saw it - a cicada killing bee going to work on a cicada. It was a horrible sound! Well, the bee was a little tied up, so it didn't do anything when I dropped the top of the toilet tank (which was sitting on the deck, long story) on top of it and it's prey. Haha! Victory was mine! One less bee the size of my thumb in the world. And I put the cicada out of it's horrifying noisy demise.