Quick re-cap

Dad and I

The girls and I made it back to our house on Wednesday after 5 days in Ottawa....and Glandorf.  Tom comes home today (yeah!!) and we will welcome him with open arms and a cold beer.  But before we can start our weekend, I need to re-cap our last several days.  They have been filled with seeing family and friends that we don't have the opportunity to see often enough in my opinion.

Sunday (Father's Day) my sister, Lorie, invited us and Jason's family to their house for some BBQ chicken (yum!!).  Dads (minus Tom), kiddie pool, some baseball in the yard, sandbox and some bikes = family fun.  Emily is just starting to learn how to ride a bike.  Their is a lot of motor planning that goes into figuring it all out for her and, as much as I've tried, I just can't push her to learn faster.  We fought over this all last summer and she was so frustrated she wouldn't even go near her tricycle.  This summer she seems to have figured it out and I love seeing her accomplish yet another goal!!  I like seeing the girls be able to ride bikes together now!  And Sunday she got on Adysen's 2 wheel bike with training wheels and started to ride it!  The little show off :)

Emily on a big girl bike!!

Lorie pitching - guess we know who helps Braeden get some batting practice in

Cousins in the sandbox

Father's Day cookout

 Monday evening my nephew Braeden had a baseball game in Ft. Jennings and so we were able to go see a game. Braeden is 6 and it is his first year playing. From the looks of his teammates and opponents, it's their first year playing, too. I am pleased to report, like the proud aunt that I am, that he was probably one of the best players out there. Each player gets like 4 pitches from the coach (designated dad that evening) and if after those attempts they haven't hit it yet, they have to hit off a tee. Granted, I didn't see each kid at bat, but from what I did see, only one or two kids actually hit the ball on the first pitch at both at-bats. Braeden was one of them and he kind of nailed it each time!! Kid can hit the ball. I played every sport available to me, except softball. -I never got the hand-eye coordination part of the game, so to see a 6 year old whip up on the ball first pitch each time I was more than a little impressed! 



Braeden at catcher

Up to bat

Nice hit, buddy!! (see the ball?)

"Go Braeden!"

Emily had never been to a baseball game before, so I was surprised when we got there she started shouting, "Go Braeden!" Loudly. It's not like this game was competitive at all. But Emily got into the spirit and was his little cheerleader even though no one else in attendance was audibly cheering. (Kind of like at church when everyone is quiet after the choir has finished a song and she claps and says 'Yeaah!') Sister likes to throw out some praise!! Otherwise there was a lot of dirt kicking and underwear picking by those on the field.




We all went out for ice cream afterwards and it was one of those really hot evenings where you have to lick your cone double time because it melts so fast.   

Monday is also the day Casey informed me she got a mosquito bite on her head at Girl Scout camp the week before and we should (and I quote), "be on the lookout for one smart mosquito out there because he probably sucked out some of her knowledge.  It's probably mostly at the part where 8+8 is stored because I can't seem to remember what it equals."  Ahhh, love me some Casey quotes  :)

Tuesday, the girls and I went over to my friend Marna's house to hang out with her and her two kids.  We were treated with a visit from Jill and her three kids!  Casey considers Marna's daughter, Morgan, and Jill's daughter, Audrey, to be her "Ottawa friends" and always asks if we can see them when we are in town.  I am lucky to have been able to maintain such dear friendships since high school.  We don't get to see each other often enough but I fully appreciate their presence in my life.

Wednesday, we packed up and left Nana and Papa's house.  Nana had been with us for 10 days and although she was sad to see us leave, I kind of suspect she was ready for some solo time as well.  On our way home we stopped for a visit at my cousin Jean's house in Vandalia.  Jean and I went to school together from kindergarten through high school.  We became closer friends around the time we both got married and Casey and her daughter, Megan, actually were born the same day - just hours apart!  She has 3 daughters and I have 2, so that just adds up to a lot of girly fun for all when we get together.  Later in the afternoon, we started the last leg of our trip home.  The girls were exhausted from the heat of the past week, the busy days and late nights, so when at 7:20 that evening I asked who was ready for bed, Emily just walked to her bed and curled up and said, "Nigh, nigh, mommy bird."  And she was out.

Thanks for hosting, Jaime!

Thursday was another busy day as we loaded up ourselves in Mandy's minivan with her and her 3 kids at 9:00 a.m. to go see some college friends and their kids in Columbus.  Jaime and Joy live in Columbus which isn't that far from Cincinnati but it seems with every one's schedules we're only able to get together a couple times a year.  Jaime hosted us all at her house which has a pool.  4 college friends, 10 kids and a pool made for my kind of summer day.  The kids bobbed, floated, dove, splashed and swam the entire day while we sat and talked about kids, husbands, jobs, vacations, plastic surgery, families and growing older.  I think I surmised that I was the only one that feels like she's getting older and I am determined to change that.  Work out a little more and focus a little less on the things that stress me out.  And about plastic surgery?  Let's just say each of us agreed it's not off the table for discussion.  It was a really nice day and the kids were exhausted to say the least when we left.  Another night of early bedtimes for me while Tom was away.  Sweet!!


The girls and I went to our neighborhood pool this afternoon and rushed home for Emily to catch a nap so I could clean the house before Tom comes home this evening. The girls are so excited to see daddy - Casey even made a poster to welcome him home. Emily will wake up soon so I am just going to add some random pictures from the last week in this blog. Just a quick re-cap of some of our fun.

See the Big Wheel Casey is riding?  It's the same one my sisters and I rode as kids!  Dad saved it and it still works!

