Em's First "Camping" Trip

Last week was our 10-year wedding anniversary.  We planned an inexpensive week-long visit to the Lake Hill Campground.  We packed up my kayak, our bikes, a tent and our miscellaneous camping gear... propane tanks, pie irons, fishing poles, DVDs, laptops... (what?)

The beginning of the week was a little rainy, but we love sitting on porches and watching and listening to the rain.  It was a perfect beginning to our week.

Emily lost Tooth #2 on Sunday night.  We predicted this might happen and made arrangements for the Tooth Fairy to visit our cabin.  Sorry... for the life of me I could NOT get a picture of her new smile.  She would not cooperate and kept making all kinds of goofy faces.  I managed a couple of good pictures of her tonsils though!

A few days in, we decided to take a road trip to the Cincinnati Zoo.  Our membership to the Columbus Zoo gave us 50% off admission and we enjoyed a great afternoon of walking through the botanical gardens and experiencing "The Cat House" where the big cats are kept.  (The only down-side is that the big cat house smells like a big cat house.)

Emily's favorite part of the zoo was the playground.  There was evidence of some giant creatures on that playground...

The Giant Tortoise

Giant Spiders

...that captured a giant Emily.

Later, back at the campground, Emily got to spend several days playing outside.  She had a little trouble adapting to the uneven ground and unfamiliar territory.  Em hasn't had much opportunity to roam free and trip over tree roots and fall off of porches.  She made up lost time last week.  On day 1, she tripped into the fire ring (empty and unlit!) but still managed to bruise her thighs and scuff up her hands a little.  (It's a wonder she didn't lose more teeth on this fall!)  On day 2, Emily fell off the front edge of porch and landed in the hostas.  She ended up with a little road rash mark on her side and gained a healthy fear of the front edge of the porch.  Other than that, she learned fairly quickly to watch where she was going instead of walking into and tripping over things.

Initially, I thought the cabins were going to be further apart.  They were fairly close, but didn't bother us a bit because we were the only ones there all week except for a few random people at the back of the campground and our friends that joined us on Saturday night and they got to stay right next door to us.

There was a "rail to trail" path just across the road from the campground.  I had good intentions of riding this with Emily but we just went exploring and took a walk on it early in the week.  Because of the hills, I would have had to load our bikes on the SUV and haul them down the hill to the level bike path and then haul them back up the big hill to the cabin afterwards.  It was a little too much work for the timeframe we had... but next time, we WILL do this!

Em loved playing on the playground at Lake Hill.  We met the owners' 7-year old grandson and played with him toward the middle of the week and then didn't see him again after that.  Emily wanted to play on the playground rain or shine, but we agreed on "shine".  I wish she'd have had a playmate most of the time because I just didn't have it in me to chase her all over.  Swinging is my cup of tea.  She climbed a fairly high rock wall all by herself and the only thing I didn't let her do by herself was the rope wall/ladder in the picture below... maybe when she's a bit more coordinated and won't end up hanging by her ankles if left to her own devices.

The campground has its own 5 acre lake which was perfect for kayaking.  I was able to take the kayak out 2 different afternoons while Em napped and Tom stayed back enjoyed catching up on a few TV series on DVD.. rustic style (on his laptop).  On my first kayak trip, I just explored the lake and enjoyed the peace and quiet.  I took my fishing pole with me the second time and though I got a few nibbles, I didn't catch anything.  I did find a couple of downed trees in the water that had become good sunning spots for about a dozen turtles and I found quite a few shells along the beach and some really large ones that I brought back for Emily.

Since the weather has been cool for a while, there weren't too many bugs around the campground except for a few daddy long legs.  While Em was playing on the playground one day, I noticed this little booger.  Not sure what he was, but he was bashful.  It took me about 6 tries to get this picture, he kept walking away from me and scooting around the backside of the playset when the camera would focus on him.  Anybody know what this is?

The cabins were quaint, but comfy and had everything we needed.  We had a full-size bed, bunk beds, and a foldout sofa if we needed it.  We had a bathroom, complete with shower and a small kitchenette with microwave and small fridge.  There was a grill and comfy chairs on the front porch and we brought our own camp chairs for in the cabin and around the fire.

There was even a loft above our bedroom with a mattress up there, but I was afraid I wouldn't be awake enough to climb down from there in the middle of the night without ending up hanging from MY ankles.

 Here's our kitchen.  Isn't it lovely?  Don't judge our eating habits... remember we were on vacation!

Here's a quick pict of our tent which Emily loved playing and napping in, but it was too cold at night to hang out there.

Here's a prize picture... my little princess who doesn't like to get dirty was totally digging in the dirt and burying her hands.  The previous day, she did the same thing... in pants that were on backwards.  She also crawled around on her hands and knees and cleaned the slide off with those backwards pants.  I had to laugh when I did post-vacation laundry the other day and had to work on grass stain on the "back" of her knees and the "front" of her pants.  I loved playing in the dirt as a kid and am happy this kid had a chance to do the same. We might just have to weed out dirt pile out back again so she can play in the dirt this spring!

On Saturday afternoon, our friends came down and joined us for the night.  It was great watching the girls play together and catching up with each other again.  We explored the campground together and had to wind up the weekend when the rain started up.

