Take Me Out to the Ballgame

 When I was a little girl, I grew-up in the woods right beside St. Albans City Park.  It was wonderful, because we had all this acreage of privacy and woods, and when we wanted to, we could walk to the park. The park had a nice little league field, and occassionally we would go watch the ballgames or play some ball ourselves.  Here are some pictures of me and my family at that park once when I was five years old, only slightly older than my Anna.  Above:  that's me and my dad.

 Above, that is me and my two brothers, Jason and Doak.

 Below, my mom and Jason.

 Well, while visiting my family in West Virginia over Memorial Day, I walked my own kids and my niece Megan out through the woods to the same ballpark.  We had a wonderful time playing wiffle ball with real bases...

 Poor little Anna knew absolutely nothing about baseball.  The funniest moment of the day was when she hit the ball for the first time and ran for first base, only to pass it and run straight to the right field grass!

 Christopher and John somehow ended-up on 2nd base together, and then argued over who was there first.

Welcome Summer

 Our boys' last day of school was on Friday, so we are officially in summer vacation!  Above is a paper John brought home from school telling us what his plans were for his vacation.  Below is the Three Musketeers:  John, Aryan, and Gabe, who are the best of friends.

 Above, Christopher with friend Ben Varney.  Below, he hung-out with his classmates on Field Day on the last day of school, where the kids get to spend the afternoon playing field games.  Much fun.

" Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a super hero."  -Marc Brown

My Baby Is Now TEN Years Old

 I still remember the moment the doctor put Christopher in my arms for the first time, and as his little body wiggled and cried I thought, "Oh goodness.... What am I going to do with this?  They can't seriously think I know how to take care of a baby!"  I had never changed a diaper, had never babysat an infant, and knew absolutely nothing about newborns.  By the grace of God, though I figured it out, and my baby celebrated his 10th birthday this week.  


Since I am such a fan of birthday cakes, I think I found what is arguably the greatest birthday cake in the history of the world this year:  a hamburger cake from Servatii's Bakery on Beechmont Avenue.  This thing looked SO realistic!!!  

 Christopher was allowed to choose any restaurant in Cincinnati where he wanted to eat:  Montgomery Inn Ribs, Jeff Ruby Steakhouse, Maggiano's Italian Restaurant.   Wherever he wanted.  Christopher chose...  Chik-Fil-A!

 We also took Christopher and his friend Jake Withrow to Eastgate Adventures for playing putt-putt and doing go-karts.

 Anna Jean's first go-kart ride.  She was hysterical with excitement!!!

The Height of Geekdom

 When my guys recently mastered Justice League Monopoly, I thought we had found the height of super hero, sci-fi geekness.  I was wrong.  For Christopher's 10th birthday, along came Star Wars Monopoly.  I could not even watch them play because this game was so intricately involved in the plot of those movies, of which I also did not understand when I watched them.

Above... The money does not look like money.  I don't know what that stuff even is.
Below... Instead of buying houses and hotels, you buy little space ships and other little space ships, depending on whether you are on a dark side or a light side.  I'm completely lost.

 This thing has....I kid you not...its own language decoder in the instructions.  Disney Princess is SO much easier to play than this.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CANDYLAND???  
I could play Candyland.

Countdown....

Gentlemen,

There's only one shopping day left until Mother's Day.  I'm just saying.

Kara

The Store

I run our children's Wednesday night program at Clough.  As the kids attend church, learn memory verses, bring their Bibles, and bring friends with them, they earn "Clough Cash," which looks very much like Monopoly money.  Then, at the end of the year, we have the "Clough Store," where they can spend their earned dollars on toys and prizes.  This past Wednesday night was the store, and the kids were SO excited!

The prizes range from small erasers and stickers to blow-up and wind-up toys, all the way up to rather pricey goods such as friendship bracelet kits, make-up and nail polish kits, and Beyblades and Slinkies.  I had to laugh...  I was so concerned that there wouldn't be enough "big ticket" items for all the kids.  But as it turned-out, they all seemed to want to spend their Clough Cash on the cheapest items on the table!  The choice purchase of the evening was these pink "shades," which everyone wanted in the color of hot pink.  Who knew?!

Cincinnati Zoo

 I have my so-sweet seven-year-old niece Megan spending the weekend with me, so we decided to take her to the zoo Saturday afternoon.  She had never been to a zoo, so this was a special treat for us!

 My absolute favorite part of the Cincinnati Zoo is Lorikeet Landing, where for $1 you can buy a cup of nectar and feed the birds.  We were there pretty early in the day, when the lorikeets were really hundry, and they practically attacked us for our nectar.  It was so much fun!

 Quote of the day, from Anna:  "Daddy, why do elephants have those giant french fries in their noses?"

 Below, the kids rode the zoo train.  Always a favorite.  

 We all enjoyed watching a polar bear swim.

 Tim's favorite display is always the venemous snake one.  

 We finished our zoo trip at Don Pablo's, where we celebrated Cinco de Mayo.