Niagara Falls

Last week we took a short trip to see Niagara Falls with my parents.  We first went to Geneva, where the kids had their first experience eating at Eddie's Grill at Geneva on the Lake.  Sam's comment was that it was "pretty cool, since it kind of has no windows or doors."  Maria enjoyed the delicious cheeseburgers.

The next morning we headed to Niagara Falls with Mom and Dad.  We went to the Canadian side, and while we we there we experienced the Maid of the Mist and the Journey Behind the Falls.  We also saw the falls lit up at night and watched an IMAX movie about the falls.  There was also time for swimming at the hotel, shopping, and fine (or sometimes not so fine) dining.  The weather was perfect, warm but not hot, which was good since we walked to most of the attractions.  It was a fun little trip, and the perfect end to another wonderful but busy summer.

Another "Outstanding" at the Fair

This is Maria's fourth year in 4-H, and her third year competing with a clothing project (her second year she tried photography but then came back to clothing).  This year, Maria wanted to knit so she entered the "Tops for Tweens" category and knitted a tank top.  I helped her pick the design and yarn color, but then she was pretty much on her own, as I don't know much about knitting.  I did help with the "blocking" at the end of the project right before she attached the front to the back.  She got lots of compliments, though, and most people would ask me if I knitted as well.  I told them no, that she had one grandma who taught her how to knit and the other grandma taught her how to crochet.  She is very fortunate to have such wonderful grandmas!

Maria's judging interview took place last Thursday, and she did very well.  She scored "Excellent" in 7 out of 8 categories, with the only "Good" rating under "Fit."  We did notice that the back gaped just a little, but I have no idea how to fix that.  Her judge wrote comments like "Wonderful" for design, "Just great!" for personable qualities, and "Oh yes!" for knowledge. 


Yesterday was the Style Review, where the girls model their outfits and they learn how they did when they were judged.  Maria ended up with an "Outstanding" ribbon, which is the highest you can get, and also got a specialty award.  Out of all the girls taking a clothing project (probably about 50), seven of them are recognized for illustrating one of the "Seven Clues to Achieve a Total Look."  These include things like fashion, fit, construction, posture, poise, construction, and grooming.  Maria won the award for grooming, which came with a $10 gift card to JoAnn Fabrics.  The only disappointment of the day was that she was not chosen as the representative in her category to go to the State Fair.  The girl who was chosen had a top that looked pretty difficult to make, and since Maria went last year, its good for someone else to have that opportunity.  Overall, it was a great experience and we are very proud of her!

Goodbye, Harry Potter

I know, I know.  Everyone's talking about it, everyone's writing about it.  But this is a family blog, and this Harry Potter stuff has been pretty important to our family, so I need to write about it.

I didn't read Harry Potter until the third book, Prisoner of Azkaban was out.  I never enjoyed fantasy type books, and I was busy with Maria, who was an active toddler, and I just thought in spite of all the hype, I wouldn't enjoy the books.  I was wrong.  My college roommate and fellow lover of books, Amy, convinced me to give Harry Potter a chance, and boy was she right.  I zipped right through the first three books, and then I caught up with the rest of the world, anxiously awaiting the release of the next book.  I even got Ben to read them, and if you are aware of how many actual books Ben has read in the last 15 years, you would know what an accomplishment that was.  (Ben is very well-read, but prefers magazines, online articles, etc.) 

When Maria was in second grade she decided she wanted to start reading the first Harry Potter book.  I had tried the previous year to read it to her, but she never really caught on to it and we quit partway through the second chapter, I think.  Maria has always been a avid reader, and I couldn't understand why she didn't enjoy Harry Potter that first time, but when another boy in her class started reading the books, then she became interested.  This was the first experience in what has turned out to be a pattern of her not taking my advice on what books she should read. But as long as she reads, that's fine.  I never took my Mom's advice at her age either.

