The Month of May 2008

In May, we took a fun road trip to Cleveland, Ohio to see my sister Natalie and her hubby and son. They were there for a business trip and invited us to stay with them at their hotel. There was a really cool playground close by that the kids really enjoyed . . .

. . . Ashlee and Braden gave this dinosaur a good workout!


We didn't miss our chance to eat at PF Chang's, which is one of our favorite restaurants.


We also hit the Cleveland Zoo. Ashlee and Nick wasted no time mapping out our day!


We even made a quick trip to Australia! OK, so that's not entirely true. This was part of the "Australian Adventure." I thought this sign was cool because Ballarat is where I once lived.


Aaron and Braden took a ride on the camel. Don't ask me what this has to do with Australia. I don't remember seeing any when I lived there. Maybe they should move this attraction to the "Saudi Arabia Adventure." That makes way more sense, I think.


Ash and Jere admiring the lions from a distance (thankfully!)


The last day of our trip we went to the Cleveland Science Center. It was also Mother's Day. I would have liked to have been at home being pampered, but I guess whatever makes the kids happy, makes me happy, too.


I did get to go hang gliding through the Grand Canyon so I can't complain.


Jere gave himself a PET scan.


And after making fun of Aaron because he couldn't balance this skateboard for long, I was put to shame by not staying on it much longer, and to top it off, both Nick and Ash stayed on for at least 10 times longer than I did. Oh the shame!!


Ashlee used some sort of secret Egyptian balancing stance . . .


Nick also turned 9! Yeah, I can't believe it either. Here he is at our favorite b-day joint, Red Robin after opening some goodies from Grandma.


And more presents at home, including a tennis raquet and a Rubik's cube. Happy Birthday buddy!

Still Alive!

I have about 3 months worth of "stuff" to catch up on, which includes 2 vacations, a birthday, fourth of July, etc., so I'm in the process of getting all the pix ready for publishing. Tomorrow is my Human Bio final, so after that, I will actually have a moment to do it . . . assuming this gross humidity and heat subside a little. The computer is upstairs where there is no AC, so I will blog the best I can. Later!

Funny Things My Kids Say

Today we went on a "nature walk" together up around County Farm Park. My main intent was to give us all a good opportunity to exercise, but along the way I challenged them to find 5 different kinds of leaves and then collect some for crayon rubbings. Nick & Ash loved the fact that we found some wild raspberries, animal poop that was full of seeds and some really beautiful flowers. Along the way I decided to review my biology class material by telling them all about how antibodies work to help your body fight off "foreign invaders" like viruses. They seemed thoroughly interested and we had a good conversation about it. When it was time to go, we started our walk home. I asked them if they enjoyed learning about nature and they said they had a good time. Then I realized we had forgotten our leaves for crayon rubbings. Nick said, "We may have come away empty-handed, but we didn't come away empty-minded!" Good observation, Nick!

This afternoon I was driving Nick to karate practice. Ashlee was reading her Horse A to Z Dictionary. We were at a stoplight when she says, "Mom! Did you know there is a horse in here called an ass?" I said, "A what?" She said, "An ass!" (Nick starts giggling here.) I said, "Are you sure that's what it says? How is it spelled?" She said, "A - S - S." (Nick laughs even harder!) I said, "Let me see that." She handed me the book and sure enough, there was a picture of a donkey with the word Ass next to it. I said, "Oh yeah. That's a donkey and they're sometimes called jackasses or asses. But I wouldn't go around saying that word too much. Just use it for donkeys." Nick said, "Yeah, Ash. Don't say ass!"