Rides at the Union County Fair

Last night we took our annual trip with the Smiths to the Union County Fair. We had already been there Monday night for Maria's awards, but didn't look around much since we knew we were going with the Smiths later in the week. It was pretty rainy all day, but cleared up by late afternoon and was a beautiful evening.

Here are some random events from our evening:

Maria and Sam rode the Ferris Wheel for the first time and loved it. Ben rode with Sam, twice, while Maria went with Andy and Mason.

Maria got by (unknowingly) riding the Dragon Wagon even though she was too tall (picture of all four kids above). But when she tried later in the evening, she got taken off the ride. She was pretty embarrassed and upset, but soon was fine riding the (music-less) Musik Express.

The Musik Express is the ride I almost got sick on last year - this year, Mason and Maria were both tall enough but not Sam, so I rode it once with him and did OK. I still didn't feel quite right until this morning though. The kids loved it - Sam screamed the entire time - my throat hurts just thinking about it.

We bleed money at the fair. The wristbands for the rides, then the things like the Funhouse, which is $2 extra per kid, plus all the good food. Good thing it's only once a year!

Maria and I got frozen chocolate covered bananas. We complimented her on trying new things, but she didn't like hers, so I ate two. But they're bananas, so they're nutritious, so it's fine.

As usual, we ran into lots of people and kids we know, but only stopped and talked to ones we like, for the most part.

Thanks to Ben for the great pictures!

That's all I can remember right now. Needless to say, it was a great time, but a little sad as it means the school year is creeping closer and closer.

Outstanding!

Maria was awarded an "Outstanding" award for her Photography project at the fair tonight. Outstanding is the highest you can get, and three people with Outstanding projects are chosen to go to the State Fair. Maria is not going on, but as you can tell from the picture, the ones who are going to State are much older. There were about 30 people who took Photography projects, so she did well and we are proud of her!

Why Why Why?

Sam has been going through a "Why?" stage. Yes, we've been through them before, with both kids, but Ben and I agree that this is by far the worse one. Maybe it's just that we have blocked some of the others from our memory, but I don't think so. This time it's so difficult because the questions are more complex, and as usual, one answer leads to another question, and so on. I also think that many of the questions are brought on by Sam being exposed to movies, games, and books that are slightly above his understanding level since he is the youngest in the family.

The constant questions have been driving us crazy for weeks, but seem to have hit a new level of craziness with his recent obsession with Ghostbusters. He's watched both Ghostbusters 1 and 2 a couple of times each, and every time he asks more and more questions. But it's a movie, based on fantasy, and so the answers are not always complete or definite.

Here are some examples:
Why is did they change into dogs? (Answer: the ghosts did that.)
Why is the slime bad? (Because bad ghosts put it there.)
Why do they keep ghosts in the machine? (So they can't get out)
Why don't they want the ghosts to get out? (Because they might be mean.)
Why are they mean?
And ON and ON and ON.

And I'm ignoring all the questions about what ghosts are, which was a long and involved discussion, after which I'm pretty certain everyone ended up more confused then when the conversation started.

And he gets obsessed with the tiny details that don't make any difference to the plot. There is a joke in Ghostbusters about "But they don't even allow pets in the building." And Sam wants to know why. And he's not satisfied until you've covered apartment living, renters vs. owners, etc. And then, since he's still kind of confused, he'll ask about it again the next time he sees the movie, or even if it just happens to enter his mind while he's playing.

All of my examples are from Ghostbusters, since these questions are the most difficult to answer, but these questions are constant all the time - in the car, riding bikes, reading books. And after spending all day every day together, it can get to be exhausting. I know he's learning and trying to figure things out, so we try to be patient and answer every question, but it is getting old.

