I keep beating myself up for not buying a new (as in newer, not brand new) car. I don't want to put one more penny into my good old '97 Geo Prism! I know that something major is bound to go wrong any second. I avoid driving it on the highway whenever possible and haven't driven it farther than Morton in years. It shakes and makes weird sounds, but it starts every day. So far...
I hate shopping for cars and am hoping the perfect used car will just fall into my hands with no effort on my part. I don't want to go to a dealer, but I also don't want to deal with getting rid of my old junker on my own. I don't care AT ALL about models or colors or features. I want a radio, windows that roll down and a car that starts when I turn the key. At the moment, my old Prism meets all my requirements.
Yesterday was a perfect example of why I should NEVER own a new or nice vehicle. I went to pick up the kids at camp but the city bus broke down and they were waiting for a park district van to pick them up and bring them back. I would have gladly gone and picked them up, it was only about a mile away, but what if one or both of them were already on their way back to the park? It seemed like I was better off hanging around and waiting.
There was a large trash barrel close to my car so I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to clean out the garbage. Wow. I'm pretty sure I could win a disgusting car competition! There were so many crushed up Pop Tarts, sunflower seeds, french fries, crumbs, unidentifiable sticky messes, etc. I've been surprised that at age 10, Kaylin still wants to use her booster seat in my car. I now understand that it's because the seat is too gross. She needs to be elevated away from the mess. The mess she creates! I think I made 8 trips to the trash barrel and that didn't even count all the food crumbs I just swept onto the ground or the many cans and bottles I saved for recycling.
I think I'll try to squeak a couple more months out of the old car. I hope it will last until summer is over! Maybe if it lasts until Logan's birthday in November, I can trash the booster seats (he'll finally be 8 and legal) so the kids at least won't trash my backseat, only the floor. As for just making a rule about not eating in the car? That will NEVER happen! They have breakfast in the car or not at all! It's not worth the battle of getting them up earlier in the summer just to have a clean car that I don't care about anyway!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Our week, whoooo
It was a tough, depressing week and I'm glad it's over. I'm spending today resting and napping with the cats. Tiger made my morning. I brushed him and trimmed his claws and instead of taking offense and shunning me the rest of the day, he curled up in my lap and joined me for a nice, long rest. It wasn't quite a nap because every time I dozed off and stopped petting, Tiger gently bit my hand until I resumed petting. That went on for a good hour until I decided to take a real nap in bed. It was another failure at actual sleep because Simon insisted on sleeping on my head and whacked me with his paw every time I changed positions and disrupted his napping. Still, I can't complain about cat love! They usually do their own thing and ignore me completely. No sleep, but kitty therapy has to be one of the most relaxing, healing things in the world.
Kaylin got a tent for her birthday. Gene put it up in the backyard and Kaylin slept in it all night by herself. Well, she did have Sadie with her. She took out blankets and pillows, a clock, flashlight and Harry Potter 5. The kid who has to leave her closet light on all night slept outside with only the dog. The weenie, wussy dog. She did come running inside around 2am, but it was only to use the bathroom and she went right back out. I snuck out early in the morning and wished I could have gotten a picture of Kaylin and Sadie cuddled up together in a little ball. Adorable! I think she would have slept out there every night this week if it hadn't kept raining.
Logan has taken a huge interest in baseball. If the Sox aren't on, he watches the Cubs. He's really into learning the rules of the game. He constantly wants to play catch or have batting practice. If he can't get anyone to play with him, he plays by himself. He's loving coach pitch ball and looks forward to all the practices and games. The only drawback to his baseball obsession is that I almost never get to watch anything on the living room tv anymore because baseball is on every night.
Swimming lessons started last night. The kids are in different levels, but are in the same class. The class is huge, at least 12 kids, and seems like such a waste of time. I think they went out twice apiece last night. I insisted they take lessons to learn to swim well. The lessons I took as a kid involved swimming laps and laps and laps. We had to swim a mile to pass our final level. Kaylin is IN the final level and she is paddling about 15 feet with a kick board and coming back to the side. These lessons are free for me, but if I was paying I would be ticked! Both kids can tread water, swim under water and dog paddle. I suppose they could swim to save their lives if they fell off a deck 15 feet from the side of the water! Oh well, at least Logan is older and no longer drinking half the pool and vomiting repeatedly all over the pool deck. He learned THAT lesson well!
