Tag Archives: swimming

August 1-31, 2020

Going through all of the photos and looking back at August – we had a really fun month! Soaking in the sun with lots of time at the pool with friends and our final swim lesson. One of the days was only in the high 60’s so the kids enjoyed the hot tub for the first time. That was quite a treat.

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I used to grow plants. Seems like a former life! I have enjoyed having a garden again this yet but find that I am terrible at regularly watering our patio planters and garden beds. Argh! But we have enjoyed a good harvest of cucumbers, red, yellow, and green peppers, and a few yellow squash and zucchini. I didn’t realize how susceptible zucchini are to blossom end rot – well we had our fair share of that this year! We’ve been adding the veggies to our Hello Fresh dinners.

 

After nearly 6 years of not having the pantry doors trimmed out since our kitchen remodel, Kevin and I teamed up to get it done! He was measured and cut all the trim and I painted it; then he put it in. Yay! One thing off the list.

We’ve also been finishing up the porch since returning from vacation. The carpenters trimmed out all of the windows, both the skylights and the wall windows, they finished the ceiling beam, and painted it all white. We decided to put in a wood laminate floor to make it feel a bit more finished. We chose a light grey, which, along with the white walls makes it feel very clean and bright. We did some touch ups, caulking, and then put together the new sectional couch and table and now it’s ready to be enjoyed.

Griffin’s upper tooth has been sooooo wiggly yet he doesn’t want to have it pulled! One night I was worried he might choke on it in his sleep and Kevin was looking at it – and surprisingly pulled it. Griffin was pretty upset as he wasn’t expecting it  hence the teary eyes :(. But in the end, he was looking forward to the tooth fairy visiting later that evening.

Here are a few other random photos of our month – super cute cowboys playing around the house, Reidy wearing his oversized Camp B shirt, our family adventures to Rita’s and Culvers on our bikes.

Griffin was invited to his 1st grade friend, Kara’s, birthday party. It was to be a socially distanced drive by – but when we arrived people were in the driveway. We had our masks on so we went up for a quick hello. It was really sweet to see how much these friends enjoyed being able to see each other in person. They played a quick game of hide and seek, colored in the driveway, and enjoyed popsicles. It was a really hot afternoon.

We had left a driveway gathering in our neighborhood (our driveway actually, lol) to head to the birthday drive-by and were gone longer than we anticipated. So on our return home we picked up pizza for all the kids to have outside while watching the CBJ game that Brian setup in their driveway. These kids have so much fun together. Before long they were all playing hockey and each had gone home to get their jerseys to wear. We’re really thankful to have such a great pod of neighborhood friends. Both kids and adults enjoy hanging out together and it’s provided some sense of normalcy during the times of Corona.

Our neighbor, Karla, had organized a private rental of Sky Zone for our neighborhood crew. We were able to have the entire place to ourselves for a couple of hours on a Saturday morning. The kids had an absolute blast and left there a sweaty mess! Everyone wore their masks (other than Reid who takes his off after a short bit, and baby Abbie).

 

Later that day was our socially distanced neighborhood Block Party. Chrissie arranged for the Pitabilities food truck and Lyndsey arranged for Kona ice. It was mostly our regular crew of neighbors who attended and a few others as well. The adults wore masks and spaced out in Chrissie and Scotts driveway and yard as well as Don & Beth Maxwells yard. Beth makes the most wonderful and perfect looking desserts that she made for the gathering. She and Don are in their late 80’s and are just the most fun couple. They participate in everything before and during Corona (socially distanced and masked) and comment on all the facebook posts our neighborhood crews make. Since our kids play together regularly we allowed them to play and sit together without wearing their masks. We were able to meet new neighbors who just moved in within the last week, Katy & Eric Deister, who are expecting a little boy in early November.

On August 28th we took the boys to our first inside-dining experience since early March. We went to Bd’s Mongolian Grill where Reid ate not 1, but 2 orders of Mac and Cheese. Griffin had chicken tenders and the other kids created their own made-to-order dishes. The boys did great sitting together at the table and not touching things. Kevin and I were both a bit nervous as it was our first time sitting inside, but it turned out fine and it was nice to do something “normal”.