Maria's Fair Project

This year Maria decided to do a Photography and Nutrition project for 4-H. Last year she sewed, and while that went well, the sewing project she wanted to do (Tops for Tweens), she was not old enough for - you have to be at least 11 years old. The only possible sewing project for her age was making a jumper (honestly, isn't it time they retire the old jumper and tote - that's what I made in my 2nd year of 4-H!).

So she chose photography and nutrition. Ben has taken a photography class in college, so we knew he could help her, and the nutrition project was mostly cooking already made up recipes. She's had the project books since April.

But that doesn't mean that my procrastinating daughter even started on the project until school was out. In fact, I'm not sure she really looked at the books until then. She did take several pictures during one weekend in June, but then did nothing with them. And I really struggle between letting her to do things at her pace or forcing her do them early, so they're done and I don't have to think about them anymore. She decided mid-June that she should only take the Photography project to the fair. Thank goodness.

So we were really busy in June and the project was really not mine to help with, but Ben's, who is also quite the procrastinator. So I tried to keep my panic about this project never getting done to helpful suggestions, which they both pretty much ignored. Finally I realized she was going to complete the entire project the week before the fair, and I should just get used to it.

It has been one heck of a week. The project is very involved - there is really a lot to it. And while Maria does quality work, she is pretty slow. OK, make that excruciatingly slow. And easily distracted. Tuesday morning she and I set a goal for each day, and while it gave her some focus, I don't know how much it motivated her. She worked for many hours each day - and Ben did too. And some of it was not her fault - the questions on these journal pages were repetitive and in some cases, pretty stupid. Like they (whoever writes the book) had to fill the space with any possible question they could think of. And Maria, wanting to do quality work, debated about each and every answer to each and every question.

By Wednesday night she told me she was sewing again next year. And I don't think she's the only one beat down by the size of this project - she was about 10th (out of 30) to be judged this morning and Ben said at least half of those never signed in, which means they aren't going to be judged - probably never finished the project. There are 30 people taking Photography Level I this year, and only 4 taking Photography Level II. That's a lot of people who don't continue.

But the project was finally finished at 9:40 last night. Her judging was at 9:50 this morning. And she did really well. She is so very poised and professional during the interview, and tends to make a really good impression on adults. Her score sheet is shown above. We won't know if she'll win any award until Monday evening, but she received an "A" on her project and a blue ribbon. And the best part? It's done!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

That's right - the Keller house is submerged in Ghostbusters mania.

It started when we got Ben the Ghostbusters Wii game for his birthday. A few weeks ago he had mentioned to me that it got good reviews, and after doing my own research I found that it might be a pretty good gift for him. You're supposed to be able to get through the entire game in 12 hours of playing - which is perfect for him since he hardly ever gets to play. And it's not too violent, which means he can play when the kids are around and they can play too.

So of course Sam was into the game immediately. And by Monday he was researching all things Ghostbusters on the internet. He asked me about a picture he found, and I told him it was an actor from the Ghostbusters movie. "There's a Ghostbusters movie?" So then I explained the movie, and how all these games are based on that, and then we realized that the movie is rated PG and the kids might like it.

In the meantime, Sam got to pick out a new Nintendo game today as a reward for helping Maria by posing for so many pictures for her 4-H project. Being her model was tedious, and he got tired of it, so I had to bribe him. Not something I'm proud of, and not something I do very often, but this project has to be done by Saturday morning and she has so much to do - she really needed a willing subject, and she didn't want me. So this afternoon I took Sam to pick out his game and guess what he picked? Ghostbusters game for DS.

Then we found the original movie double pack - Ghostbusters 1 and 2 - on sale at Best Buy for $9.99, so we bought it. And are having a popcorn movie night right now.

It's fun to get the kids interested in movies that we liked as kids - first The Princess Bride, and now Ghostbusters. Although it does make us feel old - Ghostbusters came out 25 years ago!

