Monday, August 30

We've decided that Lily is not an outdoor girl. Not one smile to be seen.

"Grandma? Can we go back into the air conditioning?

Luke, on the other hand, loves everything, inside or out!

Luke's swimmies.

The kids have been at our place since Saturday and we have been having a blast. Since it has been in the 90's we have been swimming to keep cool. Sunday morning Luke said he would go to church with me. I don't think he had any idea what church would be like but he was exceptionally well behaved and made it through the entire service. He did announce, rather loudly, about half way through the service that he was ready to go home. I did convince him to stay with a bag of iced animal cookies, nerds and an air head. Today, Luke and I went to the library. He had never been to a library so it was totally new to him. The idea of getting something that he had to return was a little foreign to him. An hour and a half later we left with 5 books and 6 videos. He wanted the movie "Big Mama" but they didn't have it so we settled for "Beauty and the Beast" among others.

Mr. B has been taking care of the neighbor's dogs and has been kept quite busy walking 3 times a day to let them out and feed them. He also helps some when Trish's horses are here. We are looking forward to going to Lexington, Ky for the finals of the Sweepstakes. The track, The Red Mile, is downtown right next to Rupp Arena. I don't think we have ever been downtown so it should be fun.

Thursday, August 26

Chuck E. Cheese in Springfield. The boys liked the carpet that had a picture of Chuck E.

Playing video games with their friend Chuck.

The boys were pretty excited to see the "real" Chuck E. Cheese!

Asher was really into his game of air hockey, so was his coach!

Riding in the Monster Truck.

We certainly are enjoying the recent weather with it's lower humidity. Schools are back in session and it is a perfect time to visit those destinations that are way too busy during the summer months. Today we visited Chuck E. Cheese. My sister in law and I took Luke and Asher and we all had a wonderful time. It was Asher's first visit and he had a blast! There were a total of 4 kids there while we were there. When Chuck E Cheese came out Luke and Asher had their own personal playmate, leading him around and playing games with him. It was really cute to watch.

Trish is racing in Lexington again tonight. I hope her 3 year old races better tonight than her 2 year old did on Monday.

Tuesday, August 24

Trish's 2 year old pacer raced last night at the Red Mile in Lexington, Ky. He came in 7th place, a little disappointing, but he still has a shot if he races well enough to place in the top 3 in the next two races. Thursday, Trish heads back down to race the 3 year old.

This afternoon, Trish and I took Luke over to Zoombezi Bay. Each year I get tickets for volunteering at the zoo and this year I finally had the opportunity to use them. It was a little cool but the sun did peak through the second hour we were there.

Sunday, August 22

One of the two horses that came out to race at the Red Mile

Luke posing at the back of the caboose.

Luke was fascinated with the infantry doing their drills. I think he liked their guns!

Luke in school. I didn't see a dunce cap any where. That would be good for Luke

Luke really liked all of the uniforms in the museum. We had to go around twice to see them.

Trish came in on Thursday with the horse trailer and 2 horses that will be racing in a Sweepstakes in Lexington, Kentucky at the Red Mile. The grandkids arrived late Friday night with Chad's parents. Kudos to them making the 9 hour trip with a 2 1/2 year old and a 3 month old. It has been non stop enjoyment having them here and knowing they will be here for 3 weeks. I've been entrusted with the kids while Trish makes the 40 minute trip to Urbana to jog the horses each morning. Tomorrow will be first race. Trish will be driving her horse to Lexington and unfortunately her horse is in the next to last race, so it will be late when she gets back home. Wednesday, she will take the other horse down to race. To qualify for the September 12th finals they need to place in the top 10 finishers.

Luke and I have been busy collecting buckeyes to make necklaces, swimming, taking tractor rides and watching movies. Today we went to the Jonathan Alder Day at the London Historical Society. Luke really enjoyed himself and he was especially drawn to the military exhibit inside the museum and the regiment of Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The weather was really nice and it was a great experience, Luke enjoyed himself so much that he really didn't want to leave. The historical museum in London is something that more people should explore. It truly is extraordinary!

Sunday, August 15

Luke and Grandma on a slide at the zoo, July 5, it was hot that day also. And Grandma's legs are too long and stiff to work very good on this slide!

Luke's first kayak trip on our annual 4th of July Float. Glad Trish got this picture. I don't have many pictures of the two of us together.

Daniel and Lily, Logan, Grandma and Luke and out of the picture already were Adam who took Asher with him. Think we will have to revive this tradition next year. The kids loved it!

Luke in Lily's crib and Lily is loving it!

Pop Pop giving Lily a bottle on the 4th of July at our picnic.

Sitting here watching the thunder clouds build as it gets darker and the thunder moves closer. I worked at the zoo this morning and it was stifling hot with not a hint of a breeze anywhere. I felt badly for the visitors because it was so hot it had to be difficult to fully enjoy the zoo. However, for the most part they all looked happy to be there and listened as I talked with them about the enrichment items we use with the bears and the diet that we provide for the brown bears each day. Did you know that we feed each brown bear 20 pounds of food each day that includes fish, raw meat, omnivore diet (looks like large dog food kibbles) and fruits and vegetables?

I visited with my sister over the phone on my drive home and just finished looking at some pictures that Trish posted on Face Book. Now I need to start thinking about what to fix for supper. Life is Good!! But still hot!

