Hall of Fame

There were 3 main reasons that Fred and I chose to move to Ohio for his rotations and one of those was the importance of football around here.  The Hall of Fame celebrations are something that we look forward to every year and it seems like they add more things on every year.  This year I ran the Hall of Fame half marathon in April, so it seems like they want to make this a half year event!  On my birthday weekend we went to the balloon festival and had a great time.

Then there is the parade.  This is probably my favorite part of the celebrations.  The floats are all so beautiful, there is tons of music and dancers, and you get to see so many football players.  Fred was on call and so the kids and I headed down there planning on him meeting us there.  It turned out that he was stuck at work and he missed the parade.  The kids and I however found the best spot to sit, Blaiden could run around a little and there was a family with a few boys his age right next to us.  Blaiden is never afraid to make new friends.

Fred went to the rib festival without us the next night because I wasn't really up to pumping the kids full of sugar and we were all a little tired.  Fred said that it was so fun, the food was great, and there was some good music the kids would have loved to dance to.

The last thing we were going to do was the kick off celebration in downtown.  Fred and I had a babysitter and everything but then the event got rained out so we didn't end up going, maybe next year. 

My Birthday

I have a love/hate relationship with my birthday.  I love the attention I get from all my friends and family, all just to celebrate me!  I love having a day to do anything I want and not cooking.  And most of all I love it when Fred spoils me!  The only thing I hate is that it means I am a year older.  This year I turned 29 and that may not seem like a big deal but that just means that next year I will be 30, yikes!  I am determined to make this the best year of my twenties!

I started celebrating a few days early because Fred's gift to me was a little shopping spree.  It was very much needed and appreciated!  On my birthday Fred came back home around breakfast time and brought me doughnuts, Blaiden all the sudden became a big fan of my birthday too.  Then we headed to our usual Friday morning playgroup.  When we came home we all enjoyed a nice long nap!  

When Fred got home from work Blaiden helped me open a few gifts.  He had picked out a new pair of flip flops and was very excited to give them to me.  We ended the night going to the hot air balloon festival and I ate a blooming onion for dinner! The kids had a great time.  Adilene started dancing for the first time and was the most adorable thing in the world.  Blaiden found a few little girls to play tag with.  Fred and I sat on the grass and just enjoyed the night.

The celebration continued onto Saturday night where we got to go watch fireworks and I got some cotton candy! It was the best ending to my birthday.  

Stepping Stone Craft

I found this craft idea on Facebook back in May and thought that the kids would enjoy doing.  It took me a few months to actually get it done but one morning in July I finally took the kids outside to create our stepping stones.  I had to mix the concrete by hand and so I had a hard time getting the consistency right.  Once I had all the molds filled we had to wait a few minutes for it to partially set up.  While we were waiting Fred showed up, Kiara was so excited she ran though all of the concrete!
When it was time to make our hand prints and decorate them it was a good thing Fred was home because it turned into a disaster with kids crying, things not working, and concrete drying to quickly and there were way to many rock in it.  Turns out I bought the wrong kind of concrete.
In the end we ended up with 3 stepping stones and one that broke in half, you cant even see the hand prints and they cant really be walked on.  I was trying to make a memory but this was definitely a fail.  Maybe we will try again next year when the kids are a little older and I buy the right kind of concrete!

It was so hectic that this was the only photo I managed to get and I took it through our kitchen window.

This is how they look by our play house.  Not very impressive but Blaiden doesn't seem to care much.

Horse Farm

We got to go to a horse farm with our Friday morning playgroup back in July and we all had a great time.  The farm is dedicated to individuals who have a disability and they get to take care of the horses and ride them as part of their therapy.  We didn't get to ride any horses today which Blaiden was very disappointed in but we got to do a ton of fun things.  Our day started out with us getting a sticker that looked like one of the horses we would be seeing later that day and coloring a picture.  Next we got to go play on a playground that had farm inspired play equipment like a tractor and horses.  The next part of the day was Adilene's favorite part, we went into a barn and got to see llamas, goat,s and sheep.  She went crazy with excitement! She was waving her hands and yelling, all while petting the animals. It was the cutest thing.

 The last part of the day we got to go in an meet the horses.  We brushed them and Blaiden was pretty happy to be so close the them.  The first horse we got to pet was named Thor.  This trilled Blaiden because he loves the Avengers.  He makes me laugh because he knew we were going to go to a farm so we all had to dress the part.  Blaiden wore his cowboy hat and made Adilene and I wear pants.  It was such a hot day that by the end we were all ready to change back into our summer clothing.

We ended our day with a picnic lunch and more playing on the playground.  I am excited to take Adilene back there and she can start riding horses when she is three. 