Ben's Family Birthday

Sunday we had a small celebration for Ben's actual birthday. Maria and I baked a cake Sunday afternoon, and then all the kids (Maria, Sam, Mason and Lindsey) helped decorate it. Maria and I had planned earlier in the week to print out Ben's Nike plus running guy icon from his screen saver and to make a running theme for his cake. But we were able to include everyone by adding flowers to the side of the road on the cake.

So we went out to dinner at Boston's, then came back to give Ben his gift (Ghostbusters Wii game - his big gift was a new Blackberry that he bought himself a week ago). Then the Smiths came over to help us sing "Happy Birthday" and eat some cake.

A pretty quiet celebration compared to Saturday, but still special. Too bad Ben had to go back to work yesterday, and between that and helping Maria finish her 4-H photography project he hasn't had much time to play his new game.

Ben's 24th Annual Birthday BBQ Bash

Another summer, another birthday bash. This one was the 24th, although I have only been around for about 19 of them. Our plan this year - more outdoor seating, and less people in the house. So we borrowed some tables and chairs from Fairbanks High School, and set up all the food and drinks in the garage. And it did work to keep people outside, but some kids still wanted to play inside with toys in the basement. Still there was less mess in the house. The weather was not as nice as usual, but only sprinkled a few times and finally made it to about 70 degrees by the middle of the afternoon. The kids still used the Slip-n-Slide for a little while, but right then it got cloudy and windy, so it didn't last long.

We appreciate all the help we get each year as well. The Hummel's got the keg for us, everyone brings a dish of some sort (Annette brings about 5, which are all so tasty!), and Rita and Lisa S. are invaluable in the kitchen. Lisa and Andy did so much it was almost like they were co-hosts. Andy helped Ben with tables and chairs on Friday, Lisa made good food, helped clean up the entire meal, and went on a beer run. Lots of others helped as well - so thanks to everyone. Then Lisa and Andy decided they would have a sleepover at their house for the older kids - so Maria, Sam and Ryan Hummel spent the night with Mason in their basement. Erin Hummel was invited but didn't go, and all the other children (Dan and Rachel Stuller, and the Stauffer triplets) were 4 years or younger so they stayed with their parents in their tents. But that meant that there were no kids at the fire after about 10:30, and I didn't have to put anyone to bed, which was really nice. Big thank you to Andy and Lisa!

We had three tents in our backyard - only Ben and I slept in the house. This morning everyone left by about 10:00 and then we spent the rest of the morning cleaning up. A ton of work, but so worth it. We are so blessed to have so many friends that come back every year. Jeff still gets the award for most consecutive years in a row, and this year the traveler award goes to Ben Bradstreet, who lives in Arizona. All together, 68 people were here (6 left before the group photo).

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Yesterday we took the kids to see the new Harry Potter movie in the theatre. It's the first time they've seen a Harry Potter movie in the theatre before - two years ago they were younger and we were afraid it would be too scary. But Maria has read all the books, and Sam has watched the other movies on DVD. So we thought they would be OK, as long as Sam could sit for 2 and a half hours. And they really wanted to see it.

And it went well. There are some complaints about differences with the book, but we can't remember every single detail like some fans and so weren't very bothered by that. Sam got a little bored when there was a long time between action scenes, but overall did fine. Maria covered her eyes during the scary parts - Sam didn't mind the scary parts at all. Sam is having trouble putting parts of the story together - he's not ready for the books yet and has watched the movies out of order, so the main story line escapes him. But mostly I could satisfy him with fairly simple answers to his questions. And Ben got to see how Part 6 ends - a book he has never been able to finish. Maria and I are urging him to read Book 7 now - since he knows where the story line will be picking up.

I just love the Harry Potter series, and think it's a great way to keep kids interested in reading. I plan to encourage Sam to read the books when he is ready - another year or two. And I love that the main characters are good role models as well - for both boys and girls.

