Thursday, September 30

I can't believe September is over. Where did the summer go? Even though I have to admit the cooler weather is a welcome relief from some of those sweltering 90+ degree days. I did a tour at the zoo on Tuesday for the 3rd graders from New Lexington Elementary. We had a great time in spite of the rain and one our highlights was seeing Coco our bull Asian elephant smash a 450 lb. pumpkin. We also had a real good look at our baby langurs. The babies are bright orange and we have a 2 week old and a 4 week old. They were so cute! We also have a new baby gorilla that was born Wednesday. They don't know yet whether the baby is a boy or girl, but mom Cassie is taking good care of the baby under the watchful eye of dad Anakka. It will be a little while before the family group will be put out for the public to see.

Today, Mr. B and I hauled some trees that my nephew cut down for us. There were 2 pines at the end of our pool that continually shed needles into the pool which were almost impossible to vacuum off the bottom. I hated to cut them down but it was just too hard to keep the pool clean. I spent the afternoon cleaning out the barn and moving mowers around getting ready for the winter. Next week we will have to get the camper winterized and backed into the garage. I'll let you know how that goes. I'm not too good at backing up but if I start early in the day I should be able to get it done before dark.

Tomorrow, another tour at the zoo. It should be fun. It is a tour of kindergarten students who will have an 8th grade buddy. I think it is a general tour so I will probably take them up into North America and see the polar and brown bears.

Thursday, September 23

The U.S.S. Port Royal, Matt's ship.

This is Matt when he was working on the U.S.S. Missouri.

Good News!! Our son in law is back in Honolulu after being deployed for 2 months. I know Sara is thrilled to have him back home. We are all so grateful for all the sacrifices that he and all the other troops and their families make everyday to assure us our freedoms. Welcome back, Matt!

Can't believe how hot it has been. Mr. B tried to mow our shaggy yard and said it is much too dry and dusty. He did get a lot of the leaves that had blown from the trees yesterday off the dead grass. We also fixed our water problem and as I suspected it was a faulty pressure switch. Yesterday, I rebuilt the kayak rack and got all the kayaks put back. This week end I plan to get the pool closed down and I think I might as well winterize our camper while the weather is nice. I really don't think we are going to be able to get away. Between doctors appointments and zoo tours our weeks are getting pretty booked.

Friday, September 17

Lily Marie @ 4 months (Sept. 2010)

Trisha Marie (Jan. 1978) Year of the Blizzard!

I found these photos and they were Trish at age 4 months.

Trish and our cat Dusty.

Trish with Grandpa Wilson.

Happy Birthday Trish! Dad and I are so proud of the wonderful young woman, wife and mother you have become. Thanks for everything and have a great day!!

Thursday, September 16

Trisha Marie, 8 lbs. 3 oz.

Lily Marie, 8 lbs. 3 oz.

Could this be a future Buckeye football player?

Big brother and little sister. Go Bucks.

Thirty three years ago Mr. B and I were at a West Jeff football game. Don't ask me who we played or if we won, all I remember is that at about 2 a.m. we headed for the hospital and Trish was born the next morning. We were putting new kitchen cabinets in and I remember that we still didn't have the crib put together. My dad and Mr. B had to spend all week end getting everything ready for us to come home. Happy birthday Trish!!

As I posted last week, for her birthday we took the kids to Sears to have their pictures taken. I picked the pictures up today and we actually got some pretty good photographs despite the chaos. It has been pretty quiet since everyone went back to Delaware but we have some wonderful memories to hold us until we see them again. For now, we have a lot to do to get ready for winter. Today's storm sure put a lot more leaves in the yard and pool. Guess it is time to start a new "to do" list!

Tuesday, September 14

Saying good-bye before catching the plane to Baltimore.

Grandma Great giving Lily her bottle.

A night at Flyer's. Luke, Asher holding Lily, Lillie and Olive. Sorry, 4 out of 5 looking at the camera is the best we can do!

This is what you get when you ask them to put their arms around each other.

Lily is not sure why we insist on putting her in a picture with this crew!

Luke, Lily and Trish left this morning for Dover, Delaware. We left a little early and stopped at the Madison House to say good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa Great. Grandma gave Lily her bottle and showed the kids off to everyone who would listen at the Madison House. We got to the airport about an hour before their flight. It was quite a chore getting everything checked in and getting through security. It was wonderful having them here for the last 3 weeks and I look forward to seeing them again. I think I'll take a long nap now.

