Tag Archives: fair

September 18, 2016

img_9187Wow, I just can’t seem to keep up with blog posting anymore! Yet again I find myself a month behind – yikes! I do recall this week though as it was a busy and fun one.

During the week we headed downtown to the Slice of Columbus at Columbus Commons. We’ve gone every year since Griffin was born, making this our 4th trip! It’s fun to see how much Griffin has grown up and each year he participates in more and more of the kids activities. The event is a fundraiser for Nationwide Children’s Hospital where numerous pizza places donate their pizzas. You buy a ticket to get in and after that you can sample as much pizza as you’d like! This year there were probably 12 different pizza places – anything from indian flavored to regular pepperoni! There were several kids crafts and a balloon artist too. Finn was pretty happy with his sword, sword belt, and parrot combo. img_9174 img_9180 img_9195 img_9204Over the weekend we headed to the Delaware County Fair where we had our share of fair foods and entertainment. This year Griffin was big enough to ride several rides so he rode his first roller coaster! He also went on the helicopter ride, a dinosaur ride, and a race car. He also enjoyed sitting on numerous old tractors. He’s a lot bigger than the last time!img_9227 img_9228 img_9230 img_9234 img_9236 img_9240 img_9246 img_9249 img_9255 img_9278 img_9272 img_9259 img_9257 img_9269 img_9285 img_9294Uncle Sean was also in Ohio for a week long visit so we enjoyed the afternoon at Kevin’s parents. Even Lily came with us this time, she was quite happy about that! We all enjoyed a nice family dinner at Jim and Pat’s new house to celebrate Pat and Sean’s birthdays!img_9309 img_9305 img_9303 And here are a few others from our week. Finn and I stopped at the zoo and rode the camels and later that week he went with Debbie and Sammy too. And there’s one of Lily in her regular spot watching all of the neighborhood happenings. img_9160 img_9166 img_9162 img_9170 img_9168 img_9302

September 14, 2014

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Another happy smile from this growing boy, taking in the Delaware County Fair. Finn is growing up into a little man. He is so observant and understands literally (almost) everything you say to him or ask him to do. If you ask him a question, he pauses and says “ummmmm” while he’s thinking about it, but then will surely give you an answer.  It’s pretty darned cute if you ask me, however, Kevin chuckles at it and sometimes rolls his eyes 😉  It’s kind of an inside joke, as I’m the one with the verbal pause whereas Kevin has a literal silent pause. There is one more thing to add to the list of traits that Finn gets from me. As of now, the list is heavily weighted towards Kevin!!

His two upper molars continue to come in and this past week he’s been relatively unbothered. We think he may be transitioning to a single nap as two naps a day are becoming more difficult. For the past 2 weeks he’s been unhappy when he is put down for his nap, often crying or screaming, before he will fall asleep. Some days he definitely seems to need a second nap, other days, he gets by with one and does pretty well.  How can he be growing up this fast?!

We enjoyed one mini-watermelon from our garden this year. Finn helped me pick it and bring it in (and had a mini-meltdown while I cut it and got it ready for him) so he could have it as his snack. It vanished in a matter of a minute or two. We are still reaping some zucchini and tomatoes from the garden, and this week Finn and I also planted a fall batch of snap peas. Perhaps a bit late, but we’ll see what happens. I’m loving being able to use our harvest in the kitchen, and this week was able to make two loaves of some pretty tasty zucchini bread. Even Kevin thought it was good, and he didn’t recall ever having had it before!20140908_09233620140909_192640 20140909_19264320140909_192525

 

For the first time since Debbie joined our family she was terribly sick, so she was home for a couple of days early in the week.  So on Monday, Kevin, Finn and I enjoyed a nice brisk fall morning at the zoo followed by a family cookout at our house. Longtime family friend, Gisle, was visiting my parents in Mansfield for a few days so he came down along with my parents, Amy, Andy, and the kids. He was a part of my dad’s family as an exchange student from Norway when they were both in high school. He came, in part, for their 50th High School Reunion! We enjoyed a nice fall cookout in the backyard and he brought all of the kiddos a thoughtful gift from overseas. Finn is sporting his airplane pj’s – nevermind the really tired look on his face 🙂

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Friday morning started off on a scary note as mom called me to tell me she’d taken a bit of a spill at Amy’s, where she was watching the kiddos for a couple of days. Thankfully, after a precautionary trip to the ER to get a nasty bump and bleeding on her head checked out she was given the all clear. We are all glad she was ok and is now off enjoying a fun vacation in North Carolina!!

Later that night Finn took in his first live High School (or any for that matter!) Football game. Dublin Jerome versus Olentangy Liberty. We crossed the river to the bubble and hung with the Howards for the game so we could see Cameron march in the halftime band performance. When we left the game, they were selling boxes of Krispy Kreme glazed donuts to raise funds for the team, so of course we obliged, and had our Saturday morning breakfast secured on Friday night!  The entire walk to the car Finn kept muttering “doe doe, doe doe, doe doe”……  We also ran into our friends Kim & Andy along with their kids, so we enjoyed seeing each other for a short bit before we headed home. IMG_20140912_201154128_HDR IMG_20140912_202357708 IMG_20140912_210743219 IMG_20140912_211007628 IMG_20140913_084815238

