Better Know a Playground, Part 3

While Wii Lego Indiana Jones does a fabulous job of babysitting my children, I am bringing you (my 3 readers) the next installment of Better Know a Playground. Today's feature is:

Scioto Park

This is a park that is part of the Dublin Parks and Rec system. It is conveniently located on the way to the zoo, so we have been known to stop there on our way home from staring at the gorillas.

The most interesting part of the park isn't the playground, or the scenic view along the river, or the way cool sledding hill. It is the giant rock statue of Chief Leatherlips.

Yes, that is Sarah at the top and Leah hanging off the side. The Chief is just one of many crazy pieces of outdoor artwork commissioned in Dublin.

The park also has a small creek running through it that drains directly into the Scioto River. The girls were far more enamoured with playing in the creek than on the playground.

Even with all the other distractions, we did manage some playground time too. There is the pre-requisite rock wall experience.

There is also a ladder tunnel that leads up through the middle of the playstructure. Mary and Leah both thought that was pretty cool.

Nana was along with the ride too. She busied herself with with swings while the girls were sloshing around in the creek.

All-in-all, Scioto Park has a lot to offer. Crazy sculpture, creeking, playground, picnic shelter. It also has an amplitheatre for summer concerts. One HUGE drawback is that the bathrooms are pretty nasty (this is after a few different trips to them). I know it must be difficult to keep them clean, but they are pretty gross.

I stink at keeping New Year resolutions!

I had only two resolutions this year: 1) blog a bit more and 2) papercraft one hour per week. I am currently 0 for 2. I suppose you could say that is a perfect record!

I HAVE re-discovered my love of reading lately. At heart, I am a 12 yr old boy, so I have been enjoying re-reading Harry Potter. While in a holding pattern after Goblet of Fire (Sarah is slogging through Order of the Phoenix so I'm waiting for her to finish), I started my first read-through of the Percy Jackson series. I finished the fourth one last night (I should say early this morning) and I'm waiting anxiously for the 5th one to arrive from Amazon. Oh, and I was suckered into reading the Twilight series too. I much prefer Harry and Percy to Edward and Bella! LOL!

One thing I have yet to master is my compulsion to read a book from start-to-finish in one sitting. It makes for some very bleary-eyed days at work! It doesn't matter what time of day I start a book, I will stay up and read it in its entirety. I seriously need to find a way to combat this!

Anyway, you could say that today is a successful New Year's resolution day because not only am I actually blogging, but I am also going to be doing some card-making tonight! Woot!

In the meantime, if anyone has any suggestions on another series of books that I should read (in lieu of sleeping), just let me know!

But where's the tumbleweeds?

I swear that a swarm of locusts live in my house. Really and truly. No matter how much grocery shopping I do, I can't seem to keep food in the house.

Now, I do confess that grocery shopping hasn't been one of my favorite things these days. Back before I had a hoard of picky kids (OK, only two of my kids are picky), I used to really enjoy picking up unusual ingredients and experimenting with them. I don't have that opportunity as much these days.

Back to the gripe at hand...where in the world does the food go? Not only is our snack cupboard bare, but the fridge is too!

So you can see after three trips to the grocery store last week, that I still have bald spots in my fridge. What IS there are drips and drabs of things that aren't quite enough on their own for a meal for five people. All it is missing is a tumbleweed or two blowing by.

Chihuly Glass

Because the girls were crawling up the walls this morning, we decided it was a good day for a visit to Franklin Park Conservatory. We have a membership for these types of emergencies. It is a nice place for a lovely stroll when it is yucky outside. You can see the whole thing in about 1 1/2 hours, so it is just perfect for the girls.

I had completely forgotten that there was a special Chihuly glass exhibit going on right now. What a lovely surprise! I really love how they tuck the artwork in amongst the foliage. The bright colors against all the greenery is just striking!

