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!