The Delaware County Fair is going on now, and since we’ve never been we decided to venture out for the day. Andy and the kids joined us too (Amy was not yet home from her work trip). All of the kiddos loved sitting on the tractors (drive, drive, drive – says Finn) and Graham and Roro took in a few fun big boy rides too. 20140913_143508 20140913_143348 IMG_20140913_143303671_HDR IMG_20140913_143220207 DSC_0049 DSC_0052 DSC_0062 DSC_0065 20140913_144229 DSC_0068 DSC_0072 DSC_0078 DSC_0080 DSC_0083 DSC_0085 DSC_0092 DSC_0097 DSC_0102 DSC_0108 DSC_0110 DSC_0113And the week ended on a sweet note, as I gathered with my lovely college girls for a few hours on Sunday. We ate plenty of food (at least I did) and enjoyed some great time together. It’s wonderful to be able to get together and keep up with everyone throughout the years. It seems unimaginable that we all met 19-20 years ago at OU, how can we be that old?  Love these girls!IMG_6612And our night ended with a birthday party for L. What a fun week!IMG_20140914_183155091bday

 

 

September 1, 2014

DSC_1256Wow, how can it be September already?! Fall is my favorite time of year, I just can’t believe it is already here. Good thing we hit the sprinkler park one last time!

We ended last week with Rowan’s 3rd birthday party and my dad took several really good pics of the kiddos and all the activity – so I wanted to share them, here they are!DSC_0965 DSC_0966 DSC_0052 DSC_0021 DSC_0003 DSC_0057 DSC_0062 DSC_0094 DSC_0139 DSC_0168 DSC_0169 DSC_0175

We’ve had quite a fun (and tiring!) week around here. Debbie, Finn, and Sammy spent lots of time outdoors playing in the water and drawing on the driveway. I kicked off my four-day weekend by taking Finn to pick raspberry’s at a local farm.  He did really well and in the beginning he ate so many berries right off the plants! By the end he was really tired and ready for an early bedtime. He’s been teething this week (his upper molars have finally poked through) and he hasn’t been napping very well during the day. He is, however, sleeping really well at night. photo (43) photo (44) photo (46) photo (47)DSC_1178 DSC_1181 DSC_1182 DSC_1196 DSC_1198 DSC_1200 DSC_1204 DSC_1202 DSC_1209I was able to take Friday off and go to a play date at Columbus Commons and the Fountains at the Scioto Mile. Debbie, Sammy, Finn and I packed up the car and headed downtown for an afternoon of fun. The boys had a great time. They didn’t venture very far into the sprinklers, but they had a blast! And the Commons had free carousel rides, kids activities, and the boys enjoyed a pizza and ice cream lunch with the whole group. When we arrived home, Kevin had a nice surprise for Finn in the backyard – a bounce house! Finn thought it was great (as he wasn’t big enough to go in the one downtown). Kevin surprised us all with the bounce house – it was to be the fun for the kiddos for our Labor Day cookout. Unfortunately, we had to cancel the cookout, as Finn picked up the Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease virus which reared itself for the over the weekend. I enjoyed some girls fun later Friday night – it was a fun day! DSC_1225 DSC_1228 DSC_1237 DSC_1235 DSC_1240 DSC_1243 DSC_1251 DSC_1257 DSC_1263 DSC_1270 DSC_1273girls night_1girls night_2Saturday, we ventured off to the Richwood Independent Fair with the Ackerman’s. Chad is from the area and has family who farms and show animals. It’s a small, and cute, fair. One of Finn’s favorite words currently is “tractor” (tak ta) and he delighted in climbing all over them! It was a nice day filled with plants, animals, friends, and food!DSC_1317 DSC_1278 DSC_1307 DSC_1282 DSC_1286 DSC_1288 DSC_1291 DSC_1297 DSC_1301 DSC_1331 DSC_1339Since we were rather house-bound due to Finn’s virus, we worked tirelessly to unpack all of our kitchen belongings and settle in to our new digs! I can’t even count how many hours it took or how many bins we unpacked or how many dishwasher loads we ran through on the express wash (thank heaven for 30 minute cycles!). Finn happens to love our step stool and even more so he enjoys having his play yard back upstairs. He was so upset when Kevin kept going to the basement to put tools away or put things in storage – he cried every time because he wanted to go down and play!DSC_1340DSC_1210 DSC_1341 DSC_1345

BUT, we are loving our new kitchen! And we celebrated our first meal with mom and dad, who came down for dinner anyhow! We enjoyed a small-scale cookout and tested out both of the ovens – one for mom’s corn pudding and the other mom and I made the first batch of chocolate chip cookies.  Worked like a charm! We’re mostly unpacked in the kitchen and the pantry, though there are a few details that still need wrapped up: a couple of cabinets to install, crown molding at the ceiling, toe kicks in a few places, a couple of drawer pulls, floor trim, painting the walls, light fixtures, backsplash, close up the basement ceiling, and the list goes on – but we couldn’t be happier! We are excited to stick around home base this week and make some meals 🙂 Come on over anytime – we even have a fully functioning bathroom on the first floor – yippee! Please forgive the dark photos – it seems I only remember to take photos after the sun has gone down!DSC_1357 DSC_1366 DSC_1375 DSC_1377 DSC_1378 DSC_1379 DSC_1384 DSC_1373 DSC_1219 DSC_1365 DSC_1360 DSC_1361 DSC_1359 DSC_1221