I got lucky at jury duty this week. I went in at 10am, sat until 11:30, was dismissed for lunch until 1pm and then got called 27th out of 29 people to "try out" for a traffic court case. The guy just ahead of me in line was FINALLY chosen as the alternate at 4:30. The two other people and I were sent back to the check-in room for further instruction. We joked the whole way back about how we'd probably spend the next 3 days doing the same routine, but when we got back we were dismissed for the week! We didn't have to call in or anything, just done!
Well, I think I'll flip laundry and go take a real nap for a while. I still have a few hours before camp is over. Yawn.
Kaylin got a tent for her birthday. Gene put it up in the backyard and Kaylin slept in it all night by herself. Well, she did have Sadie with her. She took out blankets and pillows, a clock, flashlight and Harry Potter 5. The kid who has to leave her closet light on all night slept outside with only the dog. The weenie, wussy dog. She did come running inside around 2am, but it was only to use the bathroom and she went right back out. I snuck out early in the morning and wished I could have gotten a picture of Kaylin and Sadie cuddled up together in a little ball. Adorable! I think she would have slept out there every night this week if it hadn't kept raining.
Logan has taken a huge interest in baseball. If the Sox aren't on, he watches the Cubs. He's really into learning the rules of the game. He constantly wants to play catch or have batting practice. If he can't get anyone to play with him, he plays by himself. He's loving coach pitch ball and looks forward to all the practices and games. The only drawback to his baseball obsession is that I almost never get to watch anything on the living room tv anymore because baseball is on every night.
Swimming lessons started last night. The kids are in different levels, but are in the same class. The class is huge, at least 12 kids, and seems like such a waste of time. I think they went out twice apiece last night. I insisted they take lessons to learn to swim well. The lessons I took as a kid involved swimming laps and laps and laps. We had to swim a mile to pass our final level. Kaylin is IN the final level and she is paddling about 15 feet with a kick board and coming back to the side. These lessons are free for me, but if I was paying I would be ticked! Both kids can tread water, swim under water and dog paddle. I suppose they could swim to save their lives if they fell off a deck 15 feet from the side of the water! Oh well, at least Logan is older and no longer drinking half the pool and vomiting repeatedly all over the pool deck. He learned THAT lesson well!
I got lucky at jury duty this week. I went in at 10am, sat until 11:30, was dismissed for lunch until 1pm and then got called 27th out of 29 people to "try out" for a traffic court case. The guy just ahead of me in line was FINALLY chosen as the alternate at 4:30. The two other people and I were sent back to the check-in room for further instruction. We joked the whole way back about how we'd probably spend the next 3 days doing the same routine, but when we got back we were dismissed for the week! We didn't have to call in or anything, just done!
Well, I think I'll flip laundry and go take a real nap for a while. I still have a few hours before camp is over. Yawn.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Ohio Vacation
For the past several days I've had terrible Internet access. Then Tuesday I got the terrible news about our beloved Savannah the giraffe and when I sat down to write could think about nothing else. That is the curse of being a zookeeper- caring so deeply about the animals in your care it rocks your world when one dies. Especially when the animal is young and the death is totally unexpected. It is a huge personal loss for everyone involved and a gaping hole in our zoo family. Savannah, I will dearly miss visiting you every morning and will especially miss your kisses and your sweet, sweet breath. You were my favorite giraffe in the world and I will think of you every time I eat a sweet potato.
Despite the sad news, we have had an excellent vacation. We left home around 8 Sunday morning and Gene dropped me off at Indy Zoo a little after noon Eastern time. I met up with my keeper friend Holly and spent nearly five hours tagging around with her, meeting her new cheetah boys and watching the cheetah girls on exhibit. We fed the baby giraffes, cut browse for the baboons, watched an elephant show and checked up on several animals. I spent five hours at the zoo, never left the African Plains area and was completely shocked when the phone rang that Gene was in the parking lot and it was after 5pm. I had a great time with Holly and many other keepers that I already knew and several more I just met. I love the Indy Zoo!
Gene took the kids to the Indy Children's Museum. They had a great time as always. The great thing about the Indy museum is that they are so huge they cater to the older kids as well as the younger ones. Most children's museums are really targeted at the preschool crowd, so older kids don't have as much to do. Kaylin still loves the Chihuly glass exhibit. Logan didn't give me a favorite, but he had lots of fun. We drove on four more hours to Zanesville and arrived at the same Super 8 I stayed at in February, exhausted and ready for bed.