So once Maria read the first few books, she started to watch the movies, which of course, we own on DVD.  Sam, who was too young to read the books at the time, and had no attention span for me to read them to him, started to watch the movies too.  We have spent many weekends watching the ABC Family marathons with Harry Potter movies - they're just that good.  I think the 5th movie is the first that Maria watched in the theatre.  Sam has seen the last couple on the theatre, although not this last one because he was afraid he's be scared.  The storyline is over his head too, and so he's bored a lot of the time.  I wish I could get him interested in reading those books, but he hasn't had any interest yet.  I still have hope, though.  Anyway, I saw the movie with Maria, and then Ben went later that night on his own so we could take turns staying with Sam.

I love being able to share the experience of reading the books and watching the movies with the kids almost as much as I like reading the books on my own.  Maria and I each have our own copy of Deathly Hallows because when it was released, we couldn't wait for each other to finish it before we read it.  I was never into Star Wars as a kid, never liked Lord of the Rings, so this is the first series like this that I have ever been a fan of.  And it's a great story, with characters that you love (or love to hate) and the timeless good versus evil theme.  And the characters are all flawed in some way, which allows us all to relate to them.  And the best part for me, what Ben calls the cheesy part, is that epilogue when they all grow up, marry each other, and have great kids who will experience a better world because of what their parents fought for.

I just love it, and I am very sad this last movie means its all over.  Harry Potter has been around almost the entire time I've been a parent, and I've already missed the new books, now I'm going to miss the new movies too.

Golf Champion!

Maria competed with the Union County Junior Golf Academy and Tour (UCJGAT) this summer for the third year.  She played in the 10-12 age group, but usually the 10-11-year-olds were allowed to shorten the holes while the 12-year-olds were not.  There were about seven girls who competed in this age group, and they play nine holes during each outing.  The tour consists of playing on Tuesdays and Thursdays for three weeks, and each round is at a different course in the county.  Maria did pretty well on each outing, although sometimes the scores were difficult to compare since the younger girls played on the shorter tees.  Each round of golf stands alone, but the last round is considered the championship.  The championship round was at Darby Creek, which is probably the nicest of the courses in the county.

Maria won the round on Thursday and brought home the trophy.  The scores from her division are below.  We're very proud of here - especially since she only had one practice round with Ben all summer - we have just been too busy to fit it in!

Academy Girls 10-12                                                                                   
Maria Keller    6    6    4    10    5    8    6    7    5    57                                           
Samantha Zaborowski    6    9    5    8    7    9    7    8    5    64                                           
Edie Morris    5    9    5    8    10    7    7    6    8    65                                           
Elizabeth Mueller    7    10    6    10    9    9    5    7    7    70                                           
Emily Cook    7    10    7    10    10    10    6    6    8    74                                           
Isabel White    5    7    7    10    10    10    6    9    10    74       

The End of Baseball Season

This is Sam's second year of 8U baseball.  When the season started it looked like it would be another rough year, but many of the boys really improved as the season progressed.  They ended the regular season with a record of 8-4, and entered the tournament with a 4th seed out of 9 teams.  I think we lost more than we won last year, so already the season was a huge improvement.  Wednesday was our first tournament game, and we won with a score of 13-5.  The boys were so excited - most of the kids are the same as our team last year, and I think maybe they just expected to lose their first tournament game since that's what happened last year.

Saturday was our second game - we had to play the number 1 seed.  Our boys had trouble getting a string of hits together, and weren't really fielding very well in the beginning either.  It seemed that they were nervous, and some boys that usually have no trouble hitting the ball struck out.  But by the end of the game we were doing much better.  Unfortunately,  the score was 8-1 going into the 6th.  Sam was the second hitter in that inning (the first hitter struck out), and he hit the ball and made it to first base.  That started a string of hits and runs, and we brought the score to 8-7, with several of those runs happening with two outs.  But we didn't have enough time, and so the boys lost.  But I don't think the boys were as disappointed as the might have been if that last inning hadn't been so exciting.  Sam wasn't too disappointed, he was mainly happy with his successes (2 for 2 with one run scored).  

So baseball's over for the year and soon it will be time to think about soccer again.  Sam seemed to enjoy himself this year and have a good experience (and he improved a lot too), and that's really all that matters.

Thanks to Rita for the pictures!