Sam's New Bike

When we were in Kiawah Island, Sam rode a bigger bike than his bike at home. So then when we got home his Spiderman bike seemed so little in comparison, and we knew he could handle a bigger bike. Friday he got his bigger bike (an early birthday present) and he loves it. He even checked with me if the garage door was closed yesterday when it was raining because he didn't want his new bike to get wet.

So we've been going on more bike rides, but the kids are constantly competing about who is in front. The end up going way too fast, and then get so close to each other that we are afraid they will run into each other. So tonight we had then take turns being in front, but they still set the pace way too fast, and jockeyed for position. And Sam slipped on the gravel pulling into the driveway, and has a few scrapes (elbow and knee) and bruises. Luckily the new bike is not scratched too much. And Ben and I were so frustrated about the frenetic pace of the entire ride. So when everyone has calmed down a bit, we are going to have to set some serious rules about bike riding. Tonight was not fun at all.

But back to Sam's new bike - it's orange and has flames painted on it - Sam picked it out himeself and he loves it!

Clippers Game

Wednesday night we took the kids to see a Columbus Clippers game. Although they've seen the Dayton Dragons a few times, this was their first experience with minor league baseball in Columbus, mainly because the stadium used to be in a crummy part of town. But now they have a new ballpark, so we decided it was time to go.

We had a pretty good time, with a few minor glitches. Like a crying fit about Sam wanting cotton candy the entire walk to the car, even though he had chosen a snack - soft pretzel - earlier in the game. And then their was the caught ball mess. Long story short - between innings the ball boys would throw a few balls into the crowd. We never caught any, but shortly after this an older man a few rows in front of us handed a ball to Maria. She thanked him - we really thought he had caught it and then gave it to the nearest kid. But later in the game the people behind us were looking for a ball that had rolled out of their kid's purse. I told them that an older gentleman had caught that ball and gave it to Maria. But upon further thought later, I wondered if maybe the ball had rolled out of her purse, fallen down a few rows, and the older gentleman thought that we had dropped it. But we didn't know, and so I didn't investigate any more about it. So the ball makes us feel a little guilty now, but the kids share it.

And the Clippers won - which apparently does not happen that often.

Maria's First Par!

Yesterday Maria played golf with the UCJGAT again, this time at Buck Ridge. She had another good round - the course was fairly tough. Results are below - notice she was the lowest score for her age group. She also got her first par ever - on a 123 yard par 3, where she sank a 12 foot putt. This program has been really good for her this year, even though she has had to miss both of the clinics because of our vacations. Luckily, she already knows how to play and Ben is a great teacher as well. next week is the last week - she plays on Tuesday and Thursday again, then it's done for the summer.

Academy Girls 10-under
Maria Keller 58
Emily Wilson 59
Shelby Hoge 61
Galyn Mason 67
Emily York 68
Elisabeth Meuller 82

RIP Katie the Fish

This morning we realized we had not seen Katie the fish in a few days - she was good when we got back from vacation, but we hadn't really looked in the aquarium since. So when we couldn't see her, I fed her, which always brings her to the top of the tank. Except today. Ben found her dead floating in Squidward's house, where a lot of our fish have chosen to end their life. The kids were very matter of fact about it. She's been with is since Thanksgiving, which is a record in this house, and I think everyone assumed she'd be dead before long. The kids have really learned not to become attached to the fish around here since they are always dying.

Ben and I had been waiting out Katie for months - we want to start over with the fish tank since we never got rid of the green water problems not matter what we tried - and we researched, asked people in pet stores, and spent some money. Nothing worked. Frustrating that this pet thing was for the kids, and several months in they have none of the responsibilities and none of us take pleasure in looking at the tank since it was always so cloudy. The kids won't even feed the fish because the food "smells gross."

So now we're thinking maybe we won't get more fish at all, at least for a while. Maria has mentioned wanting a turtle, or something that they can at least see in the tank. So we'll do some research and decide. Seems like we don't have a lot of options.

