Cincinnati

We had a very nice weekend in Cincinnati to visit Liz and Van in their new home. The house is lovely, but I seem to not have any photos of it. I have lots of pictures of cute kids, though! Here are Henry and Clara having their first Cracker Barrel experience on the way to Ohio.

 We got to spend a little time with Vivian Friday night when we first got in, and then she was ready to play the next morning when we all got up.

 Vivian was very interested in what these big kids were doing in her house.

 On Saturday, after breakfast, we went to a fun little pumpkin patch/amusement place. There was a corny (excuse the pun) puppet show. (Carrie- you can kind of see the ex-Showbiz puppets in the corner here!)

There were also some rides, the kids and Liz and I tried out this monkey one. Clara thought it was creepy and hilarious that we were inside the monkey. 

 We tried to get some pictures of the cousins together. It was a challenge to get them all looking in the same direction at the same time, but this one is pretty cute.

And here's a nice picture of our charming hosts.

After some disappointing football we went out for a fun dinner at Joe's Crab Shack.

 

It was a late night and we all tried to sleep in a little the next morning. Liz made sure I saw this sweet little sleeper before she awoke, though. It was a struggle not to pick her up and just snuggle her.

Sunday morning we had another first for Henry and Clara- their first breakfast at Big Boy!! I don't know if I've been to a Big Boy since I was a kid in California.

  
After breakfast we went to the Cincinnati zoo, which was really nice. 

 I'm not actually reaching out to rub this man's belly. I was petting the snake.

 We didn't get a picture of the naked mole rats, which were our favorite moment at the zoo, but these manatees were a close second. They were monching on some lettuce. It was mesmerizing.

 After a long afternoon at the zoo (and a long weekend of hosting her cousins!) Vivian was getting pretty worn out, so we said goodbye to them and then we made a couple more stops that Liz guided us to. We loved this guy in the night hunters house. The insect building was very cool too.

 

It just didn't feel right to leave Cincinnati without going to Graeter's, so we went a bit out of our way and stopped for some ice cream before we finally got on the road to head home. It was a long, late drive, but the ice cream helped.

Thanks to Liz, Van and Vivian for a fun weekend!

Leaf Monsters

Morning play at Vivian's house

Post-Nap Wordplay

Studious

My little guy is doing homework.

After

Fun Run

Henry's been asking if he could participate in this year's HOH run. Our district sponsors a 5k run/walk to raise money for a scholarship fund and it's named after a former superintendent (Homer O. Harvey). Henry wanted to do the kid's fun run because he knew he'd get a medal for it. I signed Clara up too, because I knew if Henry was doing it she would want to also. Here they are before the race. Everyone was #1.

 

There was a pre-race warm-up with Ronald McDonald. Clara wasn't too sure how she felt about that whole situation. Frankly, neither was I.

  
The beginning of the race was disorganized and chaotic. You can see Clara and Henry in their gray and pink. I think Clara was just trying to keep an eye on her brother. 

 Henry was actually very sweet. He wanted to run, and he did, but he kept checking back to see that Clara was okay...even though she was at the very end. Once he saw that some bigger girls- race volunteers- had taken Clara under their wing Henry took off.

 Here he comes! You can see Clara off in the distance.

 The boy does not know how to be cool for the camera.

 Here comes Clara, bringing up the rear with the race volunteers who somehow also got roped into pushing a double stroller?

 Here comes Henry across the line!

And here I am bringing Clara across the line. In my defense, I was wearing a big bulky sweatshirt under that fleece. (I know, I know...I need to be doing some running myself. (And now I sound like my dad. Hi Dad!))

 

Here are two proud kids with their medals!

 I was so proud of them for wanting to do this, and especially proud of Henry for the way he looked out for his sister instead of just worrying about how he did in the race. It was nice that they didn't do times for the fun run and that all of the kids got medals. He knew that going into it, so he was less competitive than he might have been.

Swinging

Just remembering about the whole mobile blogging thing.

Before

Sent from my iPhone

A Little Trouble At Star

He doesn't want to talk about it.

LOL!!!

Rob just sent me these photos with no commentary. I laughed out loud at the first one, even more at the second one, and the final one seems to wrap it all up.