Hilton Head Vacation

Last week we went to Hilton Head with Ben's parents.  We do a beach vacation with them every other year, but the past three times have all been to Kiawah Island and this was the first time to Hilton Head.  This is also the first time we drove in separate cars - Ben and I had to attend a wedding on Saturday, so Ben's parents took the kids down on Friday and Saturday, and Ben and I drove straight through on Sunday and met them at the condo on Sunday evening. 

As the kids get older these vacation change, and usually that means they become easier.  They can both swim, so we don;t have to be right next to them in the pool all the time.  And they like to stay up late and sleep in, so they don;t requiring entertaining from the early morning on.  We spent most days at both the pool and the beach.  Maria liked to hang out at the pool with us, Sam would swim for about an hour and then come back up to the condo to play in his room.  A perk at the condo that the kids don not have at home is a TV in their bedroom, and they enjoy hanging out on their own in there.  At the beach, we built sand castles and the kids liked to use the boogie boards.  The weather was hot, but not really unbearable on most days.

Ben and I ran most mornings, although not together - he liked the beach and I enjoyed the shady bike trails.  And Ben and his parents golfed twice.  We also ate out a lot and shopped - Sam's favorite restaurant was Hot Dog Harbor, although he only gets his hot dog with ketchup so it must be the atmosphere that he enjoyed.




All in all, it was a great vacation and I hope the kids will have awesome memories of their time spent there.

Sam's Star Wars Bedroom

Last week we painted and decorated Sam's bedroom.  There hadn't been many changes to it since he was two years old, so he was fairly excited to be able to pick most things that went in there.  He wanted a loft like Maria, to have more space to play underneath, and he also wanted light gray walls with one dark blue wall.  And of course, the main theme would be Star Wars.  I've included pictures so that if you are starting in his doorway and work your way clockwise around the room, this is what you would see.


This is his new dresser - better than his old, but we will still miss the added storage he had in the drawers in his old bed.



The top of his loft - that's a TIE fighter on the bedspread, in case you can't tell.






And the cozy spot under  his loft - his beanbag chair makes a nice spot for reading or okaying video games.










He was very excited to have his own desk - notice the Star Troopers poster above the desk.















The window would be between the last two pictures.  The drawers are new - to hold toys and desk stuff - but the bookcase was old.  Sam would only allow Star Wars toys on the bookshelf - everything else had to go in the basement.






And of course, we can't forget the poster that is above the bookshelf - including ALL Star Wars characters ever.



He seems to really love his new room, and I love how uncluttered it is.  We'll see how long that lasts!

Father's Day

We spent a pretty quiet Father's Day at home.  We woke up in MacCracken Hall at Miami University, after we spent all day and night Saturday at Alumni weekend.  And after our busy day on Saturday, and the two hour drive home, we were all pretty tired.  The kids made Ben a card and gave him his gift (a "Fear No Distance" banner where he can hang all of his racing medals), but then we just hung around the house the rest of the day.  Ben was able to nap and watch the US Open, so I'm pretty sure he had a happy Father's day.

2011 Baseball Season

This is Sam's second year in coach pitch baseball, and next summer he will move on to kid pitch ball.  We've seen a lot of improvement this year, from both Sam and many of his teammates as well.  The team is doing pretty good, with a record of 4-3 halfway through the season.  Sam seems to always like to go to games, although he does get a little depressed when he strikes out, as do all of the boys.  At this age, the main idea is to have fun, and so we're happy with how it's going.  And it gives Sam something to do a few days each week, which is important now that school is out!

The pictures are from Saturday's game, which was Sam's best performance yet.  He hit the ball each time he batted, had two RBI's and scored one run.  He is in the middle of the batting order, so many times once he's on base, the kids who bat after him strike out, and he doesn't have much opportunity to score runs himself.  We have explained to him how batting runner in is still very important, which he gets, but there is something thrilling about crossing home plate that makes it a lot more fun.

Lisa's PR at Powell 5k!

Official time was 31'12".

Piano Recital

Today was the kids' piano recital. 

Sam just completed his second year of piano and performed "Green Frog Hop."

Maria just completed her sixth year of piano and performed "Minuet in G" by Bach.