We’ve gone to Nocterra a few times where we’re able to sit outside at picnic tables and enjoy some relaxing. They’ve partnered with a local Powell company called Sharecuterie, makers of grazing boards and boxes, that you can have delivered to Nocterra on Monday’s for free. We decided to try it out and it was delish! Tons of fun sweet and savory things in our grazing box that we shared with Lisa and Brian in celebration of their 2 year wedding reception-iversary, lol.

I finally scheduled the boys dental checkups after much delay. I was nervous that they would both have cavities and wasn’t sure how Reid would do as he is very shy and apprehensive in new or uncertain situations. Both boys did really well when it was their turn in the chair. Griffin, unfortunately, had 2 cavities – each between teeth – which makes me feel like a terrible mom as I am not a good regular flosser for these boys, nor do I remind them to do it! So – we will be working on that! Reid had a perfect checkup, no cavities.

 

After the dentist we had a little fun visiting the new pedestrian bridge in Bridge Park. It gave this mama quite a test of my nerves! I held both of their hands tight – even though there are wires and rails, I get pretty freaked out these days about heights and especially with Reid in situations like these. But we walked across from one side to the other where the boys did a little running around. Then we headed back over the bridge and went home. Whew!

 

I’m not sure why I didn’t really put much thought into a workspace for Griffin to do Distance Learning, but about 2 weeks before school started I began to think we needed to have a dedicated workspace for Griffin. That began a total basement cleaning/purging/painting party and the quest for desks (which by the way are in short supply everywhere since everyone in the world is looking for desks for kids to learn from home!). As it turns out, Lexi broke her foot at a horse show and needed to have the week off work. The timing actually was perfect as I was forced to stay home with the kids, which enabled me to get the basement complete. The kids built a lot of forts and kept themselves busy for a few days. I NEVER would have gotten it done on time otherwise; it was a much larger and time consuming project that I had anticipated. In the end, we have new white walls, found desk parts at IKEA, and turned the kids side of the basement into a classroom. I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out.

 

We were able to stop at Tyler Run and pick up the school supply kit that I had ordered for Griffin. He was excited to be able to go to school and see it! And when we got home the boys each organized their school supplies. So much joy in school supplies!

 

While we see a lot of our neighbors, we haven’t seen many of our friends in what seems like forever. Thankfully, we were able to connect with the Manning’s one evening at Nocterra. We had so much fun just sitting around and talking!

 

After five years, we have finally arranged to have Memorials placed at our cemetery plots in the Dublin Cemetery. We’ve ordered our Armstrong family stone as well as Nathan’s marker. We started this process in July and it is pretty much a slow-going-thing. Coordination between the cemetery and the stone company is not so efficient! And then the weather has to be just so, so that the cement footers can be dug out and then poured. We stop by occasionally to check the progress. So far, the footer has been poured for Nathan’s marker, but only the foundation has been dug for the family stone.

 

Random photo of me outside enjoying coffee in one of my favorite mugs – a painting of Griffin’s from 1st grade 🙂

 

We had fun at the Bethune’s to celebrate Rowan’s 9th birthday. Nine, what? Not sure how everyone is growing up so darn fast, but it seems to be happening despite my best efforts to slow time down. Rowan had an all-things-Pokemon party complete with an awesome Pokemon cake made by Amy as well as homemade Pokemon cookies. Reid was in sugar heaven. Rowie received a hover board and was already demonstrating excellent skills. He allowed Griffin to try it out and he, of course, thought it was pretty sweet.

 

Lexi invited us to one of her horse shows, which was local in Marysville. We headed up about mid-morning and thought we’d be there until mid-afternoon. As it turns out we were there until 10 pm! But it was such a fun time we couldn’t leave! We were able to see Lexi compete with Tango in several events and the boys were enamored with petting, feeding, and riding Tango. Pretty sure Griffin wants a horse now, lol. It took Reid a bit to warm up, but then he was all-things-Tango. Lexi’s Mom and Dad were there and we enjoyed spending several hours talking with them throughout the day. Others from Lexi’s barn were there too, including some she gives riding lessons to, so it was neat to see her in her element. She really helps kids boost their confidence.

We’ll end with a crazy goofy pic of silliness in the basement and the kids riding Tango all by themselves with Lexi’s lead. They had so much fun!


