Katy Perry Concert

About a year ago, I promised Isabelle that if Katy Perry came to Columbus in concert, we would go. Well of course she did! Back in February or so, her tickets went on sale so I bought two and they were Isabelle's birthday present in March. She was very excited!! We had to wait until August 13 to go to the concert. In preparation, Isabelle wanted her hair dyed pink. After researching temporary hair dye on the internet, I decided upon a brand called Panic Manic at Sally Beauty Supply. It was very easy to do, and here's how Isabelle's hair ended up:

The concert was great! Katy played about 20 songs (many not full-length) and kept the concert bright and cheery. A few times, she "floated" around the arena floor and above the audience. She changed costumes and hair colors quite a bit. Isabelle took home a poster and a bracelet. We had a great time!

Our selfie

The stage before Katy started

Isabelle decorated a shirt just for the concert

Katy's entrance

From the big screen

"Hot and Cold" was performed by "cats"

Singing "By the Grace of God"

During the concert

Colorful!

We were given these prismatic glasses that made the lights have a rainbow look (see next photo)

View through the prismatic glasses

Anthony Thomas Factory

The Anthony Thomas Factory is located in Columbus and offers tours to the public. We were able to get there last week and take the tour. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed on the tour. It was a really neat tour, though. We were on the 2nd level looking down at all parts of the factory. We got to see Easter candy being made and packaged. After the tour, we sampled a buckeye (Yum!) and, of course, bought some candy.

Erika and Isabelle with the largest buckeye

Parker and Seth with their lollipops

Parker has already asked to go back!

Our Beach

We visited the closest "beach" to our house. North of us, about 45 minutes or so, is Alum Creek State Park and it has its own beach! In our 13 years in Columbus, we had never been there. Parker has been talking a lot about pools and beaches, so he needed to experience the difference! We headed up there on a Saturday, taking Isabelle's friend, Erika, with us. It was overcast, and ended up raining about an hour and fifteen minutes after we got there, so we had to leave earlier than planned.

Sand castle in progress

This was so funny. Parker clung to Shane because he couldn't touch the bottom here.

Erika and Isabelle

How do they do this?

Friday Fun

Grove City has an event downtown during the summers where there is live music and part of the street is closed off for kids to play with chalk, jump ropes and hula hoops. We ate at Tossed and Grilled, then walked to the kids area. Parker and Seth had a good time (Isabelle was at Grandma Diane and Grandpa Clyde's house).

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Have you heard of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? It is "sweeping the nation" with all kinds of people participating, even famous people. The idea is to raise awareness of ALS and for people to donate money to the ALS Foundation. This is important to me because Uncle Tom suffered from the disease and passed away in October of 2013. The challenge is to have a bucket of ice water dumped on you! Then you get to nominate more people to participate in the challenge. Shane was nominated by Cathy Witt, I was nominated by Heather Pohlman, and Isabelle was nominated by Jacob Witt. Here are our videos:

We are sure Uncle Tom would have loved to see all these people participating in this awesome challenge!

Carnival

Our neighbors, Gracie and Shiloh, invited us over for a summer carnival in their yard! It was a lot of fun...

Parker's turn!

Waiting for the water slide

Ring game

The hurdles

Then the boys and I walked to the pond near our house:

Throwing rocks into the pond

Kings Island

Isabelle, Seth, Shane and I spent a day at Kings Island on Thursday, July 31. Parker stayed with Grandma Barb. It was a great day due to the mild weather and light crowd! Isabelle rode a lot of the bigger rides - Diamond Back, Flight of Fear, The Beast and Vortex, while Seth preferred the kind of rides that weren't roller coasters like the Scrambler, Monster, Swings and especially White Water Canyon and the water rides. Shane and I got to ride the newest roller coaster, Banshee, because there was only a 20 minute wait!

Banshee in background

The Monster

After the Wind Seeker (it goes 301 feet up in the air and swings you around on big metal arms! You can see the seats in the background to the left)

Backlot Stunt Coaster - our first ride

The Scrambler

Banshee in the background

Congo Falls

Invertigo (we didn't ride this one)

The fountain at the entrance

Eiffel Tower