Put Me to Sleep

The other night at dinner, Keith and I were talking about a project at work.  It's the only project at work that our work overlaps on different sides of the business.  He in the technology work, me in the business world side of it.

Mid conversation, Caleb interrupts up and asks walk were talking about.

"Work."  We say in unison. 

A few minutes later, Caleb interrupts again to say, "if you don't stop talking about work, you're going to put me to sleep at the table!"

Sesame Place Day 1

About a year ago, we took the kids on our first real family vacation.  You can see the other posts about it here. 

Now that I'm terribly late to the game, I would normally not even bother posting, but this place was such a great place for our family, that I wanted to share it with you all!  It is highly recommended by my family.

We spent two days in the park working our way around the circle and making sure to re-visit the kids favorite places multiple times!

Now for a snapshot of day 1 at the park!

Waiting for the Parade

Elmo's World

Buckin' Ohio Rodeo

We are fortunate to have a cattle ranch in a neighboring town that hosts a few rodeos every summer and fall.  Last year we attended the last one of the season, and my husband and I knew immediately we wanted to attend more!

We were sure to put the first one of this season on the calendar, and we were there!

The evening is full of pony rides, barrel racing, comedy, bull riding, and the boys personal favorite, the boot scramble!

So the bullfighter lines up the kids.  Our kids are in the 5 and under group of kids he's lining up out there. 

When they first run into the arena, all the kids take off one of their boots and leave them on one side of the ring.  Then the kids line up on the other side of the ring.  

When the bullfighter sounds the alarm, they are off to find their boot, put it on, and run back to the other side of the arena.  The first one back, is the winner!

The little navy blue blur in the front of that pack is Caleb.  Don't get too excited, I said of this pack, not the lead!

And there is Caden putting on his boot!

The kids love it!

And I love having bleach at home to do the laundry, because you know that's not just dirt they are running around in!

Frosting Flavored Mints

I picked these up at a knick knack store in Amish Country recently and love them!

July Camping Trip

We are slowly turning family camping into a regular occurence in our family of 4.  We love it.  Well, most of us love it.  I do really enjoy it; I'm just always so darn tired when we camp!

If you didn't read my post the other day about how we got to the campground, you should. 

Today's post picks up where I left off yesterday. 

Luckily after we left the failed campground, there were several others in the area.  We had stayed at one last year and been very pleased with it.  Just thinking about the chance of finding another poor campground, we decided it was better to be safe than sorry and headed back to a trusted location!

On our way there, we noticed our dog climbing around the car looking for a comfortable seat.  She finally found one, on top of our camping gear. 

While we were camping we drove to watch two fireworks displays. 

Most mornings we woke up to find caden curled up in the corner in a cocoon. 

We went fishing. Caden caught his first fish! It was also the only fish we caught that morning!

He was so proud!

He was also so upset when we threw it back in.  I had to explain we were catch and release fishing.  He wanted to eat it.

Before we could take the kids on their first camping trip, we had to drop the dog off at my parents house.  Luckily we camp close to home, and even closer to my parents house.  But we had to run home for her doggie crate.  Since we were going home anyway, I decided we'd just shower at our houes that evening.  As we walked into the house, hubby said: "don't worry, I've got the dog cage."  That should have been my first clue.  Wouldn't you know an hour late we show up to drop the dog off, and we have no doggie crate with us!  Luckily my parents said they'd make something work and on we went!

We took the boys on their first canoeing trip.  For the first mile or so of our 7 mile trip, they were very nervous and hesistant.  They had a death grip on the railings and/or side of the boat.  They yelled at us if we wiggled too much, or didn't paddle how they saw fit.  They calmed down though once we pulled the boat over for a bit and let them walk/play in the water.  They were so concerned with how deep it was, that once they saw they could touch most places, they were much more comfortable the rest of the trip.  They even lossened their hold on the boat and enjoyed the playful spashing!

We went swimming. 

We cooked delicious food by the campfire.  Well except that time Keith burnt our supper to a crisp.  It was quite black and felt like a rock.  He saved the day and took us out for burgers. 

We ate lots of ice cream from the deli down the road.

And we enjoyed our clean, safe, family-friendly campground!

The best part of this campground, you know besides the clean shower houses and park, is the view. 

