Friday, July 25, 2014

Boonshoft

There's a fantastic museum of discovery in Dayton called Boonshoft. It's perfect for all the kids and there is so much to do there. We visited Friday and met Grandma Barb and Grandpa Steve there.

Seth said his favorite part was this water table area:


Parker pretended that this little "green:" house was his house. It even had a bed his size.


There is a mini Cassano's Pizza area where Parker pretended to be a pizza chef.


Isabelle was a pizza chef too!


Parker's favorite area seemed to be this little grocery store where he got to be the cashier.






The pizza delivery car
 There was a mini zoo area with a lot of animals to see up close, including otters, a chameleon, bats, meerkats, owls, porcupines and a groundhog. Isabelle's favorite was the owls.


Isabelle holding an owl?
 There were many other parts of this place we explored and I'm sure we'll go back there again!






Sunday, July 20, 2014

Columbus Zoo

On a great Wednesday with a high of only about 70 degrees, we went to the Columbus Zoo. We met our friends, Tamara and James there. We saw the new Africa area which included giraffes, zebras, ostriches and a cheetah. We also got to pet a lot of goats. Isabelle used to love the petting area when she was 3 or 4, and she still loves it! She's our animal lover.






A cheetah

The kids and our friend James.


Isabelle, Seth, Parker, James

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Color Run

They call it the "Happiest 5K on the Planet". A couple of months ago, I came across a Groupon deal for an entry into the Color Run 5K in Columbus. Sounded like a fun time and a chance to start running again, so Shane and I went for it. Today was the run! Basically, it is a 5K course that is not timed. The wait at the start line was long - we waited about half an hour before we were at the start.

"Before"
There were a TON of people there. The instructions were to wear a white shirt. At 4 different points throughout the course, volunteers threw colored powder on you, so that by the end of the race, you should be nice and colorful!

While we tried to jog as much as we could, it was difficult to get around the crowd, and it seemed like most of them walked rather than ran or jogged. We ended up having a great workout, though!

At the end point, there was a band playing, a lot of colored powdered being thrown, photos and free samples of food and drinks.



Also at the end, we met up with our niece, Jessica!


It was a fun event, and we'll continue to train for more runs together.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

Michigan 2014

This July 4th weekend, we made a trip to "Uncle Louie's" (Steve's) in Michigan. Fortunately, we had perfect weather! The temperature was in the low 80's during the day and cooler in the evenings. We left our house Friday at 10:30 am and stopped in Toledo to eat lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings.



Then we got back on the road and had a really uneventful drive up. Seth was busy with his iPad, Isabelle with her iPod and Parker watched a movie. The kids could not have behaved better! We arrived at Steve's around 5:30 pm, got settled in, and ordered pizza for dinner. Mom and Dad (Grandma Barb & Grandpa Steve), Lori, Dave, Jon and Mary arrived there the previous night. Steve's house had plenty of room for all of us.

During the weekend, we spent a lot of time outside enjoying the pond, the four-wheelers and the trampoline. We also had our own private fireworks show put on by Uncle Louie.

The Relaxation Station (Steve, Isabelle, Parker, Shane)

Shane, Carrie, Isabelle, Seth, Lori

Parker Pie

Our family



Parker's first canoe ride (it has a motor on the back)






Izzy on the dock
We brought some toys with us

Sether

Isabelle

Mary and Jon

Dave and Lori
Lori, Millie and Jon

Shane and Isabelle
Dave

Seth and Isabelle and all the ducks named Harry

Feeding the ducks


All three kids in one photo!
We visited Breckenridge, the nearest Village, for ice cream. We also found some railroad tracks.

Ice cream in Breckenridge







The neighbor's dog, Bailey, spent the day at Steve's house. Seth and Isabelle had fun playing with her.

One of many fish Isabelle caught. She even put the worm on the hook herself!

The favorite thing of Parker's had to be the trampoline. He spent a lot of time jumping on it and just playing on it with toys.


Mom, Steve & Carrie

Photo bombed my Mom! And Lori!
A thank you present from the kids and Mom

Thank you Uncle Louie!!

Thank you, Uncle Louie!!!
On our way home Monday, we stopped at our first house in Toledo, then for ice cream in Perrysburg.


Then we were held up by a few traffic jams, a train, and very heavy rain. It took us 7 1/2 hours, but we made it and hope to go again next summer!