July 1-15, 2019

This week started off with a bang! I was home on Monday and was able to take Griffin to his swim lesson, which is in the morning at 9:00 am. He did great and I enjoyed seeing his progress as I haven’t taken him to swim since March! When I met his coach at the end of class Griffin was carrying a sign that read “I graduated today!”. He has completed the necessary skills and is moving on to Level 5!  Later that morning we met our friend Claire and her three boys at the Powell Pool, as her guest. We haven’t been before and while I didn’t get more than two photos the boys had a great time!

Lemonade anyone? I loved how color coordinated and organized they were this time!

We spent July 4th at Zoombeezi Bay. It was surprisingly not super crowded and we had a Cabana which allowed us to get out of the sun from time to time and Reid also was able to nap. We had a great time. We left at 8 pm, hurried home and showered and changed while Kevin packed up a quick picnic dinner. We then loaded back into the car and headed toward Dublin so we could see the fireworks. We parked in a park off Emerald Parkway which happened to be a great spot that filled quickly upon our arrival near dusk.

Oh, the many faces and temperaments of Reid. He’s a silly one. He’s full of sass, he can be bossy, he knows what he wants and where he wants it, but he’s also very loving and an awesome snuggler.

We went blueberry picking on the 5th at a new-to-us farm in Fredericktown. It seemed more like  a side yard to a family’s home and the bushes were really big! They were pretty overgrown and could use a serious pruning, but the berries were nice and tasty and we picked a full bucket.

Our garden is beginning to bear fruit – we’ve harvested carrots and cucumbers this week. The picture of Griffin holding carrots just reminds me of a similar one I took when he was probably Reid’s age!

Our neighbors had a summer party complete with a kids water slide and pool. There were so many kids in there and they had a blast as it was a really hot afternoon.

On Sunday we went to our friends Chad and Nicole’s for a Hazy IPA Tasting. Really just a fun reason to gather. The kids played with middle school and high school aged boys and rather than participate in the tasting I chased Reid around and tried to shoo him away from opening and closing the doors.

On Monday, Vacation Bible School began! It’s one of our most favorite weeks of summer. This year we went all in for Crazy Hair Day! And character Day Griffin was a SWAT officer. A lot of fun was had and great memories made.

Reid likes to participate in whatever activity Griffin is doing so one evening after dinner while we were out playing baseball, Reid wanted to suit up and get in some batting practice. It’s pretty comical but he has fun. On Saturday, Amy, Andy, Graham, Greta, Rowan, Mom, and Dad all came to Griffin’s baseball game. This week Griffin was awarded the game medal for Courage.

Our crazy weekend continued after baseball with our annual Bartholomew Lakes Block Party. This year I mostly organized the advertising/food sign up/etc and with the help of Kevin and Brian we setup tables and chairs in Brian’s driveway, shade tents, the bounce in our yard, a huge cooler of drinks, and Kevin moved the grill to our driveway where he was the head cook grilling up burgers, brats, and hot dogs. Brian had smoked ribs and chicken that Carlene had prepared. We even sang a surprise Happy Birthday to Jane Martin, whose birthday was the following day. We met neighbors we’d not met before, new neighbors who just moved in came down – it was a lot of fun! We had so-much-food and stayed up way-too-late! A small number of us stayed up until 1:30 in the morning just hanging out under the lights. Griffin had his first ever sleep over at the Dennie’s where Griffin, Cole, Cooper, and Miles slept on the floor. They went to bed at about 11 and once they hit the floor they were out! About 7:30 the next morning Brian sent me a picture of the boys having a pancake breakfast! The joy on Griffin’s face made me so happy.

On Sunday Griffin and Kevin went with Chad and Will to see the Arena Football Team game at Nationwide Arena. Afterwards they went to Pins and then had dinner at Dirty Franks. Reid and I stayed home and after his afternoon nap took a trip to the grocery, dropped our goods at home, and went on a date to Graeter’s. He had a blast eating his cone – he truly loves the cone part – and actually in these pictures he’s basically eating MY cone!

Griffin had his dental check up (he has 2 cavities, 🙁 ) and Reid got a chair ride too, which basically indicates that he is ready for his appointment. The hygienist counted his teeth (8 on top and 8 on bottom – just waiting on his 2 year molars) and he did really well.