Friday, August 13

Anana, relaxing on her rock. (Polar Bear)

Brutus and Buckeye playing in their pool. (Alaskan Brown Bears)

Bubba, our North American Black Bear. There are 8 bear species around the world. The Columbus Zoo have 4 species. The Sun Bear is the smallest of all the species.

Just for fun, I went back in my blog one year ago, only to see that we were leaving Hawaii to come home on this day last year. Mr. B was still struggling with endurance and had not yet decided if he would substitute in the classroom or coach. He was still taking anti-seizure medication along with others to treat his brain injury. We've come a long way since then and continue to show improvement even though there are periods of time that it seems nothing is getting better. But it only takes a quick glimpse back to see how truly far we've come. I suppose we will need to get out and mow again this weekend although with these temperatures we may need to take a few extra breaks to get it done.

This weekend is Bear Awareness and Teddy Bear Safari at the zoo so it should be busy. There will be informational and activity tables set up at the bear exhibits with lots to learn and do. I will be working one of the tables on Sunday morning so I'm hoping it doesn't get too hot before I finish at 1. Have a great weekend everyone!!

Tuesday, August 10

The girls favorite barrel was the yellow one, so they decided to share it!! They each have half.

Ananna on top of the J-glass.

Brutus and Buckeye cooling off in their pool.

Today was my zoo day. Somehow I overslept about 20 minutes, I was dreaming I was driving an electric car and I must have had the radio on so the music from my alarm didn't wake me. However, I still got up to the zoo at 7 to prepare the bird diets and from 9-12 I helped to inventory the birds in the aviary. I located and identified about 40 of the 70 birds before the heat and humidity became unbearable.

Our docent picnic was very enjoyable in spite of the extreme heat. The bears put on quite a show and Mr. B really enjoyed his first visit to Polar Frontier. My penguin snacks were quite the hit.

Monday, August 8

We had a great week end visiting with family at the Wilson reunion in Commercial Point. We took Mom and Dad and they seemed to enjoy seeing all of their nieces and nephews. The food was awesome and we were all so stuffed that we could have rolled home.

Today we attended the Madison County Retired Teachers Luncheon held at the Senior Center in London. The guest entertainment was General Wm. T Sherman. Well not really, it was really Frank Bullock dressed as Gen. Sherman, but he was excellent. The money he makes supports the Sherman Museum in Lancaster, Ohio which is where Sherman grew up. I really learned a lot in the short 20 minutes that he talked to our group. His presentation made me feel like I had just spent time visiting with the real Sherman.

This afternoon I spent time in the kitchen making an appetizer for tomorrow's Docent Picnic. Sara found the recipe, or directions for assembling these cute little penguins. I don't even like black olives but I was looking for something with an animal theme. They turned out pretty good. Now I'm going to make some deviled eggs to go along with them. This is the one event when docents can take a guest with them, so Mr. B is going and we are going behind the scenes at the polar and brown bears. Hope it cools down a little before tomorrow evening. I'll try to get some good pictures to post.

Friday, August 6

My Dad's brother, Walter Wilson w/his wife Ruth and my cousins Tom & Jim.

Dad, his goat, Uncle Walter and Uncle Richard building the new barn on the old "homestead".

The old barn that was replaced by the one above.

Spent all week getting caught up from being away. Finally got the yard mowed yesterday and I think we are going to have to rake parts of it. We also got the camper unpacked and took it up to the new Tom Raper RV store on 42 to have it serviced. Tomorrow we are going to a Wilson family reunion which should be fun visiting with cousins. None of my aunts or uncles are still living, Dad is the youngest and only living Wilson from his family. I still remember our reunions at Pike Lake and my Grandma Wilson's home-made noodles and corn custard. Seems so long ago. I guess it was a long time ago!!!

Wednesday, August 4

I love Lily's expression here. It looks like one of those pictures where you add a caption, like, "That crazy boy is my brother? Not possible!"

Lily and mommy, well rested after Luke spent 3 nights camping with Grandma and Pop Pop.

Mommy went to the store and Grandma went crazy taking pictures!

We arrived back home Monday night at 9:30 pm. Should have been earlier but we had a little trouble finding diesel in Cumberland, Md. and we sat for 40 minutes on I-70 about 5 miles from our house. I went to the zoo on Tuesday, worked 7-noon, had lunch with a friend came home and unpacked and went back to the zoo from 7-9 for the North America Region meeting. Needless to say, this morning I slept in until 9. We've been trying to get our yard mowed but the rains are not cooperating. I sure do miss my little play mate but I hear that he is doing great with his potty training. Keep up the good work, Luke!

Sunday, August 1

Luke was pretty interested in all the birthday parties that were going on today.

Luke riding with Barney.

Lily is all smiles when we get back.

Lily posing with Minnie Mouse.

What a beautiful day, the weather has cooled and has been in the 70's with low humidity. Today is our last full day before heading back to Ohio in the morning. Luke and I spent the whole day hanging out together. First we went to Chuck E. Cheese where we had lunch and played all the games for about 3 hours. We came home to take a nap and after supper we headed out to Toys R Us to get Luke a toy. (as if he doesn't have enough already!!) Before we went home we had to stop at Cold Stone for some ice cream. Luke chose cotton candy ice cream with sprinkles and marshmallows. We spent the rest of the evening playing with his playmobil castle. I gave Lily her night bottle and rocked the both of us to sleep. I just put her to bed and decided to post a few pictures. Praying our trip home is as easy as it was coming out to Delaware.