Kids Day Out

This was our first day home from our family trip and I think everyone was a little sad we decided to come home instead of getting a hotel.  We started to look for something to do and we found out that there was an event going on called "Kids Day Out," put on by a radio station.  Adilene took an early nap and Blaiden got to skip his nap once again and we went to go see what it was all about. 

When we got there it was packed, cars were everywhere and we didn't know if coming was going to be fun with so many people but we were there so we went to go check it out anyway.  We all walked around for a little while and Blaiden played on an inflatable obstacle course.  Then Adilene and I went to go get us all a snack and a drink, it was about 100 degrees.  Fred and Blaiden found a few things they wanted to do and one was mini golf.  Fred had told Blaiden that we would do this on our trip but we didn't fit it in while we were gone so this worked out perfectly. 

Adilene was getting upset in the stroller and wanted to get out so I took her to the toddler section with a bunch of Step2 toys.  She had so much fun, and of course the water was her favorite part.  Playing there really made we want to buy some of their toys!

When it was time to leave we headed to Sonic to get another drink and some ice cream because we were all so hot.  It was a very fun afternoon and it was a nice way to end our little family weekend.

Mobile Snapshots #9

Family Trip Day-2

On the second day of our family trip we checked out of our hotel early and headed to go and get breakfast at the best place to eat, we were told.  It was very good but I don't think they get a lot of little kids there, it was a little difficult keeping the kids entertained.  Breakfast was great, Blaiden got a chocolate chip pancake and Adilene got bacon, sausage, and ham, all her favorites.  Once were were done there we went right to the zoo.  Everyone was very excited about this because the Columbus Zoo is one of the largest in the country.

When we were home loading up the car we had a hard time deciding on which stroller to bring.  We wanted the double stroller but knew if we brought it we wouldn't have any room in the Jeep for our bags so we just brought our normal single stroller for Adilene.  When we got to the Zoo we decided that this was the wrong decision, thankfully there was a place to rent strollers so Blaiden was happy he didn't have to walk all day.  I was also very happy that I wouldn't have to hold Adilene while Blaiden rode in the stroller, she is getting big.

We spent the morning slowly walking through most of North America animals.  Blaiden loved the bears.  We took a train ride and looked at prairie dogs.  There was also a place that you could ride a small pony and Blaiden wanted to take a ride.  I was going to walk with him but while we were waiting in line he just kept saying "mom I can do by myself."  I guess he is starting that independence phase that last the rest of his life (so sad).  I let him do it and I think the smile on his face says it all, he was so proud of himself!

After that it was time to take a break eat a snack and let Adilene drink a bottle.  There was a lot going on so our break didn't last long.  Then we were off the the petting zoo with all the farm animals.  I think this was Adilene's favorite part of the day.  She could not get enough of petting the sheep and goats.  Blaiden also had a great time.  Fred and I had to keep the kids moving because we wanted to see as much of the Zoo as we could and didn't know how the rest of the day was going to go.

It was getting close to lunch time and there was also some very dark rain clouds coming so we thought it would be a good idea to find a spot to eat lunch.  We started looking a little late and it started to rain like crazy before we found a place to go inside.  We found a building that we could stand by and stay out of the rain.  It was a good thing that we ended up buying PB&J sandwich stuff the night before because that is what I had packed just in case we needed it, so we ate that for lunch.  I had to use an apple slice to spread the peanut butter but it all worked out and Blaiden thought it was a great time.  Once the rain calmed down a little we went into the closest building that we could find and it was where the elephants were.  I think these were my favorite animals to see because they were so active.

It was getting close to nap time for Adilene and so when the rain finally stopped we put the kids in the strollers and walked for a little while until she fell asleep.  While she was sleeping I stayed with her and Fred took Blaiden to go on a pirate boat ride.  They had so much fun and Blaiden loved that the pirates were shooting water at them.  Then it was time to go to see most of the African animals.  We got to see the cheetah run, where they demonstrate how fast they can run.

We ended our day with a fun little carousel ride, although I am not sure how much fun Adilene thought it was in the end.  We also got a few different treats to cool us down, Blaiden got an icey thing, Fred got ice cream, and I got dippin dots, Adilene got the best deal and shared with all of us.  By the time we got back to the car we realized that we had been at the zoo for 8 hours, that is a long day for the kids.

The original plan was to find another hotel to stay the night again but once we got to the car the only person that wanted to stay was Fred.  The kids were very tired and getting grouchy, we hadn't ate dinner yet so we were all hungry and we didn't have a specific plan so doing anything would take a while.  For me the thought of the kids sleeping in there own beds was much more appealing then everyone trying to get some good rest in a hotel. Fred conceded and we came home.  I was a little sad when we all woke up the next day but we had a good trip overall.