Before we ventured into the gardens, we took a gander at the pieces on display in the hall. I especially loved this vase:

If I had a bazillion extra dollars hanging around (and didn't have a houseful of kids), I would totally be all over it! The blue in this one was very vibrant, pictures just do not do it justice:

Mary really liked this one. She "needed" to have her picture taken with it: This one is permanently on display at the conservatory. I think it is really fun. It reminds me of the Heat Miser's hair. I'm sure that is what Dale Chihuly had in mind when he created it! We thought this one looked like a dinosaur egg:

This display was a boat filled with blue glass. Leah didn't feel much like posing with her sisters today. She is conspicuously absent from most of the pictures I took!

Last but not least, here is a wall of glass.

If you haven't been to see the glass yet, I highly recommend it!

I rock! Or maybe I'm a lunatic...

Each year I get this bee in my bonnet that I should bake cupcakes for the spring birthday fest and each year around mid-March I remember why I vow to just buy cake next year.

Once again I was suckered into homemade baked goods for Leah's fourth birthday party. This year the birthday girl picked flowers as the theme. Easy enough. There are tons of ideas for a flower-themed birthday. Then last Sunday hit and she decided she wanted to do a ladybug theme. After I sent out the invites and already had a plan in my head. Fine...I decided to incorporate both.

My first fit of insanity was when I had the great idea of making lady bugs for the cupcakes. I took red hot candies (you could use m&ms, but I had red hots on hand) and used an edible marker to make them into ladybugs. It was totally cool, but took an entire evening. My hands are just not cut out for small delicate work like that. Here is the bug infestation:

Phase two involved making flower cutout cookies. On a stick. Why do I dream up these crazy things? Actually, Marcie#2 was the evil genius. I just implemented the idea. Sarah said the cookie pops were beautiful. I think they look like something dreamed up by a five yr old. Check them out:

You would think that making cookie pops would be enough, but OH NO not for me. I have to make things way more complicated than they need to be. So we needed some cupcakes with green frosting to be "grass" for the flowers:

So once I finished all phases and put them together, I was pretty darned happy with the result. You might even say that I rock!

Or you could say that I'm a lunatic!

The Big Craft Purge

We recently re-did a good chunk of our first floor in an effort to make our space more usable. Part of the big move involved moving my computer desk/scrap table/spot for everyone else's junk to another room. In my mind, moving stuff = purging stuff!

It was really horrifying to see all the (for lack of a better word) crap that was lurking in the nooks and crannies of my desk. The girls completely enjoyed the fruits of the purge. They acquired a ton of old, "what was I thinking" patterned paper (apparently, that is my favorite brand because I had a lot of it). They are also going to take possession of some old stamps that I am ready to remove from my stash.

I just decided after moving everything around, that I wanted to be able to have a space for everything. Once I max out the allotted space, something must go. I'm hoping this philosophy will help me keep the crafting expenditures under control. It especially seems silly that I buy craft supplies when I hardly ever touch the stuff!

In theory, having a smaller stash makes it easier to craft since you know what you have and where it is located. I think my real problem with crafting is that my computer shares the same space with my supplies. It is far less effort to waste time poking around the internet than it is to create something.

I would post a picture of my new-and-improved workspace but it is already covered with a bunch of junk. I think it was cleaned off for 3.2 milliseconds.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

Mary has been interested in getting her hair cut for a while now. Everytime she would ask, I would say "just another 1/2 inch". Well, her hair finally got long enough to donate. Samantha told me about the Pantene Beautiful Lengths program that only requires an 8" ponytail rather than the 10" length required by Locks of Love. Pantene also accepts hair that has been colored, so their program is a bit more liberal than Locks of Love.

Here she is this morning before the big chop:

and here she is after she has been chopped and sprayed and gelled and all that:

Mary is mostly excited that she will get a new patch for her Daisy vest, but I suppose the motivation isn't as important as the outcome, huh?