Last Weekend in Madison

Last weekend we took a trip up to Madison with Mom and the kids. Pete and I were there to attend the wedding reception of my friend Chad (from high school).

 We were very pleased to see my friend Liz (from camp) and her husband Matthew (from dental school with Chad) also.

 It was our first time meeting the bride, Donna. She was lovely and very sweet.

 This is about the only photo I have of the bride and groom.

 Here's me and Chad later in the night...after a bit of drinking and dancing. Pete and I may or may not have done some karaoke as well.

 

While Pete and I were at the party the kids stayed at the hotel with Mom. They had fun swimming at the pool and getting pizza. The next day we bummed around the capitol. We had rolls and coffee at the farmer's market. 

 

Then we went inside the capitol building and took a tour.  It was actually really cool. We refrained from spitting on Walker's office door.

We walked down State street to the campus area and had lunch in the union, then sat by the lake for a while. Dinner that night was at a really good place called Graze- but there are no photos from that.

Sunday morning we had breakfast at Mickey's Dairy Bar and then went to the Madison children's museum. We spent 3 full hours there. It was awesome.

We all took part in the fun.

A favorite part of all of us was the trip to the roof. The elevator alone was cool.

But up on the roof they had a chicken coop! I can't remember this chicken's name right now, but she had come inside out of the rain. Clara loved her. She and Henry both gave her a lot of love. There were also turtles, snakes and mice. And there were people from the Crane Foundation teaching us about what they do.

By the end of our 3 hours we were a little tired, but could have stayed longer. That's kind of how we felt about the whole weekend I think.

 

We ended our time with a late lunch at Ella's, based upon multiple recommendations. It was also great fun. We might have to make it a regular stop on the way to and/or from Dad's place in Wisconsin. 

Iowa City Weekend

We had a weekend full of emotions in Iowa City. Friday night we met up with everyone at the Sanctuary for a little dinner. Here's Clara showing off her new purse. We (I) couldn't resist buying the matching one for Eleanor as well. The kids also got some Hawkeye necklaces from a vendor down the street from the restaurant.

 The next morning Henry and I went to the football game. Uncle Rob predicted that there would be little, if any, rain. It started as soon as Pete dropped us off and barely ever let up. I was joined for most of the first half by this friendly praying mantis. He sat on my head. I think he was too wet to fly anywhere. And where would he go? Henry and I decided to call him Marvin, after our favorite #7.

 I couldn't believe what a sport Henry was. He didn't complain once about the rain- even though I gave him every opportunity to cut out early. When we finally did go during the 3rd quarter I think we snuck out just before they called a rain delay due to lightning. But look at this face!!

 We had to hide out down below for a while once we left, because it was blowing and pouring pretty hard. Eventually we started walking and I was hoping we'd find a Cambus shuttle to get downtown. We didn't. But still, Henry didn't complain the entire walk to Java House. It may have helped that I promised him a hot chocolate when we got there. Pete showed up with several towels, per request. It was very nice to see him. We were wet all the way through. Look at my head.

 Sunday was a much sunnier day, if a little cool. Mom and I attended a memorial service for the son of her neighbor, someone I had been friends with in junior high and high school. It was an emotional occasion, but I was glad to have been there. (Frankly though, I would like the next memorial service I have to attend to be for someone significantly older than me.)
Later Sunday evening we went to the Hancher lawn to attend a farewell performance for the flood-damaged Hancher building. Again, it was a happy and sad event. The performers were Hubbard Street Dance, and they were fabulous. The kids really enjoyed it. There were even surprise fireworks accompanied by a song from Les Miserables, that somehow managed to feel just the right mix of corny and poignant.

 Here's a picture of the stage before it got dark out. Later we moved to have a better view. Obviously, Hancher has a lot of significance to Pete and I separately and together. We will be very sad when they start to tear it down.

The other sad note to our weekend was the passing of Oscar, Rob and Carrie's sweet dog. He had been ill for about a month, so it wasn't unexpected, but he was such a good boy. We will all miss him very much. As the world works, though, everything is life and death and life and death and life again. We loved having some time to hold little Penny and we got to spend some time with Amber and Jeff and their two little dears as well. We also are celebrating the birthdays this week of Anders (3!) and Vivian (1!) and Grandma Mary.

Pete and Penny

Uncle Pete gets to know Penny. They also both like the Hawks.