                                 I think we all feel as exhausted as this picture of Emily in the car :)

Small Town Love

The last time I lived in my hometown was in 1994, the year I went away to college. 'Went away' might be too liberal of a phrase because Bowling Green State University was only a 45 minute drive away from my parents' house. But, nevertheless, I lived there for 4 years and then moved to Cincinnati after graduation in 1998.  So for 18 years, when I have met someone new and have been asked where I am from, I have always said 'Ottawa Ohio.'  But the fact is I am not from Ottawa.  I grew up in an even smaller town called Glandorf.  I've found some people have at least seen the sign next to Interstate 75 that points them 25 or so miles west to Ottawa.  (Ottawa is Glandorf's next door neighbor and is where Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Wendys, Arbys, Subway and Pizza Hut are.  I don't think I left anything out.)  Others, familiar with the small towns that make up the landscape between Lima and Toledo, know generally where it is but have still not heard of Glandorf.  I guess it's just easier on the conversation than trying to describe which dot on the map in the cornfields of Ohio Glandorf is. Kind of like telling people I live in Cincinnati rather than West Chester, the suburb we live in. The difference being West Chester's population is 60,958 and Glandorf's is 958. (Ottawa's population is 4,396 and Cincinnati's is just under 297,000 so it's not like everyone I meet has even heard of Ottawa but you get my point).

Either way, I know where I come from and am glad we can visit here for days in a row so my girls know it too. Songs about small towns are written for a reason. They are mostly country songs, but they generally paint a pretty good picture of the area I grew up in.  Songs about sittin' on your porch with a beer watching the sun set over the fields nail it.   Songs about a dirt road and some bottles rollin' on the floor boards capture more than a few of my high school memories.  For the record, I have never been on anyone's big green tractor nor have I been asked if I thought said tractor was sexy. :)  Don't get me wrong, I love living in a metropolitan area and often wonder, aside from being closer to my family, if I would even like to move back. (Remember? The nearest Target is over an hour's drive away!)  But I fully appreciate the charm of the small towns when I am here or am sitting in traffic in Cincinnati listening to those country songs on the radio.  

Missing my Jazzercise class, I went for a walk/run through the town of Glandorf this morning.  I walked the length of town listening to Dave Matthews on my iPhone and stopped to take some pictures and smell the roses so to speak.  What I love most about blogging is I have become more aware of moments, however large or small or ordinary or extraordinary; wanting to capture them more often than before.  Maybe I am romanticizing the small town life some here, or maybe it's the perspective you get from living some place more urban for so long.  But as I walked through this town that doesn't have a single stop light and the only traffic jam is when you get stuck behind a John Deere on a road with no lines, I found myself calmer and breathing deeper.  I really started breathing deeper when I began to run on the path around the park.  By the time I got there I was feeling very inspired by the quaint charm that comes from the absence of urban sprawl and the calming presence of the big Catholic church where I have received every sacrament.  So I turned the music from Dave to Zac Brown Band and began my run.   Quaint, calming charm turned into red-faced gasping as I don't often run for exercise.   It became quite obvious that I am not in as good of shape as I thought I was, because it felt like I was pulling a pallet of bricks behind me as I ran.   In all honesty, it was probably more like a pallet of ice cream and Miller Lites, and that brings home the reason I am not in the ideal shape I'd like to be in.  But I did find some items along the paved path that I paused (very briefly) to snap a picture of.   Little things that all help add up to make my hometown.  A small town with big impact.  For me anyways.

The gem of Glandorf: St. John's Catholic Church
(someday I'll post take pictures of the inside of the church and you will understand why it is such a gem, but I need a better camera for that)

This is the K thru 8 school that I went to with the exact same playgroud equipment still there!

Evidence of the town's German heritage

No doubt, farming is a way of life for a lot of folks here

I still don't know why the local watering hole and pizza place is named the Bomb Shelter

Main Street is a compliment of houses, family businesses and fields

Just had to take a pictre of the barber shop

The park still has the same red twisty slide and merry-go-round that were there when I was a kid

The new path around the park now has excercise equipment to humor you (that's an old tractor seat you sit on for your presses)

I thought these were hilarious!

Also there was a fence you where you can get in some resistance work with varying weights!

While we're talking of small town characteristics, I was nearly bowled over Saturday when mom and I went to the local grocery store in Ottawa after we arrived in from Cincinnati.  (okay, West Chester)  My mom works at Kohls Market in the bakery and, yes, that comes with some pretty tasty perks for us :)  At the checkout we wheeled the cart up to the register and the lady begins to type in every single item's price.  Manually.  With her fingers.  Not a scanner in sight.  Then she got on the intercom and called for carryout register one.  I looked quick and she meant for us!  I took out my iPhone, flipped it to silent and inconspicuously started to take some pictures of it all.  This experience was not foreign to me, because this was how groceries were rung up at this very grocery store when I was growing up.  I had no idea they still did this, though!  I'm told that the owner wants to keep the experience more personal for the shopper.  I say, 'great idea!'  Everyone in line was waiting patiently as the cashier flipped each item around, finding the sticker that had been placed on by a human hand with a sticker gun.  I have to say, though, I have been carrying out and even bagging my own groceries for too long, most times with two kids in tow, and I felt very uncomfortable having the young gentlemen cart the bags to the car.  I resisted the urge to push him aside and assure him that we could handle our own groceries as I watched him and my mom chat up about the weather.   And I couldn't make eye contact with him afterwards because I felt slightly awkward that I didn't tip him for his service.  My mom laughed at me and shook her head.  Yeah, it's good to come home and see that things don't change.  I'd probably stop staying for such long visits if I had to ever (and I mean EVER) wait at a traffic light in Glandorf, Ohio.

Entering the price for every item by hand

Not a scanner in sight

Groceries delivered to your car (and stowed nicely)

The best thing about these small towns is seeing family, though! :)

Casey lounging in the baby pool

Emily enjoying some pudding (or a facial scrub.  not quite sure)