I love this view.  The kids run and play in the field, and I just sit and look out.  This picture does not do it any justice at all.  It is amazing. 

Frosty 5K

Back in February I ran my first 5K of 2011.  It was also the worst 5K time I've had to date.  I friend with a friend/co-worker at an area rec center. 

My training for this 5K was pathetic in comparison, especially when it came to outside training.  I hadn't ran outside since the fall when it came time for this 5K.  I had done all my running on a treadmill. 

I hung with my friend for the first mile around minutes, but then I couldn't keep up.  The cold air was no match for my lungs at the time.  I finished in 33:56. 

The part that I'm most ashamed of, I've hardly improved my pace or my training since then.  I've kept up a somewhat regular workout schedule, even if it may be week.  I managed to get 1-2 in every week.  One of those is kickboxing, and I'm trying to get at least one run in a week.

Let's hoping I can turn this around soon.  Especially since I'm supposed to run a leg of the Akron Marathon with a group of co-workers this September!

The Time We Wasted $60

Hubby and I took the Tuesday and Wednesday after the 4th of July off to an extra long weekend with the plan to go camping for the long weekend.  Well, we never got around to making a plan for it, so the week before, we were lazily looking for a place to camp.  At first I was concerned we'd have trouble finding a site due to the holiday weekend, until I remembered there are usually very few primitive campers like us out there. 

We'd also decided that we weren't prepared to go for the whole 5 days, so we made plans with my BIL and his wife to spend the day Saturday in Ohio's Amish Country while the boys spent the night with my mom.  We dropped them off on Friday night so we could get up early to meet them.  We had such a great day togeter, that after we parted way to go pick up the kids, Keith and I decided to extend our weekend until Sunday morning.  Mom agreed to keep the kids another night and Keith took me to a late dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse.  It was delicious, and oh so wonderful to get some alone time with my hubby.

Sunday morning we decided to embark on our camping trip.  We pakced everything up rather quickly, picked up the kids and headed out.  We made no reservations, found a place that offered lots of fishing and through we'd give it a try.  We arrived, and I started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach.  I told hubby it was up to him, we could always go somewhere else.  But he registered us for a camp site and into the park we went.

The welcoming site was a mobile home parked in the campground, holding a garage sale, with a fence around the site/yard made of baby gates.  What were we thinking?  We kept driving, hoping that perhaps the primitive area was more secluded and we wouldn't have our own little space.  Little did we know we'd be finding several more garage/yard/campsite sales along the path.  We pass the shower house, and I found out later, my husband and I both immediately though, well I guess we won't be showering on this camping trip!  Onward we trudged to the primitive camping area.  In our previous camping trip we rarely are sharing with too many other primitive campers.  That was not quite the case at this place.  As we scouted out what we though might be out tent site, we saw several other campers and laundry lines and beer cans and smokers and general shenanigans that did not seem to appropriate for our kiddos. 

This campground advertising 5 fishing lakes, a few of which we passed on out drive through the park.  I wondered how we were going to fish if our line couldn't get though the layers of green algae covering the water nearly everywhere.

We turned around, drove out, and never looked back.

Stay tuned for more of our camping adventures later this week!

Graduate School

When I finished undergardaute, I knew I wanted to go back to school again someday.  At the time my plan was to work two years, and then start taking classes in the evenings a year ago with the financial support of my company. 

Then my life changed. 

I didn't give up on my dream, but I certainly put it on the backburning, not expecting to do it for many years as I was busy with my family and raising kids. 

Then a few months ago, I was in a slump.  I needed something more; I wanted something more. 

By chance, I had a meeting with someone from another department at our company, and she started me thinkging about it again.  She had recently completed her graduate degree and had young kids at home. 

My wheels started turning as I pondered the possibility of it.  Of course I talked it over with my hubby, and he was thrilled that I was thinking about it again.  I'm so blessed to have such a supporting husband.  Hopefully he thinks the same while I'm in school and he's got to pick up more of the work around the house!

I did my reserach.  I narrowed down my list.  I applied.

I waited.  I waited nervously.  I worried I wouldn't get in for fall semester becuase I was so late to the game this year.  I worried I'd have to wait to start until spring semester.

Then my acceptence letter came!

I'll be taking MBA classes starting in September at Ashland University!