It was nice to be able to get away and celebrate the last 10 years together.  We have been blessed with a happy, healthy marriage and a great family.  As our friend, Matt, said... "Congratulations.  That's longer than most prison sentences!"   Yes.  Yes, it is.  Congratulations, honey... don't call the parole officer just yet, I'm enjoying this prison sentence.

The Fair and Other Fun Things!

The county fair is always held at the beginning of July and Emily was excited to go this year. She spent at 2 days at the fair this year. One day we watched her 3-year old cousin, Abby, participate in a sheep lead class. The following night we walked around the fair and listened to our friends Keith and Jessica perform in one of the entertainment tents.

One of the highlights for Emily were the junior fair animals. She got a kick out of finding some eggs in with the chickens, got to pet a couple of sheep and though a bit intimidated at first, she did muster up enough courage to pet a calf.

Here's Emily after our cousin, Brenda, took her for a walk with a young calf. (I think it's name was Mr. T and I'm pretty sure Emily was trying to climb over Brenda's shoulder to get away.)


That is until sweet, lovable, child charmer, Grant came along....


With his help, she was willing to pet the calf on the nose and be near it... well, until it started mooing and moving around and then she started squirming again and got to heavy and squirrely for Grant to keep holding her....

She had so much fun at the fair and I was feeling like having a little fun so she got to eat chocolate ice cream for and early supper and then we ate real stuff when we got home.

Have I mentioned this girl loves chocolate ice cream!?!?

- - - - -

Fast forward a week or so and you'll find us saying our farewells to our sweet friend and helper, Nickie. Nickie has been with us since shortly after Emily came home. She works with Help Me Grow and has come out for visits several times a year and helped us with Emily's assessments and placements for therapies and such. She's been a great friend and has reminded me that we are really blessed in so many areas of our lives. Now that Emily is 3, she has outgrown the Help Me Grow program (and a ton of her clothes!) and will be moving up to receive some early intervention services this year. We love you Nickie and truly hope you stay in touch!

- - - - -

Later in July, we took a quick trip to the zoo with Nanny and Papa. It's a tradition that we nearly always stop and visit the petting zoo if it's open... not so much a tradition that we jump on the goats.


Seriously folks!?!? Did you really think I would let my daughter jump on a goat? It's an optical illusion. Breathe in, breathe out and hang up on your phone call to PETA!


Peace out!

A Porch, The Bucketheads, & A Kangaroo

Once again, we've been certainly keeping busy the past couple of weeks... but not too busy to take some pictures for the fan club!

1) Our new front porch was finished up the week before last and we've been enjoying some beautiful summer evenings hanging out there. It's a great place to read, surf the web and greet our neighbors! We love it!

If you look closely, you'll see my prize-winning weeds to the right of the window air conditioner. I worked really hard to nurture those and my husband was kind enough to pull them this week for me! (Thanks!)


To finish the look and make the porch a tad more enjoyable (and usable) we went shopping for some nicely padded chairs and tables. Well, the tables aren't padded but you get my point! We still need to get a few little things to finish it off, but we have furniture!


We love our new porch. Emily has really taken to helping water the plants and we love being able to sit out there when it's raining. Great family bonding -- in the shade!


For Father's Day, we were invited to Aunt Shell and Aunt Laura's house for a pool party and supper. As always it was a hit! We even got to meet their new synchronized swimming team, the Bodacious Bucketheads! They still have a LOT of work to do on their routine but they might sign up for the kiddie pool olympics in the near future!


We were able to get our pictures taken with them, but they weren't prepared to do waterproof autographs just yet!


Last Wednesday, a friend of mine invited us to the zoo for ADOPT Day. It's when families that sponsor an animal at the zoo get some special privileges at the zoo and get to do some behind the scenes things that you don't normally get to do. (Thanks, Terri!)

We were able to go behind the scenes at the aquarium and got to see their choral reef project and then they took us to the other end of the building and we got to see the holding tank for the nurse shark and got to see the upper level of the aquarium when the fish are fed and the divers get in and out. This is a picture of the top of the huge aquarium that we normally stand and look at. There were fish, sharks and rays swimming beneath us while we were on the tour.




We got to enjoy a free ride on the carousel. I have a cute video to upload another day, but here's a sneak peak!



The kangaroo walkabout was open later than normal too so we were able to walk through that and see some kangaroos up close and personal. By this time, Tom and Emily were feeling a little wiped out and weren't too highly impressed that they were that close to the kangaroos.


We also got to walk inside the koala habitat with the koalas. It felt like we were on exhibit because there were people on the other side of the glass looking at us. We weren't allowed to touch them or take pictures of them but they sure were soft and cuddly looking!

We shared a $900 bowl of Dip'n Dots. (Okay, it wasn't really that expensive but they sure seem like it.) This was Em's first taste. She wasn't too impressed with her first spoonful but once we explained what it was and she got past the idea of eating little frozen balls she became a big fan.

There were a lot of other things to do that night too. Baby Beco (the new baby elephant) was on display. We could have met with the gorilla and tiger keepers and toured behind the scenes in their facilities. The boat and train rides were also free. There were inflatable games/rides there for family night, etc., etc.

Thanks for inviting us Terri! Our family had a great time! We loved the short lines and all the extra things we don't normally get to do at the zoo!