Everyone slept in late Monday morning and we set out for the Wilds around 9:30am. I was expecting to love the place, but it was even better than I imagined! We had the choice of closed, air-conditioned buses with tinted windows or canopied, open-air buses. The open-air buses were significantly more expensive, but appeared so much better! It was a cloudy day with a good breeze and maybe 80F at warmest. I sprung for the open-air tour and didn't regret it! The place was amazing! Herds of animals EVERYWHERE! Babies chasing each other around, adults coming right up to the bus... We were stopped for several minutes when the herd of Bactrian camels came up and started rubbing on the bus mirrors. We didn't, but we could have reached out and touched them. We saw a newborn baby onager (wild donkey) and two baby P-horses. There were pairs of wild trumpeter swans nesting on almost every lake. To give an idea of how huge the place was, the tour lasted more than 2 1/2 hours, including a stop at their carnivore center (cheetahs, African wild dogs and dholes) and another stop at a lake trail with beautiful flowers and a catfish feeding area (Logan's favorite.) The place was so huge that somehow the herd of 8 white rhinos was completely hidden and we didn't get to see them. That was my ONLY disappointment! I was afraid the kids would be bored or get sick of it. Nope. They loved every second and can't wait to go back. Um, it's an 8 hour drive. So?
I rarely buy zoo souvenirs, but loved the Wilds and wanted to support their efforts. I bought both a t-shirt and a hoodie, Gene a t-shirt, Kaylin a bag of wildflower seed and a key chain and Logan (dum da da dum) a chocolate bar. The kids pronounced the Wilds restaurant "the best food they ever ate in their lives" and while I won't go that far, I will admit it was the best "zoo food" I've ever had.
We sadly left the Wilds and drove 3 hours toward Cincinnati. The plan was to spend the next two nights at Great Wolf Lodge. GWL was booked solid Monday night! Yikes! We had planned to come home Wednesday, but decided to stay an extra day so Kaylin could have her two nights. We booked Tuesday and Wednesday night and moved on to a La Quinta with a pool. The kids were happy to have an extra day of vacation and pretty much didn't care where they were swimming as long as they were in the water!
Tuesday we went to the Cincinnati Zoo. We all loved it! I spent hours there back in February when half of the zoo was closed due to heavy snow. I couldn't BELIEVE how much I missed and how many more areas there are! Kaylin had a great time feeding the lorikeets. She was actually picking up birds and holding them while they ate. I love their insect building and think it's the best I've ever seen. I also saw my first Sumatran rhinos. It seems like this zoo has a lot of rare animals as well as all the usual zoo favorites. It's a great zoo and I hope to visit again.
We checked in at GWL around 3pm. Our room wasn't quite ready so we played in the arcade for a half hour until they called. Our room is amazing! It has a separate "Kid Kabin" area with bunk beds and a twin bed (oh, AND their own tv) for the kids. We also have a fireplace and a balcony. We were able to watch fireworks at the amusement park next door both nights. There is tons of room and the kids love being in the room almost as much as they love the rest of the resort. The water park is huge with a wave pool, several activity pools and areas, numerous slides including a roller coaster slide and even an outdoor area. The arcade is wonderful. The MagiQuest game is set up right in the middle of the common areas of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, so Kaylin can easily access it and play by herself for hours. This GWL is vastly superior to the one in Wisconsin Dells and we hope to come back someday.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to Newport Aquarium. It wasn't the best I've ever been to, but we all enjoyed it. I especially loved the entire room full of various jellyfish. Gene loved the penguins and the kids loved the shark touch pool. It was worth a visit, but for the price I doubt I'd return. We came back to GWL and swam for several hours before arranging Kaylin's birthday surprise. We got a package that included a door banner, pizza and drinks, a personalized cake as well as a t-shirt and stuffed animal for Kaylin and goody bags for all 4 of us. It was a bit pricey, but far less than what I'd spend on a theme party at my mom's. She was very surprised and loved the attention. Oh, I forgot the best part of the package! A ridiculous birthday cake hat with candles! Kaylin wore it all night while she played MagiQuest and will probably wear it all day today.