Kids' Sports Updates

Yesterday was Maria's 3rd outing with the Union County Junior Golf League. She had another decent score (57), but was disappointed that she hadn't broken her record of a 56. She played at a course she had never played before. Ben was the adult chaperone for her group, and again had issues getting along with the parents from other groups that don't know or enforce proper golf etiquette, which is most of the reason the parents are supposed to go. But he tried to be nice about asking the other adults to stop talking while the girls were teeing off, and breaking other rules as well. It does cause Ben frustration and makes the experience not very pleasant for him, however. Below are the scores for the girls in her age group.

(Academy Girls 10-under)
Emily Parish 51
Maria Keller 57
Emily Wilson 58
Galyn Mason 68
Emily York 77
Elisabeth Meuller 80

Sam played in a baseball tournament game last night. We got a phone call from a coach of a Fairbanks 8U team Monday night, stating that he needed a player for their tournament game on Tuesday night (one of their players broke his arm), and he had heard that Sam was a decent T-baller, would he be interested in playing? So Ben took Sam to West Jefferson for the game. The team that he played for has not won a game all season, and sure enough, they got run-ruled last night as well. But Sam had a decent night - he hit the ball both times he was up, got out at first base the first time and thrown out at second on the next hit. We were wondering how he would do since it is so different from T-ball, with strikes, outs, etc. But he did great and enjoyed himself, and is now looking forward to baseball next summer.

Biltmore House

Yesterday we toured the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. It was the kids first visit, but the rest of us have been there before - for Ben and I, our last visit was in July of 2002 when we were there for Doug and Andrea's wedding, and I was 7 months pregnant with Sam. I remember it being very hot.

Not the case this year. It was in the 60's and rainy, and Maria was the only one of the four of us who was prepared. We are never cold on our Kiawah trip, so we didn't pack another pants or sweatshirts. But Maria had bought a Kiawah sweatshirt, so she was set. And luckily while we were touring the house it warmed up considerably.

We got to the estate about an hour before our tour time, so we spent some time in the toy store where the kids spent their last of their allowance money.

We spent a little over an hour touring the house - we went at Sam's pace, so we didn't spend a huge amount of time in any one room. The kids enjoyed the basement the most - where the swimming pool was, and all of the servants quarters, kitchens, etc. When we left the house the rain had cleared up so we were able to tour the garden as well, although we really just did a quick walk-through.

After the tour we went to lunch at a very tasty buffet on the estate (guess who didn't eat anything?) and then stopped at the winery on the way out. Ben did some tasting but I was too full from lunch.

We got on the road to head back to Ohio about 2:30, and got home about 11:30. It was a fairly easy trip, and we are so glad to be home. It feels like we have been gone forever - June was a very busy month. Looking forward to not packing the suitcases for a few weeks. But it was a great trip, and the kids will have lots of good memories.

Kiawah Day 7

Independence Day celebrations were held today since Saturday is the 4th and that is usually a travelling day here. So the kids went to "Patriotic" Kiawah Kamp this morning, where they made red, white and blue hats, swam, and played "traditional" games like egg on a spoon relay and water balloon toss. After lunch we spent a couple of hours on the beach - Rita and Darrell came today too. Rita, the kids and I made a pretty decent sand castle, but by the time we left the tide coming in took care of it, which was also fun for the kids to play Godzilla and destroy it the rest of the way.

Then we came home, cleaned up, and headed to the bike parade. The resort provides the decorations for the bikes, and the parade is very informal and very big - almost everyone on the island is in it rather than watching it. Riding bikes so slowly and with so many obstacles proved to be a challenge for the all of us (except maybe Ben), but even though there were many close calls, there were no accidents. The parade ended at the Festival in the park, which was bigger than Wednesday's festival but still had many of the same attractions. Highlights: Maria made it to the top of the rock climbing wall, and also won the kids' watermelon eating contest. Sam was determined to win a hole-in-one contest, but never quite made it. But we had a fun train ride while Maria was eating watermelon.