Monday, September 13

The Halloween horse, complete with witches, spiders and black cats!

This was a crazy quilt horse, one of the first ones we saw!

Don't remember what this horse was called but Luke liked that he could pet his ears.

Do we look like tourists. Don't know how I was holding Luke but he looks like he has a balloon under his shirt?!

This was painted on the side walk and Luke wanted a picture. He also made me take a picture of a fire hydrant but I didn't post it. Aren't you lucky!

Had a great nights sleep at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Lexington. Woke up ready to see those pretty painted horses along the streets. Chad and Ed left with the horses this morning and hope to get to Delaware before 7 tonight. The rest of us had the breakfast buffet at the hotel and then Luke and I set off to explore outside. The Hyatt is right beside Rupp Arena and Mr. B tried to get in to take a look but he said it was all locked up. Everything was blue and white for the Kentucky Wildcats. There were a lot of blue paw prints on the floors and in the store windows but Luke thought they were Blue's Clues. We tried to find some stickers or tatoos but we didn't have much luck. We did enjoy seeing the horses outside. When we visited Chicago several years ago they had painted cows along the streets. One of our favorites today was the Halloween Horse. We got home today around 3 and enjoyed meeting with some family at Flyer's before everyone heads back to Delaware tomorrow. We will certainly miss having Trish and the kids here.

Sunday, September 12

The Red Mile in Lexington, Kentucky

Pop Pop and Luke waiting for Post Time!

A start of one of the races before ours. The track was beautiful but the shadows made it hard to take pictures.

Top center horse is Real Hero following his race. Trish is leading him off the track.

This was Real Hero as they were introducing the horses before his race.

This morning started as a pretty busy one as Trish, Chad and Luke were over early to pick up the horses. Only one of the horses qualified for the finals but they will be taking both horses down to Lexington and then Chad and his dad will be driving them back to Delaware after the race. We also packed a lot of luggage and toys in the horse trailer so Trish doesn't have much to take on the plane when they head back on Tuesday. It was a beautiful day to drive and it was only about a 3 hour trip for Mr. B and me in our car. We didn't have to leave quite as early as the horses. Trish had to get them down early to get her horse, Real Hero, checked in for this evening's race. We were able to have a wonderful dinner at Malone's Steak House before we headed over to the Red Mile. We arrived at the track right before post time for the first race at 6:30 and Real Hero wasn't racing until the 5th race. Peg and I found seats near the finish line with Lily and both Pop Pops walked to the barn with Luke. The 5th race went off at 7:50 with Real Hero in the 4th position. He raced a great race and came in third place. Of course 1st or 2nd would have been better but Trish and Chad were satisfied with the results. While the horses were being put to bed, Luke and I went swimming at the hotel pool. The water was pretty cold but we still had fun, even if our lips were blue. Tomorrow, we will check out the painted horses in the park in front of our hotel.

Saturday, September 11

I think I found some tracks, Grandma!!

A red cardinal flower. There were more this year than I have ever seen in the woods.

Luke holding two white butterflies on a leaf. He was pretty excited and it took quite a bit of convincing to get him to leave them where we found them.

Luke found a slimy rock, pretty interesting stuff to a 2 year old.

This is Luke's hat and powder horn he got at the Fair at New Boston. I call this picture, Minute Man in a Box.

Big game today. OSU vs Miami and Trish and Chad scored some tickets. Grandma and Pop Pop will be baby sitting for the afternoon. In the morning, Luke and I decided to go exploring down in the woods and had a great time finding feathers, pretty fall feathers and lots of butterflies. We played down by the creek and discovered some tracks, mostly deer and raccoon. Tomorrow, we head down to Lexington, Kentucky for the big race. Looking forward to watching Real Hero race at the Red Mile Track.

Thursday, September 9

Our little bundle of sunshine!

This is the smile we were looking for on Tuesday when we were getting pictures!