Today we'll be heading home. I imagine that will be AFTER we swim, play MagiQuest and play in the arcade one last time. I did my 4 zoos in 4 days. If I had more time off work I wish I could squeeze in Columbus, too! It's been a great trip and honestly, a great week to NOT be at work.
Happy Birthday, Kaylin! I can't believe you are double digits!
Despite the sad news, we have had an excellent vacation. We left home around 8 Sunday morning and Gene dropped me off at Indy Zoo a little after noon Eastern time. I met up with my keeper friend Holly and spent nearly five hours tagging around with her, meeting her new cheetah boys and watching the cheetah girls on exhibit. We fed the baby giraffes, cut browse for the baboons, watched an elephant show and checked up on several animals. I spent five hours at the zoo, never left the African Plains area and was completely shocked when the phone rang that Gene was in the parking lot and it was after 5pm. I had a great time with Holly and many other keepers that I already knew and several more I just met. I love the Indy Zoo!
Gene took the kids to the Indy Children's Museum. They had a great time as always. The great thing about the Indy museum is that they are so huge they cater to the older kids as well as the younger ones. Most children's museums are really targeted at the preschool crowd, so older kids don't have as much to do. Kaylin still loves the Chihuly glass exhibit. Logan didn't give me a favorite, but he had lots of fun. We drove on four more hours to Zanesville and arrived at the same Super 8 I stayed at in February, exhausted and ready for bed.
Everyone slept in late Monday morning and we set out for the Wilds around 9:30am. I was expecting to love the place, but it was even better than I imagined! We had the choice of closed, air-conditioned buses with tinted windows or canopied, open-air buses. The open-air buses were significantly more expensive, but appeared so much better! It was a cloudy day with a good breeze and maybe 80F at warmest. I sprung for the open-air tour and didn't regret it! The place was amazing! Herds of animals EVERYWHERE! Babies chasing each other around, adults coming right up to the bus... We were stopped for several minutes when the herd of Bactrian camels came up and started rubbing on the bus mirrors. We didn't, but we could have reached out and touched them. We saw a newborn baby onager (wild donkey) and two baby P-horses. There were pairs of wild trumpeter swans nesting on almost every lake. To give an idea of how huge the place was, the tour lasted more than 2 1/2 hours, including a stop at their carnivore center (cheetahs, African wild dogs and dholes) and another stop at a lake trail with beautiful flowers and a catfish feeding area (Logan's favorite.) The place was so huge that somehow the herd of 8 white rhinos was completely hidden and we didn't get to see them. That was my ONLY disappointment! I was afraid the kids would be bored or get sick of it. Nope. They loved every second and can't wait to go back. Um, it's an 8 hour drive. So?
I rarely buy zoo souvenirs, but loved the Wilds and wanted to support their efforts. I bought both a t-shirt and a hoodie, Gene a t-shirt, Kaylin a bag of wildflower seed and a key chain and Logan (dum da da dum) a chocolate bar. The kids pronounced the Wilds restaurant "the best food they ever ate in their lives" and while I won't go that far, I will admit it was the best "zoo food" I've ever had.
We sadly left the Wilds and drove 3 hours toward Cincinnati. The plan was to spend the next two nights at Great Wolf Lodge. GWL was booked solid Monday night! Yikes! We had planned to come home Wednesday, but decided to stay an extra day so Kaylin could have her two nights. We booked Tuesday and Wednesday night and moved on to a La Quinta with a pool. The kids were happy to have an extra day of vacation and pretty much didn't care where they were swimming as long as they were in the water!
Tuesday we went to the Cincinnati Zoo. We all loved it! I spent hours there back in February when half of the zoo was closed due to heavy snow. I couldn't BELIEVE how much I missed and how many more areas there are! Kaylin had a great time feeding the lorikeets. She was actually picking up birds and holding them while they ate. I love their insect building and think it's the best I've ever seen. I also saw my first Sumatran rhinos. It seems like this zoo has a lot of rare animals as well as all the usual zoo favorites. It's a great zoo and I hope to visit again.
