Kentucky Carnival Weekend

I’m a planner by nature, but some of the most fun, memorable and precious moments my life have been spontaneous and relaxed.  This weekend was no exception.  

Friday Pat and I went on a date for the first time in a very long time.  We went to Oktoberfest at the Ohio Expo Center and had a great time – once I was able to unwind a little.  It’s not in my nature to relax much these days.  We got some beer and food and listened to great music and were actually able to talk.  It was great!

Saturday we headed to KY bright and early.  I’m still really, really nervous about exposing my mom to germs so I tried to make sure that the kids washed their hands often and I tried to keep thing picked up.  I tried to tell the kids not to hang all over Kiki, but neither she nor them listened much to me.  What else is new? :)  We decided to go out and see my grandma for a while.  We were going to sit outside because none of us thought it was a good idea for my mom to be inside there.  We pulled up to Highland Crossing and were surprised to see booths set up outside and a big blowup bounce house.  Little did we know, but they were having a carnival!  In addition to the bounce house, there were several games, face painting, cotton candy, hot dogs and chips.  We surprised my grandma when we showed up and she looked pretty happy to see us.  We had so much fun that afternoon and we all did a lot of laughing.  Grandma even won a raffle prize – the Lottery Tree!

After the carnival, we headed back to parents for a low key evening.  Shannon, Chip and Mary Ann came over and the kids ran through the sprinkler and dug for worms.  Holly came over too with Avi and we all enjoyed seeing them.  Avi is getting so big and I had a ball playing with him and hearing his sweet little giggle.  We ordered pizza, caught a little bit of the college football games that were on TV and just hung out -  a perfect evening just spending time together.  It think it was something we all needed after the past several weeks.  

We had to get moving early on Sunday so that Pat could be back for work.  Evie got to go see a play with Grandma Rita.  She loved that and kept dancing and singing the rest of the afternoon.

I’d say this was a pretty great weekend!!

A field trip to Lynd's Fruit Farm

Today was Evie's first field trip with the Tiger class and it was a fun one - apple picking at Lynd's Fruit Farm in Pataskala.  I took off work to chaperone and Evie and I were excited to spend the morning with her class in the apple orchards.  I mentioned before that Pat has been doing drop off and pick up at school and he told me that there was an information sheet on the bulletin board outside Evelyn's room that said we were meeting at the school at 8:30 am.  Strange since school doesn't start until 9:30, but I just figured it was a special day.  So we showed up at her classroom at 8:30 - only to be told we were a full hour early!  Geez!!  A little embarrassing and Pat felt bad for misinforming me, but Evie and I made the best of it and went to Panera 'cause this mama was in serious need of coffee.  Evie chose a Buckeye football cookie (the brainwashing has obviously begun) and we spent the next 45 minutes giggling over Snapchat pictures and having some fun Mama/Evie time.

We finally made it to Lynd's and Evie had a great time picking apples with her friends.  Then they had a lesson on how apple trees are grown and got to sample some apple cider and have a snack.  It really was a fun afternoon and I was happy to meet some of Evie's new friends.  Her teacher Miss Becky told me that Evie is wonderful in class, very helpful and a great friend to the other kids.  Music to my ears!  Let's hope the good reports continue!

Evelyn's First OSU Football Game

Last Saturday was a very special day for Evelyn.  She got to go to her very first Ohio State football game!  She was so excited and she asked me early in the week if she could borrow my buckeye necklace to wear to 'the big game'.  She couldn't wait to see the band and the cheerleaders. ;)
She wore her new OSU dress that Grandma Rita gave her - the perfect choice because it was lightweight and it was very hot and humid outside.  Two temporary tattoos later and she was ready.
I wish I could have experienced the day with her, but I know that she had a wonderful time with her daddy, Grandpa Tim and Lane.  Pat said she was so good and she loved cheering for the Bucks.

The Buckeyes are a huge part of Pat.  He got to go to his first Buckeye game with his dad when he was four (in 1982) and I know it meant a great deal to him to be able to take his daughter to her first game 34 years later (wow!).  Thank you Tim for the tickets and the memories!  The day may have been dampened by rain, but that definitely didn't spoil it - it just added to the excitement.  The Bucks beat Tulsa and a great time was had by all!  O-H-I-O!

Summer Part 1

It’s hard to believe that this summer is coming to an end already.  It feels like it just started!  I always have a certain amount of guilt as a working parent, but in the summertime even more so.  I want my kids to have the kind of carefree, relaxed summers that I did.  Working full-time means that we have to squash a lot of activities into the evening, weekends and the occasional day off.  While we didn’t get to do everything that we wanted, I feel like we made so many good memories and really enjoyed being together.  Which I guess is the most important thing. 

Here’s Part One of a look back over what we did this summer...

Chuck E Cheese!

Last Saturday we attempted to take the kids to Chuck E Cheese.  They had never been before, but Evie had caught the commercial on TV once or twice and begged to go.  We had planned on going for Mitch’s 2^nd birthday, but time got away from us so we decided to treat the kids as kind of an end-of-summer adventure.  Like I said, we planned on taking them Saturday which we came to find out was HUGE mistake.  The parking lot was full and when we walked in the door, we were greeted with complete pandemonium.  While it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to us, we were still taken aback by the sugar-rushed, caffeine-crazed chaos of it all.  Talk about over-stimulation!  We backed away slowly, turned to the kids – and began to bargain with them to skip it and come back another night.  It seems so cruel and we felt so bad, but we knew that if we tried to take them in there, it would have been a mess.  In the end, we were able to convince them to leave with the promise that we would come back on Wednesday when Pat was off work.  Instead we took the kids to the toy store and let them explore to their hearts content for over an hour.  Mitch spent 99% of the sitting in the Power Wheels cars while Evie looked at Pokémon and Shopkins and I think they forgave us for our parenting faux-pas in the end.

 Pat and I try not to break promises to our kids so when Wednesday rolled around this week, we buckled down, took a deep breath and headed back to Chuck E Cheese.  Let me just tell you right now – if you ever want to take kids to Chuck E Cheese, go on a Wednesday.  It was gloriously peaceful.  Well, as peaceful as a place can be when it’s filled with noise from a bunch of arcade games and the glare of 10,000 blinking lights.  The kids had some much fun playing games and riding the little rides.  Mitchell was in heaven mashing the buttons on all the games and he was able to ride a train (it even had steam come out the front!) several times.  Evie and Pat won tickets galore and she and I had a blast playing the Price Is Right Game.  Kiki would be proud of Evie – she was hootin’ and hollerin’ like a maniac when we won.  You taught her well Kiki!  We really did have a great time and kids were very well-behaved.  A great family fun night in the books!