Camping in Kentucky!

Well after much preparation and repeated trips to Bass Pro, REI, and Field and Stream the weekend had finally arrived that the boys would head out to Red River Gorge for their weekend hike/camping trip! Unfortunately Ty's ankle prevented him from going which he was completely bummed about but they'll get out again in the spring! Although they could have had a relaxing weekend at the Four Seasons for what they spent in the weeks leading up to this trip the excitement in Connor's voice as he shared stories from the trip made it all worth it. I know he also really enjoyed being able to put to use some of the new found skills he was learning in scouts! Now for someone like Jack who wants to be prepared for any situation and was not about to assume they would catch their food in the streams, he struggled to keep his pack weight as low as it should be but my favorite quote from the trip was when they pulled up and when I asked how it went the first words out of Michael's mouth was "Jack and Connor ate like kings!" haha!

Thanks to Rick we have these few photos as Jack's phone died shortly after he texted me to let me know they had finally arrived at the campsite and unfortunately the cool solar charger my dad gave Jack for his birthday didn't make the cut when it came to packing up the pack. I guess food is more important than photos... :)




Watch out Bear Grylls, there are some new survivalists in town...

Taking in Cincy!

So grateful for friends who are better than I about getting out and seeing the sights of Cincy! Thanks to Andrea for sharing Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park with me on such a beautiful day!!! I would have never known about such a place if it wasn't for her but being she is here in America from Germany while her husband does a three year rotation at Proctor and Gamble she is making the best of her time here in Cincy! Here are just a few of some of the really fun art pieces we found displayed throughout the park.

Happy Birthday to me!

The earth has once again made a trip around the sun but I'm pretty certain it happened a little quicker this year...Where is the time going?!?



Shout out to my fabulous family for spoiling me once again! As excited as I was for Jack's gift (which is beautiful) I have to say that what warmed my heart most were the gifts from the kids! Sage had attended a party at the Mad Potter just a couple weeks ago and when she was asked to pick out a piece of pottery she insisted on picking out something she thought I'd love because she wanted to have a surprise for my birthday! So sweet!!! So she picked out this cute purse that she said was to store "special" things in. I love it sweet Sage!!! Tyler made a great card and Connor put together a wonderful powerpoint presentation expressing why he loves me! I am blessed. You'll also notice the traditional angel food cake and lilies. Yes there are lilies in that bouquet...lol!

One thing leads to another...

So the Labor Day weekend had come to end and now it was time for Ty to head to school for the first time with a cast and crutches. My heart ached for him as I tried to imagine him maneuvering around the busy middle school with crowded hallways and classes that felt like they were miles apart. I had done the route for parent teacher conference so I knew it wouldn't be easy. Any way I could ease his burden I wanted to. Which was exactly why I offered to drop off and pick up the boys from school for the first week until Ty got into the hang of things. Since we weren't exactly sure if we were treating a severe sprain or a broken ankle I didn't want anything that could possibly make it worse like hobbling up and down the school bus stairs to interfere with the healing. The quicker we could get him out of the cast and into a brace the better...

Well, this is how our afternoon drive home from school turned out...



The photo with Ty's cast hanging out the door reminds me of a scene from a freaky Halloween show...lol!

We had just left the middle school and were heading up Mason Montgomery when all the sudden traffic was coming to a screeching halt long before the light on main street but just after the light at the community center. You could see the back ends of the cars before me lifting up as everyone laid on their brakes and I had just come to a stop and turned to check on Ty in the back passenger bucket seat to see if he was ok from the sudden slow down when suddenly we heard and felt a loud bang of the car behind us ramming into us. It felt like we were in slow motion as we suddenly got slammed into the truck in front of us. It was awful. The kids have assured me that the mother of all words managed to come out of my mouth but the noise of the buckling metal is really all I remember. Connor was in the front seat with me and both our seat belts burst on impact but thankfully not until after they had done their job. I was certain the whole back end of our car would be gone but thankfully my 12 mpg beast had paid off and the majority of the noise we heard came from the car behind us being totaled.