We checked in at GWL around 3pm. Our room wasn't quite ready so we played in the arcade for a half hour until they called. Our room is amazing! It has a separate "Kid Kabin" area with bunk beds and a twin bed (oh, AND their own tv) for the kids. We also have a fireplace and a balcony. We were able to watch fireworks at the amusement park next door both nights. There is tons of room and the kids love being in the room almost as much as they love the rest of the resort. The water park is huge with a wave pool, several activity pools and areas, numerous slides including a roller coaster slide and even an outdoor area. The arcade is wonderful. The MagiQuest game is set up right in the middle of the common areas of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors, so Kaylin can easily access it and play by herself for hours. This GWL is vastly superior to the one in Wisconsin Dells and we hope to come back someday.
Yesterday (Wednesday) we went to Newport Aquarium. It wasn't the best I've ever been to, but we all enjoyed it. I especially loved the entire room full of various jellyfish. Gene loved the penguins and the kids loved the shark touch pool. It was worth a visit, but for the price I doubt I'd return. We came back to GWL and swam for several hours before arranging Kaylin's birthday surprise. We got a package that included a door banner, pizza and drinks, a personalized cake as well as a t-shirt and stuffed animal for Kaylin and goody bags for all 4 of us. It was a bit pricey, but far less than what I'd spend on a theme party at my mom's. She was very surprised and loved the attention. Oh, I forgot the best part of the package! A ridiculous birthday cake hat with candles! Kaylin wore it all night while she played MagiQuest and will probably wear it all day today.
Today we'll be heading home. I imagine that will be AFTER we swim, play MagiQuest and play in the arcade one last time. I did my 4 zoos in 4 days. If I had more time off work I wish I could squeeze in Columbus, too! It's been a great trip and honestly, a great week to NOT be at work.
Happy Birthday, Kaylin! I can't believe you are double digits!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
15 Seconds of Fame
I have become something of a celebrity at the kids' day camp. I mean among the youngest, most impressionable campers, not the cool and sophisticated Over 8s. I was signing the kids in earlier this week and a little boy approached and very seriously stated "You work for The District." Um, what? "You work for The District." Uh, yeah, I guess I do. I have to admit that I've never once thought of the park district as "The District." I think The District sounds much cooler and I will use it from here on out!
His younger sister then approached and said "You have giraffe pee on your shirt." I laughed a little and assured her that my shirt was clean. I then made a comment about how if she was still there when I picked up the kids I might have giraffe pee on my shirt. She looked totally confused and the counselor started laughing at me. I looked down and realized the logo on my uniform shirt is the letter P with a giraffe head in place of the hole inside the P. Giraffe P. Ohhhh. Whoops. I made a potty joke and the kid didn't even get it or mean it that way.
The best was today. The District Kid approached me again this morning. He walked up and said "You work at the zoo." I said yes. He stuck out his hand. I was a little confused, but I went ahead and shook it. He looked at his hand, looked me in the eye and said "I'll never wash this hand again." Wow. Dramatic and a little embarrassing, but since it's quite likely I'll never hear those words again, I'm going to go ahead and feel flattered.
THEN, as I was getting into my car, another kid yells "Hey Logan, tell my mom that your mom works at the zoo! Tell her what animals she works with! Lions, right?" So yeah, to a few 6 and 7 year olds, I'm cool. Sweet!
His younger sister then approached and said "You have giraffe pee on your shirt." I laughed a little and assured her that my shirt was clean. I then made a comment about how if she was still there when I picked up the kids I might have giraffe pee on my shirt. She looked totally confused and the counselor started laughing at me. I looked down and realized the logo on my uniform shirt is the letter P with a giraffe head in place of the hole inside the P. Giraffe P. Ohhhh. Whoops. I made a potty joke and the kid didn't even get it or mean it that way.
The best was today. The District Kid approached me again this morning. He walked up and said "You work at the zoo." I said yes. He stuck out his hand. I was a little confused, but I went ahead and shook it. He looked at his hand, looked me in the eye and said "I'll never wash this hand again." Wow. Dramatic and a little embarrassing, but since it's quite likely I'll never hear those words again, I'm going to go ahead and feel flattered.
THEN, as I was getting into my car, another kid yells "Hey Logan, tell my mom that your mom works at the zoo! Tell her what animals she works with! Lions, right?" So yeah, to a few 6 and 7 year olds, I'm cool. Sweet!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The Popcorn Rules
In most situations, Kaylin is well-behaved. She has a tendency to get exuberantly happy and loud when excited, but usually follows rules. She's never been one of the disruptive kids at school. Kaylin's not a daredevil and is careful with knives and stoves and fire and watching for cars while she's playing. However, Kaylin's no little miss priss. She questions authority when she needs to and has always had her own way of doing things. My point is that she doesn't go out of her way to make trouble. That's why we were so surprised to learn of her persistent rule-breaking in one crucial area- microwave popcorn.
