Another Action Packed Weekend

Last weekend we again ran about helter skelter.

On Friday night we went to Parky's Farm for the Halloween Nights event. It was a perfect Fall evening - started out warm and became just a little chilly. We went on a hay ride (the first one where it was actually dark); saw a Mad Cap puppet show; roasted marshmellows; and saw a magic show. All of us had a really good time. This year was the easiest of the 3 years we've gone as both kids are old enough for us to stay once it gets dard and they know to stay with us.

Saturday started with the kids going to their art classes - Carter goes to visual arts (things you make with your hands) and Athena to music. After that it was off to soccer.

Athena has really come a long way in soccer with the help of our new coach, Coach Susan. Susan has been such an incredible influence on Athena. Athena wants to continue to play soccer and wants to play defense. She says she prefers it and is better at it. It's not so choatic and aggressive. We're going to sign her up for the Spring session and hope that Susan is still coaching.

Next we went to the Halloween event at the Zoo. Both kids had such a great time. Luckily it was warm. We got to see a few animals and the kids got candy. Happy day all around. We ended the day by eating pizza at home and then the kids road their scooters (a nightly event).

Sunday, after church, we headed out to Shaw Farm and Rouster's Apple Farm. It was a fun day, but we missed Uncle Glenn. This was the 1st year that he didn't come with us. Shaw Farm was an absolute crazy place. Patrick and I thought it would be this way as it was such a beautiful warm day. We went on the hay ride and ate popcorn, but it was just too busy to really get to play with the different Halloween things. We headed out to Rouster's and had cider popcicles and bought apples, blueberries and apple cider - YUM! We stopped at the Miami Twp park (the one with the lake) and took a walk. The kids road their scooters.

All of us were tired on Sunday night but sated. We had a really lovely weekend together.

Out of order - Back on track

Ugh - I just realized that my last two posts went to the wrong blog. Oops!

Fall has arrived to Cincinnati. It's now in the 60's and not as sunny or lovely.

Last Friday was the BAE Halloween Festival. The kids had an absolute blast. Here's a photo of them in their costumes that I made.

They also entered a cake decorating contest. The contest was by Grade, so both of our entries went in as 1st Grade under Athena's name. Neither of them won - the winners had help. Athena and Carter decorated their cakes all on their own. I think they look fantastic!!!

Here's Athena's:

And here's Carter's:

Corn Festival

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Corn Festival 2008
The festival this year was absolutely perfect. The weather was upper 70s or low 80s and bright gorgeous sunshine all day with a breeze. We started the day by going to Athena's first soccer game on her Fall team - the Sweet 16's. She did great! Kicked a few balls and actually ran with the other girls - woo hoo!We headed up to Wilmington after the game and had an absolute blast. We watched them saw logs, ate maple cotton candy and popcorn. We looked at old steam tractors and a really big old diesel tractor from 1919. The man with the big steam tractor let Carter and Athena toot the horns. It was super neat and sounded like a train.We saw them threshing wheat and Patrick was in the pie eating contest, of course. This year he chose an apple pie and of the three men participating, he came in second and one $3 to spend on food at the festival. Me and kids took it over to the homemade ice cream booth straight away and ate ice cream - YUM!We also did some square dancing. Athena really wanted to learn, but was tired. I was asked to square dance by one of the group and had a really great time.

Hurricane Ike

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Hurrican Ike
Yes, we had a hurricane hit us in Cincinnati. It was a Level 1 hurricane and blasted through here on Sunday, September 14th. It started as a really pretty mild day with lots of sunshine. Starting at about noon, it began to get a bit breezy. By 2pm it was really gusting outside and the havoc began. Our power went out at 2:26 pm and didn't come back until until about 8:50 pm on Monday night.The damage in all of Cincinnati was fairly extensive. We were lucky and only had a few loose shingles and some branches in our yard. As we don't really have any trees around our house, we all went outside to watch the wind. We made the kids wear sunglasses to protect their eyes. It was a bit scary so we all headed back inside. Patrick walked by himself to Hunt Road and said it was super scary there with all of the trees and he ran back home to safety.Athena was out of school on both Monday and Tuesday. Carter's school didn't get power back until Monday afternoon on September 22nd. He thought that he wouldn't have to go school anymore.Here's excerpts from the local newspaper:A massive blackout kept Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky in a stranglehold Monday, closing schools and sparking long lines for gasoline, ice and rations.Trees continued to topple over on Monday, forcing many to lose power again. That kept firefighters on the move and dimmed any chance to save food in the freezer for the 78 percent of the 800,000 Duke Energy customers who were still in the dark Monday night.Since Sunday’s storm, more than one million customers have gone without power at some point, according to Duke Energy’s Web site this morning.More than 525,000 remain without power this morning – mostly in Hamilton County, where 270, 232 customers are in the dark. Also without power: 90,109 customers in Butler County, 50,775 in Clermont County and 40,823 in Warren County.In Northern Kentucky, more than 63,000 people are still without power in Boone, Campbell and Kenton counties.It could be next Sunday when all the power - lost when fierce winds swept through the area last Sunday - is restored, Duke officials said.The unexpected day off from school and work Monday will turn into second day off today for many. Cincinnati Public Schools officials said more than half of their schools are without food and a third of them were damaged. Lakota schools also closed, as did many others.