Check back for video of their performances!

Maria Turns 12 Years Old!

One more year until we are the parents of a teenager.  I always say this, but the time sure flies by, and I just can't believe my little girl is this old.  But since I can't stop time, the best I can do is enjoy every second and be very proud of the young lady that my daughter is turning out to be.

This year, the celebrations began with a family birthday party that was actually a week early, so that we could celebrate while both sets of grandparents were already here for her dance recitals.  Her main gifts this year were a cell phone (her first), and a Nook (electronic reader).  We had a dinner of shish kabobs (her choice), and topped it off with an ice cream cake before we dashed off to the recital.

This past Friday night, six of Maria's friends joined us at Skate Zone 71 to roller skate and play Laser Tag. This went well, even though many of the girls had not roller skated before.  Then we brought the girls back here for a slumber party, which didn't go too late - the last noise Ben heard was around 1:00 a.m. 

Today, Maria's actual birthday, was pretty low-key.  Maria got two more gifts - a new baseball glove (which she had been asking for), and a new mirror for the back of her door.  And we had the kids' piano recital this afternoon.  Maria's birthday dinner of choice was last night at Red Lobster, where the staff brought her a piece of cake and sang to her.

It seems we did a lot for her birthday, although its the same as every year, it just seems longer since it was dragged out over eight days.  I'm sure she's a little disappointed its all over, but with only eight more days of school left, she has summer vacation to look forward to!

Dance Recitals 2011

Annual dance recitals for Maria were last weekend on Friday and Saturday nights.  Ben actually did too, since he danced with Maria in the Father/Daughter dance.  Maria has been taking some type of dance class for the last seven years.  This year, she was involved in three classes, Jazz Dance III (she was placed in Jazz III even though it was only her second year of jazz, and did great), Extreme Motion (a show choir type class in which students sing and dance), and Gymnastics.  Her performances were the same each night - a total of seven performances including individual class and larger group numbers, but require many costume changes as she goes back and forth between the three classes she's involved in.  Ben and I went on both nights, but Sam and the grandparents only attended Saturday night's show since it was three hours long!  Including the dress rehearsals for the shows and weekly practices and classes, Maria invests a large amount of her free time into these activities and not only enjoys it, but does very well.  I don't have video to post yet - we had to purchase the DVD from the company filming it - so you'll just have to take my word for it - she did a great job.  But, as with everything this time of year, we are relieved its over and ready for a break over the summer.

Last Soccer Game

Yesterday was Sam's last soccer game of the season, and it was a fairly successful experience.  Sam has had ups and downs, scored one goal all season but most of the time, he got in there and went after the ball.  Except when he sometimes didn't feel like it, and then he didn't.  It is an awful lot of running, and most kids had to play three out of four quarters, which was tiring.  I also have some doubts as to how motivating the coaches were, but since I'm not willing to coach, I guess I can't criticize.  They ended up with a 4-3 record, but two of the losses came form the same team, who went undefeated.  He seemed to enjoy himself most of the time, and will probably play again in the fall. 

Maria's Induction into NJHS

Yesterday Maria was inducted into Fairbanks Middle School National Junior Honor Society.  Out of the 81 kids in her school that qualified academically, 53 applied, and only 18 were selected.  Of those, 10 were 6th graders, out of a class of around 75 kids.  Needless to say, we're very proud of her, and so glad all of her hard work and pleasant, helpful personality shines through to the staff at school.  Three of her closest friends were inducted also, which reinforces the fact that she has chosen good friends as well.  The NJHS is very active, with many service projects throughout the year - she has to get in 5 service hours in the next two weeks already.  But I think it's a worthwhile activity, and it will be fun for her and a good experience to do some service projects and give back to the community.  The induction, paired with her dance recitals this weekend and her family birthday party today, is making this quite a weekend for my almost 12-year-old.