Looks like the bus would have been the safer way home for poor Ty. His poor leg went flying into the front passenger seat but after some ibuprofen for him and Connor for a few days they seem to be doing fine. My arms were aching immediately but the officer said that was normal as you tend to stiffen up and grab the wheel during impact and then to be slammed into the truck in front of us he said would cause that. He also said it was a blessing my spare tire was where it was because it absorbed most of the energy from the wreck which was a good thing. The poor guy who hit us though was the one we were most worried about. As you can see his front end was totally mangled and all he kept saying was it was a company car and he couldn't afford to lose his job over this. I felt really bad for him. It was an accident and thankfully my car is so big and I could see many cars slamming on their brakes in front of me that I had enough time to slow down but even if he had looked at his radio for a second, it would be easy to not realize how fast people were slowing down.

Unfortunately in instances like this I can't help but think if only Ty hadn't gone to the party or if only Connor hadn't offered his "expert advice" to Ty on how to do that gainer, then I wouldn't be dealing with this! They say things happen in threes...heaven help me...

Labor Day fun!

Our sweet friends the Habra's had been wanting us to join them for some jet skiing and finally our schedules lined up so Labor Day it was! Well of course we planned this before Ty buckled his ankle but we were determined not to let a cast, sand, and possibly some rain prevent us all from going. Ty was actually the most determined to still go but we later realized it was because he was certain once we got out there we'd some how figure out a way to get him on the jet ski and keep his cast dry. Well that didn't happen but thankfully he was a pretty good sport! Sadly I don't have any photos of most the gang but here are the couple I did get...



Good times!

Really?!?

So we have been a pretty accident free family! Aside from a few cuts and bruises we have managed even through football to stay out of the ER and keep all bones in tact. Well we knew this couldn't go on forever and it didn't.

So Ty and Conner were invited to attend their friend Julius' birthday party at Skyzone. The kids love these places and of course so do the orthopedics and physical therapists...it's called job security! Ty has always been the daring one in the family who is willing to push limits, whether it be mastering some sort of flip off the diving board or stunt off his bike ramp. So when Connor offered up some tips to Ty on how to improve his "gainer" at the trampoline place, Ty was all ears. Now to clarify, Connor himself never attempts these types of stunts but for whatever reason he had suddenly become the expert on such stunts. By the next jump Ty found himself in pain. Of course the party was only half way through and Ty wasn't about to sit out the remaining hour so apparently he wobbled around until the pain just became completely unbearable. Of course the first we learned of it was when Julius' dad dropped the boys off at the end of the party and Ty literally came crawling into the house. After the door shut, the tears started streaming and it was clear he was in a lot of pain. So off to Urgent Care Jack and Ty went. After several hours, multiple xrays, and some Percocet to help with pain the doctors were still uncertain if their was a break on the growth plate, the ankle or if it was a severe sprain. But due to such a large amount of swelling and xrays that couldn't be completely read properly because Ty was shaking so much during the xrays they said they had to treat it as a break which meant a big cast. Apparently it's actually better to have a break because the healing is much easier but as time went on they felt pretty confident it ended up being the worst type of sprain you could have which was going to now mean a longer healing process and a bunch of physical therapy. Bummer!

So here is our boy fresh from the doctor and high on Percocet! Later that evening Julius and his mom had made this sweet cake for Ty!



The timing couldn't have been worse! That following Monday was Labor day and we were scheduled to go to Caesar Creek with the Habra's and jet ski which Ty would no longer be able to do not to mention he would find himself missing out on a paint ball birthday party, fall baseball which had only been going on for a week, and the possibility of being in a cast on our family vacation...

And this is the reason why the trampoline places make you sign all those waivers before you enter...

Ready, Set, SCHOOL!

It felt like we got a little robbed this summer with school starting on Aug. 14th but sure enough the day had arrived! I think we all felt like ping pong balls during the middle school orientation that took place a few days before school started as we bounced around the school trying to figure out the best routes for the boys to get from one class to the next with stops at their lockers. The funniest thing was after going through all of that it wasn't until I was at lunch with a bunch of friends on that first day of school that I learned that included on their schedules were two classes for NEXT semester. Well, thankfully as it turned out Connor was enlightened by one of his teachers of this and didn't end up spending half his day running to next semesters classes...I would have felt so bad! So here are my two handsome boys during orientation and then on the first day of school. One would think I was sending them out at night but when you have a bus pick-up time of 6:47 which a couple days later got moved up to an earlier 6:40 a.m. it means they have to leave the house by 6:30! That's one early morning. I feel so lucky that they are my alarm clock. They are so good about getting themselves up, showered, fed and then waking me up so I can get their lunches done and send them out the door!