Mom came down to Columbus and treated us to our annual girls pre-vacation pedicure. This year we tried out Posh in Dublin, then had dinner at Fado in Bridge Park and then had ice cream at Kilwin’s. It was great, thanks Mom!

 

And here are some videos:

 

And here is the latest at Millcreek – the concrete has been finished on the inside and all of the dock aprons are now complete as well. We also poured an additional area at our production building which had been on the request list for quite some time.

November 11, 2018

We look forward to this week every year! Yay! It’s our trip to the cabin in Tennessee! But first, a few things to wrap up before we headed out. Griffin and I went out to Bobby E’s after his appointment for his flu shot. Even though the day previous he was diagnosed with Croup, they said he was still fine to receive his flu shot. We enjoyed a yummy breakfast to start the day and then I headed in to work late.  That evening I took him to 3 vs 3 soccer that he had been doing this session. We ended up leaving a bit early as his chest was hurting. Probably not the best idea to take him after he’d been diagnosed with Croup; however, he hadn’t had a fever the whole time and seemed to feel up for it.  That night he went to bed ok, but the next morning he came in to our room at 6 am and felt SO warm to me. I took his temp and it was 104! Yikes. We promptly put a cool washcloth on his head, gave him a Popsicle, some medicine, and he fell back asleep in our bed. We kept up with the meds every 4 hours and I called in to the doctors office to chat with the nurse. I was concerned giving him the flu vaccine when he was already slightly compromised wasn’t the best idea in hindsight. But as always, our boy is one tough cookie. I stayed home for part of the morning, long enough to feel ok with leaving him with Hannah. His fever hadn’t returned and we kept up with the medicine rotation. Poor kid, had to miss school that day and will be gone all week next week while we’re on vacation! But, his fever did not return and he felt better pretty fast so he was able to go to school on Wednesday. We also got his school pictures this week and his grade card. Though it is hard to read here, I wanted to have it in digital form. He did really well across the board. He has met year-end goals for math and is doing well with sounds and reading though he has a few vowel sounds to work on. We’re proud of our Kindergartner! The weather was nice this week so Hannah and the boys got in a nice outdoor walk through the neighborhood. Finn rode his bike and Reid enjoyed the ride in his stroller. The bath photo isn’t the best but it captures the fun they have when they take a bubble bath. Clearly, they don’t get them enough – when Griffin asked me if he could have one and I agreed he thanked me profusely and told me how much he loved them. This boy usually gets showers! And yes, I edited out the portion of the video where Reid went under – yikes!

We left for our Tennessee trip after school on Friday.  It was quite the drive – we got a late start as I’d gone to school to pick Finn up and they screwed up and put him on the bus. So I went home and still beat the bus, thankfully. We got all ready and headed out, stopping for some quick Taco Bell. A little while into our ride Griffin wasn’t feeling really well, which is pretty unusual for him. He was complaining that his tummy hurt. We got off the exit at a terrible place, with construction and nowhere to stop to use a restroom. When we attempted to get back on the highway they had closed the road for night construction so we had to take a totally different route. Then we were stuck in traffic. Ugh – it was no fun.  It took us longer than usual to get there, but we arrived about 1 am. Needless to say the kiddos had fallen asleep but when we got there they woke up for a short bit and were in good moods before heading back to bed. Thankfully we have two good travelers!

Our first couple nights this year we stayed at a Holiday Inn Express that had a fun pool area with a few waterslides. We all enjoyed a lot of time in the water and also some nap time before we headed out for dinner at our traditional first stop to Smoky Mountain Brewery for pizza and brew.


On Sunday we decided to head to Cade’s Cove at Smoky Mountain National Park. We typically go during the week so it is less crowded, but the weather was a sunny and warm day so we decided to take our chances and go on Sunday. There was definitely a lot of people there but we had a great time and snapped some of our traditional pics of the boys in the open field with the mountains in the back. We always let Griffin help drive through the park and this year Reid was able to as well. They loved it.  We love this trip for many reasons, one of which is we go with no agenda other than to relax and hit up some of our usual spots and perhaps find something new too. We spend lots of time together lounging and being silly. Check out Finn wearing my pj’s! We eat out for some meals and stay at the cabin and made dinners and lunches at home too. It’s a nice combination 🙂