Then we came home for about an hour, and Ben and I packed while the kids watched some T.V. and recharged. Around 8:45 we walked back over to the park for fireworks, and Maria found us an open space in the second row from the front. We were so close we could smell the fireworks. It was a great show, made even better by starting at 9:15 since the sun sets sooner on the east coast, and walking 5 minutes home instead of sitting in traffic forever was nice too.

Tomorrow we leave Kiawah and stop at Asheville, North Carolina, where we will tour Biltmore House on Sunday. Should take us around 5 hours tomorrow, hoping we don't get in as many traffic jams as we did on the way here.

The pictures are of the kids before the parade with their decorated bikes, Maria winning the watermelon eating contest, and both kids with "Betsy Ross"before the parade. Fireworks pictures will have to wait until we download from our camera, which probaby won't happen until we get home on Monday.

Kiawah Day 6

Today was a pretty relaxing day. This morning the kids didn't get up until 10:00, so we waited for everyone else to get back from golfing and then went to lunch. The kids decided they wanted to spend the afternoon at the pool and go to the beach after dinner tonight. So we spent a few hours at the pool - Rita came with us this time. Sam and I took a short detour so he could shop - again - he is determined to spend his money! He picked out a shark tooth necklace, but when the tooth broke after dinner Ben and he had to run back to the store and see if they would replace it with a new one, which they did. (Maria also decided that she wanted one too.)

This evening we drove up to the West Beach Market for a quick dinner, and then came back to swim in the ocean. But there were storms off the coast, and even though it wasn't raining here, the ocean looked pretty rough. So we stayed in a played a game of Aggravation.

Tomorrow the kids have camp in the morning, then in the late afternoon a bike parade and 4th of July Festival, followed by fireworks. We would also like to squeeze in a last visit to the ocean since we couldn't go tonight, and need to pack too, since we start to head home on Saturday morning.

Kiawah Day 5

This morning: Bike ride then stopped at grill at pool for lunch. The bike ride was more difficult than usual since there was a huge traffic jam on the main road and so the service vehicles all used the bike path, which meant the bikers had to stop and pull over for the trucks to go by. But it was still a good workout - 3 or 4 miles - which is a lot for the kids. Nice to have Ben with us in the morning since today was a break from golf.

Afternoon: Swam for two hours at the pool. Ben went on a run, then joined us at the pool. It was cooler again today - only a high of 92 or so. We shopped briefly, so that Sam could spend his allowance, but he didn't find anything so is saving his money, although he is grumpy about it. Then back to the park for Maria and I to do our craft - coloring beach bags (I let Sam help me with mine).

Evening: Sundown Festival at Night Heron park. The four of us went (Rita and Darrell's turn for dinner on their own) and it was fun. There was inflatables, laser tag, rock climbing, and more. The pictures above are from the rock climbing and train ride. After the festival we came back and walked on the beach until it was quite dark.

We keep thinking that all of this activity isn't really tiring the kids out, but we realized they are sleeping almost 12 hours a night - and we sometimes have to get them up in the morning if it gets to be 10:00 and we want to go do something.

Think everyone is getting a little tired of the beach - at least a far as the sand mess goes. I know I am, and the kids opted to do pool and shop today rather than the beach.

Funny story from today: Maria and I were waiting in line to make a bracelet at the festival, and the college girl (camp counselor) was helping another family and said, "Sorry. I'll be with you in a second. I'm just trying to figure out how to do this knot and if I can't get it in a minute I'm going to give up." Maria said, "I know how to do that knot." So Maria did it for the little girl in the family, and everyone was appreciative. Then the 2nd daughter needed hers done, so the counselor asked Maria to help again, and Maria said, "Why don't I just show you both," so she taught the little girl and the counselor. The counselor was so friendly and appreciative, so I didn't ask if we could have our bracelet for free, but it would have been nice!