I had to work a fundraiser event for a few hours last night and got home around 9pm, tired and hungry. I had a bunch of little tasks to complete so opted for quick and easy microwave popcorn. Kaylin smelled the popcorn and by the time she asked for some, I had already eaten most of it and was tossing the rest to the dog. She made her own bag. It was while she was giving it a moment to cool that we learned about (dum dum dummmmmm) The Popcorn Rules.
There are six Popcorn Rules and she failed to follow five of them! Rule number one is Do Not Use Popcorn Button. Whoops. Rule two is to place bag "this side up." Hurray! She managed that one. Rule three is Set Cooking Time For 1 Minute 45 Seconds. Obviously, she used the popcorn button! Rule four is Don't Leave Microwave Unattended. Whoops. Rule five is Open Bag Carefully Away From Face. She ripped that thing right open and sniffed the steam! And finally rule six- Children Should Not Prepare or Handle. Hmmmmm.
I teased her that in the microwave popcorn making arena she is a persistent rule breaker and that surely one day the Popcorn Police will show up to take her to Popcorn Prison. Logan immediately corrected me- Popcorn Juvy.
Sigh. Yet another parenting failure...
I had to work a fundraiser event for a few hours last night and got home around 9pm, tired and hungry. I had a bunch of little tasks to complete so opted for quick and easy microwave popcorn. Kaylin smelled the popcorn and by the time she asked for some, I had already eaten most of it and was tossing the rest to the dog. She made her own bag. It was while she was giving it a moment to cool that we learned about (dum dum dummmmmm) The Popcorn Rules.
There are six Popcorn Rules and she failed to follow five of them! Rule number one is Do Not Use Popcorn Button. Whoops. Rule two is to place bag "this side up." Hurray! She managed that one. Rule three is Set Cooking Time For 1 Minute 45 Seconds. Obviously, she used the popcorn button! Rule four is Don't Leave Microwave Unattended. Whoops. Rule five is Open Bag Carefully Away From Face. She ripped that thing right open and sniffed the steam! And finally rule six- Children Should Not Prepare or Handle. Hmmmmm.
I teased her that in the microwave popcorn making arena she is a persistent rule breaker and that surely one day the Popcorn Police will show up to take her to Popcorn Prison. Logan immediately corrected me- Popcorn Juvy.
Sigh. Yet another parenting failure...
Friday, June 11, 2010
Summer Camp
I've been quite a blog slacker the past several weeks! This week was filled with transitioning from school to day camp. Logan was beyond thrilled to find that his favorite camp counselor from last year, Jimmy, is back! Logan loved Jimmy so much last year that Jimmy "almost" convinced Logan to be a Cubs fan rather than a White Sox fan. Gene might have had to get violent! Or sent Logan to live with Ben :)
Kaylin spent most of the school year whining for me to quit my job solely so she could sleep in later on school mornings. Suddenly she's up and happily dressed, sunblocked, hair brushed, shoes on, teeth brushed, bag packed and in the car five minutes or more before our required leaving time of 7:25am. The exact time she dragged herself to the car for school carrying her breakfast and hair brush. The girl loves camp! This is her 5th year and it isn't getting old. The first week is always the least exciting, but they still went to two movies and one water park. Next week they're scheduled to go to the Riverplex and Splashdown to swim and the Riverfront fountain to play.
Logan started coach pitch baseball this week. His coach takes his job SERIOUSLY. They practiced twice this week and had warm-up exercises with jumping jacks, push-ups and base running. They practiced hitting and batting. I'm thrilled because it seems like this guy will actually teach them to play the game. Tee ball was adorable and hilarious, but I think Logan's ready to learn the rules of baseball. The coach told the boys at Thursday's practice that Saturday would be their first game. He was mistaken and it's actually a practice. Coach left like a 5 minute message on our answering machine, apologizing for his mistake and making sure the boys all know it's only a practice so they're not too disappointed.