After attending open house and meeting their teachers I feel so happy for them. It's nice to meet teachers who you can see have such a passion for their profession and the kids and the best part was the school made a point of giving the boys all the same teachers so although they aren't in any classes together, they have the same teachers (with the exception of one elective) which means they can study together for all their tests, help each other with homework issues, etc. Not to mention I will receive half the emails I would have had they had different teachers for each subject!

And here's our sweet third grader who thankfully didn't have to be to the bus stop until two hours after her brothers! Sage also started at a new school this year since third grade here moves to a school of it's own!



Sage has also been blessed with a couple of fantastic teachers. And how thrilled I am that my name dropping of my old boss at Columbia paid off. Sage got placed in a classroom where her two teachers both use Lucy's curriculum for everything in reading and writing not to mention everyone tells us how amazing they are so I'm really happy for Sage.

So here's to a successful, happy transition to two new schools for three awesome kids!

Summer fun 2014

Well, summer has officially ended but what a great one we had! Aside from our trip to UT we were able to do a few fun things out here. Here's the run down...

Canoeing down the Little Miami River with Michael and Michele! So. Much. Fun. Michael had arranged it all and aside from the bus that takes everyone to the drop off point dying in the middle of an intersection and us all having to be transported onto another bus, the trip was a huge success! Who would have thought you could find some cool shells in such nasty looking water? Will definitely do it again!!!



Going to the drive in! Who knew drive ins still existed?!? Well they do and they are quite the popular place. Michael was full of fun things to do this summer and figured out not too far away there was a drive in so we headed over to check it out. It was the kids first time experiencing such a place. Gone are the days of static radios hanging off your window but unfortunately when you drive a beast like mine keeping the radio on for a couple hours while the engine is off is draining and bad things happen...like dead batteries... It was a triple feature starting with the movie Blended, following up with Godzilla and ending with who knows what. We made it through Blended and half way through Godzilla which took us to about midnight...



One of the best things about living in Mason is Kings Island/Soak City! The season goes from April until Oct. which means some of us moms can actually go while the kids are in school and avoid all the crowds. So when the kids are away the moms all play! This year a new ride was being introduced, the Banshee. It happens to be the world's longest inverted roller coaster! It is a great ride! The best part is Sage finally reached 52" so she can do it too. Here are just a couple shots from the season.



Jack would be completely fine just having a pass for Soak City so he could do the pipeline all season! You can see that being the last to leave the park has it's advantages...like free squirts of barbecue sauce and ketchup on the way out...NASTY!




Of course we always love having visitors! How fun it was to have the George's out our way from Seattle for a few days! We introduced them to Kan Jam, Soak City, Culver's, Kings Island, Right Left Center, and the Community Center indoor and outdoor pools! I think we squeezed as much as we could into those days we had with them. An added bonus was having Griff stay with us an additional few days while Dave took Conor to his football camp up north!




One of our favorite things to do as a family during the summer is the Little Miami bike trail! Jack may grumble about getting all the bikes onto the bike rack but it's all worth it in the end. We made it about 8 miles on this journey before getting caught in a torrential rain storm. After pedaling back to the ice cream shop to seek cover we waited it out. I love that Sage is finally of the age we can throw her on a bike for 16+ miles and she is good to go!



Of course many of our days are spent at the pool. Even after a morning of swim practice the kids enjoy spending some of their summer days at the pool...not doing laps! Next to riding coasters, this is how I too love spending my summer days!



Where is the tissue? These two boys went away for the first time this summer on a week long scout camp. Until recently Jack and I have never been fans of scouting. In the past it seemed more like managed chaos (at least an attempt at managed) and with the kids sports, scouting always seemed to conflict anyways so we never made it a priority. Well now that the boys are in young men and the YM program is based on scouting they are starting to get into it. We gave them the option to do scout camp this year and they were both very eager and excited. Sure enough they had a fantastic time, passing off on a few merit badges and learning a few new skills. As hard as it was on me to hand off such precious cargo to someone else for the week, I knew it was just the start of a new chapter in theirs and our lives...the chapter of letting go and giving them independence. I have no idea what I'm going to do when these two boys leave to go off to college...forget about a mission. I can't even think about that...



And there's the rundown...