Mother's Day

This year for Mother's Day we finally came through with a promise we've been making to the kids for a few years.  Each summer since Sam has learned to ride his bike without training wheels, we've promised the kids that we would buy a bike rack for the van so that we could take our bikes to local parks to ride.  But each year we never got around to it.  Then when Ben started to do serious research on bike racks last year, he determined that my current bike would not ride on most racks that could sit on the back of the van.  So I would need to get a new bike - which I wanted anyway - but it did make the original promise harder to keep as now it would be much more expensive than we had originally thought.  So yesterday we went to a bike shop and I got to pick out a new bike for my Mother's Day gift.  It's actually pretty similar to the bike Maria got for her birthday last year (we are the same size, after all) and after trading the seat for a more cushioned variety, its very comfortable to ride. 


So my request for Mother's Day was that we take our bikes to Glacier Ridge park for a long bike ride this afternoon.  And we were all shocked when the weather actually cooperated.  I got my run in and house cleaning done this morning, then took a nap after lunch, and by the time we left around 3:00, it was partly sunny and 68 degrees - by far the nicest day we've seen in weeks.  So Ben got the bikes ready to go and we headed to the park.  In all, we rode 7 miles, and stopped in the middle for a restroom break and quick snack.  The trail had some puddles, and Sam's back got covered in mud toward the end of the trip, and that combined with an uphill ride meant he was pretty grouchy for the last mile.  But it was a long ride for him, and he was hungry and ready for dinner too.  So loaded up the van, headed to Chipotle for dinner (Ben's choice - my meal out was last night while we were in Columbus shopping) and then were home by 6:00.

It was a wonderful Mother's Day, and it felt kind of like an entire weekend was devoted to me since we did the shopping and meal out yesterday.  Ben also helped with the house cleaning this morning, and both he and the kids gave me cards and a new coffee mug this afternoon.  I am truly blessed and so appreciative of this wonderful family.

Sam's Spring Soccer Season

If my math is right, this is Sam's 10th soccer season - each fall and spring since he the fall he turned four years old.  That's a lot of cold, windy soccer games we've sat through!  This season's weather has not been great - a few practices have been cancelled due to rain, but we haven't had any wet games yet.  His team this year is doing pretty well, with a record of 4-1 so far. Sam has scored one goal, and has played pretty well overall.  He does tend to get tired toward the middle and end of the game, though, and then doesn't really feel like going after the ball.  That's how he seems to be about sports - either he's really in the zone, or he doesn't seem to care much and just follows the rest of the team up and down the field.  Keep in mind, its his idea to play sports - we don't push him in any way.  So I think sooner or later his attitude will go completely one way or the other, and until then, its the coach's job to deal with it.

Ben's First Marathon!

Here's Ben's post from his Daily Mile site about The Flying Pig Marathon today.  We are so proud of him!

Observations from my first Flying Pig and first marathon ever:

1. There will never be enough bathrooms before a race. How about y'all just let us pee in the river?

2. Rain during the race was a mostly good thing. The soles of my feet suffered down the stretch because of the wet socks, but it kept us all pretty cool considering the mid-upper 60's we were running in.

3. There were so many little things that went right on race day. I was dressed just right. I'm glad I took my water bottle and hydration was not an issue. Gu's went down well and I had no stomach issues and no nausea at any point. I suffered no light headedness or instability.

4. The big hills were not a problem while I was in them. I took it easy and thought my strategy was sound. Only in the end did they get me. 1500ft of hills was more than I was expecting.

5. The only problem I had the entire race is that I hit mile 22.5 and I just could NOT run any more. I walked most of 1.5 miles before resuming something that somewhat resembled running for the last 1.7 miles. I was steady...just REALLY slow. I don't think that any different strategy earlier in the race could have saved me from hitting the wall. I just have to go back and train differently last time.

6. The taper and carb loading seems like a load of crap to me. I had a faster and stronger 21.5 miles a few weeks ago with a normal diet and 30 miles that week before the long run. Unless it was the hills that did it to me.