Work's been a crazy blur, keeping up with regular work and neverending weeds. The piglets are two months old now and are getting huge. They are going into the yard with the other hogs and it's incredibly cute. Everyone should come and see them! I have two more weeks of work before our summer vacation to Ohio. We're going back to The Wilds where I did rhino training in February so I can see the place up and running and without 3 feet of snow on the ground. I'm really excited! We're also planning to do a bunch of stuff in the Cincinatti area and will hopefully stay at the Great Wolf Lodge on or around Kaylin's birthday. She wants to spend an entire day at MagiQuest. (Yawn, lol.) Of course, I want to go to The Wilds, Cincinatti Zoo, Newport Aquarium and Indy Zoo. Hee hee, is that sooo much to ask? At least if I go to Indy Zoo (to visit a friend who works with their new cheetahs) Gene and the kids will likely go to the Children's Museum instead.
Kaylin spent most of the school year whining for me to quit my job solely so she could sleep in later on school mornings. Suddenly she's up and happily dressed, sunblocked, hair brushed, shoes on, teeth brushed, bag packed and in the car five minutes or more before our required leaving time of 7:25am. The exact time she dragged herself to the car for school carrying her breakfast and hair brush. The girl loves camp! This is her 5th year and it isn't getting old. The first week is always the least exciting, but they still went to two movies and one water park. Next week they're scheduled to go to the Riverplex and Splashdown to swim and the Riverfront fountain to play.
Logan started coach pitch baseball this week. His coach takes his job SERIOUSLY. They practiced twice this week and had warm-up exercises with jumping jacks, push-ups and base running. They practiced hitting and batting. I'm thrilled because it seems like this guy will actually teach them to play the game. Tee ball was adorable and hilarious, but I think Logan's ready to learn the rules of baseball. The coach told the boys at Thursday's practice that Saturday would be their first game. He was mistaken and it's actually a practice. Coach left like a 5 minute message on our answering machine, apologizing for his mistake and making sure the boys all know it's only a practice so they're not too disappointed.
Work's been a crazy blur, keeping up with regular work and neverending weeds. The piglets are two months old now and are getting huge. They are going into the yard with the other hogs and it's incredibly cute. Everyone should come and see them! I have two more weeks of work before our summer vacation to Ohio. We're going back to The Wilds where I did rhino training in February so I can see the place up and running and without 3 feet of snow on the ground. I'm really excited! We're also planning to do a bunch of stuff in the Cincinatti area and will hopefully stay at the Great Wolf Lodge on or around Kaylin's birthday. She wants to spend an entire day at MagiQuest. (Yawn, lol.) Of course, I want to go to The Wilds, Cincinatti Zoo, Newport Aquarium and Indy Zoo. Hee hee, is that sooo much to ask? At least if I go to Indy Zoo (to visit a friend who works with their new cheetahs) Gene and the kids will likely go to the Children's Museum instead.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Summer!
Ack! It's summer! I am officially the parent of a middle schooler. Yikes!
The kids went to school from 10-11 yesterday. One stupid hour. I suppose the weird late start time was so the middle/high school could go for their hour and still run all of the buses. My neighbor who teaches middle school was already home to drop off her daughter at 10am. Both kids were glad to go because they pretty much spent an hour eating candy and cupcakes. Their desks and classrooms were already cleaned out so it was an hour of fun.
Pawpaw picked them up at 11, took them to lunch and then fishing and (unexpectedly) swimming at his lake. Sadie and I joined them at the lake around 2:30. Sadie LOVES to swim. I'm not sure that she's ever had to jump from the side or a dock to get into the water before because she was really nervous and excited, barking her goofy head off before I'd finally throw her off the dock or else she'd awkwardly jump/fall from the bank and swim and swim. Sadie had a love/hate relationship with Logan's orange life jacket and kept grabbing the "pillow" part of it and trying to drag him to shore. She managed to pull him under for a second, scared him and that was the end of the novelty of swimming with the dog. Dad found him a different life jacket that Sadie wasn't interested in retrieving and the fun (mostly) resumed. Sadie finally jumped off the dock once and learned to gracefully jump from the side. It was suddenly 4:30 and I realized we needed to boogie home because the kids needed to be showered and changed and fed before Logan's baseball meeting that was all the way across town at 6.