Today was a highly productive day. Since Luke and Lily are in Springfield today with Grandma Peg and Pop Pop Ed, I decided to try to get a lot of those jobs on my "to do" list checked off. I began my day by starting to get some laundry put away but soon migrated to the laundry room where I started a new load of laundry. I absolutely hate housework so I soon found myself outside feeding my adopted cats and our 2 remaining fish. While I was out there, I decided to try one last time to fix the slide on our camper. I hate the thought of paying someone $110 an hour for a 10 minute job. After an hour and several prayer requests I finally got the replacement bolt into the roll bar under the trailer. And it works! Yea, I saved $110! (if I were a mechanic at Tom Rapor's RV I would have made $330) Feeling pretty good about that I fired up the weed eater and headed down to the creek and started trimming some of the weeds along the edge and cutting down the poison ivy from around the trees. Next, I headed up to the roof of the house to patch a hole that I suspect is how the squirrels or chipmunks are getting into our attic. Mr. B cut a patch for me and I was able to screw it in under the shingles. Hopefully, I didn't trap any critters inside. After lunch I did another load of laundry and then headed out to shampoo the carpet inside the camper since the slide was still out. I treated the hot tub and the swimming pool getting them ready for the weekend. While I had dinner on the grill I fed the horse and carried the trash out and then called it a day! Tomorrow, if I get the electric fence down from around the garden, I will have most of my list caught up. I still have to work on cleaning the barn since my barn swallows have left for Central America or where ever they end up, but I may wait until next week to get that job finished. Tired but very satisfied!

Wednesday, September 8

Trying to keep the kids cornered until time for the photo shoot.

Lily before the crying began.

Luke at story time at the West Jeff Library. Today is "hat" day!

Marching to the "freeze" song. When the music stops...so do the marchers. In theory anyway.

Luke in the hot hot bathtub.

Yesterday, was quite a day. I thought that a nice birthday present for Trish would be to get pictures taken of Luke and Lily. I made an appointment at Sears and thankfully asked Grandma Peg to help out. Peg wanted to include Mylee, Luke's 22 month old cousin in some of the photos as well. She drug Ed along and believe me we needed all the help we could get. Our appointment was at 11 am and 90 minutes later we had made our final purchases while Ed tried to keep the kids occupied at the playground on the lower level at Tuttle Mall. I still think it was a good idea but I won't be getting any help from Grandma Peg or Pop Pop Ed any time soon.

Today we went to story time again at the library. It was hat day and there were about 15 little ones at the program. We all had a great time. After library story time we went to McDonald's for a kid's meal and then home for a swim in Grandma's "hot hot bathtub" as Luke calls it. I have the temp set low for the summer and it is a perfect size for little swimmers. Luke will be thrilled tomorrow because his daddy is coming in for the big race in Lexington on Sunday.

Monday, September 6

Visiting Grandma Great!

Grandma Great enjoying Lily's big smile.

Luke sitting on Sancho the long horn steer at the West Jeff Ox Roast.

Today is Labor Day and I celebrated by sleeping in since I didn't have the grandchildren. Once I was up I spent the morning doing the usual, feed the cats, inside and out, feed the birds, feed the fish and then up to feed Intrepid, Trish's horse. Laundry, vacuuming, dusting, cleaning the kitchen and fixing lunch took up the rest of the morning. The kids showed up around 3 and Trish took Luke down to the Ox Roast and I stayed home to watch Lily. This evening we went to the Madison House to see Grandma and Grandpa Great. Grandma enjoyed holding Lily and watching Luke play with his toys. I decided that for Trish's birthday present I would have the kids pictures taken. Tomorrow, we have an appointment at Sears and I hope everyone cooperates. Keep your fingers crossed!!

Sunday, September 5

Opening ceremonies at the Fair at New Boston

Walking into the time tunnel.

Luke in 1790's time out.

Buying a bird water whistle.

Kids! Don't do this at home!!
Luke checking out the beaver pelts.
Lunch was a ginormous, charred turkey leg.
Quite a treat meeting the rat catcher with his pet rat, Wilson.
Luke had to purchase some goober peas from the vendor.
It was definitely a hot chocolate morning this morning. Yesterday we had a great time in Springfield at the Fair at New Boston. Imagine yourself being wisked back in time to 1790's at the edge of the frontier in the Ohio Territory. The 15 star flag is being raised as the cannon fires to announce the entrance of General Clark and frontiersman Daniel Boone. The temporary camp has hundreds of canvas tents surrounding the fort. Tinsmiths, soapmakers, trappers and others all selling their fares at this rendezvous. The woodland indians are roaming through the encampment along with the other vendors and oxen pulled carts. Now imagine a 2 year old seeing all of this for the very first time. SENSORY OVERLOAD!!! Yes, Grandma Peg and I had quite a day with Luke. Tomorrow we will eat the oxen! Happy Labor Day!