7. The naked guy: Andy P. and I were running back into Ohio around mile 3 and noticed a guy ahead of us whose shorts were falling down in the back...bare assed. He pulled them up a couple of times, but they just wouldn't stay up. He took his shirt off and the shorts seemed to be holding...and then he veered off the course, presumably for a bathroom break, but he returned to the course totally naked. He ran about a mile and a half before we saw the cops coming...he was about a 1/4 mile ahead of us at this point. When we found him again, he was lying in the middle of the road, bloody, and cuffed...still naked. From what I hear, they had to taze him. I have no idea if running naked was his plan, or if it was just the last resort. Regardless, he obviously didn't want to stop or put his clothes back on. This might have gone unnoticed in NYC, but the repressed Cincinnati folk couldn't handle a naked guy in their race.

8. The worst part of the day was slowly watching my pace expectations disappear during the last few miles. I was passed by the 3:30 pace group at mile 14, then by the 3:40, 3:45, and 4:00 groups during my walking. I was also passed by a lot of runners in that last stretch, including a couple girls in tu-tus, and a guy running in a full kilt. My theoretical goal was 3:30. A more realistic goal for me would have been 3:50. Now I know.

9. The best part of the day was seeing my family waiting for me at finish line. They were so patient and waited WAY longer than I'd told them they had to. I got some good pictures which I'll post in a few.

10. The medal is awesome! The backpack was unexpected. The shirt...is somewhat disappointing. It's kinda "blah" and cheap looking. Otherwise the SWAG was pretty good.

11. It was an honor to run with Brandon B. , Andrew P. , and Andy S. They have been amazing training partners and it was so rewarding to see them finish ahead of me. Andy P. and I ran together for the first 6 miles but he attacked the course and did very well. Brandon passed me right before mile 22 and I got to chat with him. Andy S. passed me at some point in the race, but I'm not quite sure when. Great job guys!

12. I hurt. My legs really hurt and I'm still exhausted. We'll see if work is a possibility in the morning. I'm more tired and sore than I could have imagined. I'm taking a few days off, okay? :-)

13. Finally...I don't know if I'll do this again. It was an amazing experience, but if I do attempt another marathon, I'll be on a different training program. I don't like "the wall". I don't want to run into it again.

Sam's Field Trip

Today was Sam's 2nd grade field trip.  We went to see Disney's African Cats at the Dublin theatre, then went to a park to have lunch and learn about wildlife.  It was about 50 degrees and sunny, but the wind was pretty chilly, but at least it wasn't raining.  It's rained almost every day of the last two weeks, so even though it was cold, we still considered ourselves lucky.

Several weeks ago Sam asked me if I would go on the trip with him, since Ben went on his trip last year. Parents had to drive themselves - there was no room on the bus - and we didn't have to be at the theatre until 9:45.  That gave Dolly and I time to stop at Panera bread and have coffee and bagels, and it was so nice to have some just adult time!

Sam wasn't too excited about the movie, mainly because the concession stand would be closed, and I think the large bag of Skittles is his main motivation to go to any movie.  But the boys sat still and watched, although I did wonder if Sam might drift off a couple of times.  (I, miraculously, stayed awake, although it was touch and go for a while there.)  Anyway, the movie was very well done - its hard to remember that they took the footage and then told the story - the story flows so well its almost like they told the wild animals how to act.  It really reminded me of The Lion King - good lions, evil hyenas, and fighting to be the King of the Pride.  Afterward I asked Sam what he thought.  His answer:  "It was sad.  A lot of animals died."  Which is true - there was a lot of chasing and hunting, but I did think they were good about leaving out any gore with all the killing.  They did have to show animals eating other animals, though, and I guess that bothered my sensitive son.


After the movie we headed to Coffman park for lunch and a nature walk, which was not the park we had intended to visit, but the better park was flooded.  The disadvantage, however, was that there was no wildlife at this park - it was mainly a big field - which meant the lectures about spotting wildlife was seriously lacking, since there was nothing to spot.  Add to that situation a bunch of 8-year-old boys who are biding their time until they can get to the playground anyway, and I'm not sure they got much out of it. 

But Sam was able to spot a nest in a tree, and wanted me to take a picture since it was the only sign of any kind of wildlife whatsoever.  Ironically, when we did get to the playground, the kids found a mallard duck just hanging out in the mulch there, so they were pretty excited about that. 

All in all, a typical field trip experience for me.  Felt good about spending time with Sam, but wished it had been about an hour shorter.