Logan is starting coach pitch baseball this year. I'm not completely sure what this entails, but I'm pretty sure they will be learning the actual rules of the game and the various fielding positions rather than the chaos of throwing 20 kids into the field and everyone mobbing every ball that was tee ball. (Sigh. I will miss tee ball!) He will practice TWICE weekly with a game on Saturday. Ugh. His practices start at 5:30 and I'm lucky to have left work by 5:30 during the summer. That means two days of packing both lunch and dinner for the kids. Oh, and remembering the baseball gear in the morning. Fortunately, Gene will meet us at the field so I will be able to skip some of the practices if I'm really disgusting from work.
Camp Zone starts Monday so today I will drag the kids to Walmart and stock up on lunch items and swim gear and sunblock. I also need to try to find breakfast foods they will actually eat. They will be outside running around all day long. Kaylin will need to eat a little more than picking at 1/2 cup of cold cereal. We will leave for camp at the same time we left for school (7:25am) so I have to find something easy and potentially portable for Kaylin who likes to roll out of bed at 7:05. I love three months without homework or school obligations. I hate packing lunches. I'm usually in charge of both dropping off and picking up the kids from school because it's on my way, but Gene can do either if needed. Camp is right in front of the zoo so it's ALWAYS my responsibility. Hmmmm. Summer is crammed with activities. When swimming lessons start in July and baseball hasn't yet ended, we'll have a couple of weeks of Monday-Thursday practices/lessons right after work. Yep, I still prefer summer to school. At least when we're home there are NO homework obligations! All the extras are just fun.
The kids went to school from 10-11 yesterday. One stupid hour. I suppose the weird late start time was so the middle/high school could go for their hour and still run all of the buses. My neighbor who teaches middle school was already home to drop off her daughter at 10am. Both kids were glad to go because they pretty much spent an hour eating candy and cupcakes. Their desks and classrooms were already cleaned out so it was an hour of fun.
Pawpaw picked them up at 11, took them to lunch and then fishing and (unexpectedly) swimming at his lake. Sadie and I joined them at the lake around 2:30. Sadie LOVES to swim. I'm not sure that she's ever had to jump from the side or a dock to get into the water before because she was really nervous and excited, barking her goofy head off before I'd finally throw her off the dock or else she'd awkwardly jump/fall from the bank and swim and swim. Sadie had a love/hate relationship with Logan's orange life jacket and kept grabbing the "pillow" part of it and trying to drag him to shore. She managed to pull him under for a second, scared him and that was the end of the novelty of swimming with the dog. Dad found him a different life jacket that Sadie wasn't interested in retrieving and the fun (mostly) resumed. Sadie finally jumped off the dock once and learned to gracefully jump from the side. It was suddenly 4:30 and I realized we needed to boogie home because the kids needed to be showered and changed and fed before Logan's baseball meeting that was all the way across town at 6.
Logan is starting coach pitch baseball this year. I'm not completely sure what this entails, but I'm pretty sure they will be learning the actual rules of the game and the various fielding positions rather than the chaos of throwing 20 kids into the field and everyone mobbing every ball that was tee ball. (Sigh. I will miss tee ball!) He will practice TWICE weekly with a game on Saturday. Ugh. His practices start at 5:30 and I'm lucky to have left work by 5:30 during the summer. That means two days of packing both lunch and dinner for the kids. Oh, and remembering the baseball gear in the morning. Fortunately, Gene will meet us at the field so I will be able to skip some of the practices if I'm really disgusting from work.
Camp Zone starts Monday so today I will drag the kids to Walmart and stock up on lunch items and swim gear and sunblock. I also need to try to find breakfast foods they will actually eat. They will be outside running around all day long. Kaylin will need to eat a little more than picking at 1/2 cup of cold cereal. We will leave for camp at the same time we left for school (7:25am) so I have to find something easy and potentially portable for Kaylin who likes to roll out of bed at 7:05. I love three months without homework or school obligations. I hate packing lunches. I'm usually in charge of both dropping off and picking up the kids from school because it's on my way, but Gene can do either if needed. Camp is right in front of the zoo so it's ALWAYS my responsibility. Hmmmm. Summer is crammed with activities. When swimming lessons start in July and baseball hasn't yet ended, we'll have a couple of weeks of Monday-Thursday practices/lessons right after work. Yep, I still prefer summer to school. At least when we're home there are NO homework obligations! All the extras are just fun.
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