Fatheads

Hey, I'm not insulting you! Really, I'm not! I have spent my entire holiday vacation painting and re-arranging my house. Well, not the entire house, just the first floor. That's all. ;-)

One room that was moved and completely re-done was the office. I let Joe pick the color and the decor. He chose very light gray to coordinate nicely with his two favorite sports teams (the Buckeyes and the Crew). Because he is the ultimate sports fan, we are probably the only people in America to purchase one of these:

http://www.fathead.com/mls/columbus-crew/columbus-crew-logo/

I'm just that crazy. I ordered it last week and it will be here tomorrow. Oh joy of joys! If this isn't proof that I love that guy, I don't know what is!

When I finally get everything back on the walls and the way I want, I will post some pictures. I'm still trying to decide what to do about my scrapbooking stuff. I somehow managed to acquire a lot of it. I don't know how that happened. Heh.

Boy have I been a slacker (and other holiday ramblings)

I had no idea that it has been almost 2 months since I last posted. Time really seems to be slipping away from me these days. I would love to say that I have been busy doing all sorts of fun things, but alas, I think I have just been working and doing laundry. Oh and dishes. Lots and lots of dishes.

Enough of my whining! I can't believe Christmas is approaching so quickly (see time warp rambling). I'm looking forward to the end of this week when I can enjoy my family and be done with work for a bit. All three girls have really embraced the Christmas spirit this year so it has been extra fun to have them around. Some high points of our holiday season:

1. We have been to see Santa. Twice. First time was our annual trip to the Worthington Square Mall to see the lonely Santa who sits there by himself with no line. He is an awesome Santa too. Then we decided to go to the Christmas in the Park celebration to see Santa. In the pouring rain and 35 degree temperatures. Such a pleasant evening. LOL. Anyway, I was pleased that with both Santa visitations the girls asked for the same stuff that they have been asking for the last few months. Santa should be able to handle the load which is only 2 Leapsters and an iPod. The tree won't have much under it, but I am very thankful that my girls aren't asking for everything under the sun.

Here is the Santa from the mall:


The cool thing is that the same guy has been Santa at this mall for a long time, so our annual Santa pictures always feature the same person.

Here is the crowd after getting soaking wet waiting for their audience with Santa:

2. Sarah came home from school one day last week announcing that we "needed" an elf. So she emailed Santa (nice that he is wired these days) and very politely asked if he could send an elf our way. We now have Bernie the Elf hanging out in our house. They leave him notes and he answers them. Every night he finds a new hiding spot and they hunt for him in the morning. It gives them something to do while they anxiously wait for Santa's arrival. Here he is hiding in the laundry room:

I'm hoping he will do a few loads while he is in there today.

3. Sarah also got a bee in her bonnet about making some gifts for her friends, so we found some links on no-sew fleece scarves. It is a very nice project that only takes about 15 min per scarf. Of course, we ended up making 18 of them because each girl wanted their own yard of fabric and you can get 6 scarves per yard. All of their friends will be getting them as gifts and the extras will be put on the PIN (People in Need) tree at church.

4. The girls actually had enough snow yesterday to build a snowman. There wasn't much snow left in the yard by the time they were done, but she turned out awfully cute! They named her Snowflakes. What can I say, my girls are very imaginative. ;-) Snowflakes is not just any kind of snowwoman. She is a gourmet snowwoman. Not many of her species have dried cherries as eyes and a parsnip for a nose. Actually, I think the birds have already pecked her eyes out for the yummy treat.


Mary was especially pleased at their handiwork.

One of my New Year's resolutions is to do more fun crafting and to blog more. Both are things I enjoy doing and both are things that fall by the wayside when times get busy. So for all 3 of my readers, hopefully you can look forward to more posting in the new year! Happy Holidays!

PS - in case you are interested, I have lost 15 lbs so far. Only 60 more to go! Sigh.

Better Know a Playground, Part 2

Here it is folks, the post you all have been waiting for! Another installment of Better Know a Playground! This evening, Mary, Leah and I along with the Jessica's headed out to do some field research. Tonight's playground is located at:

MILLER PARK

Yep, this little-known playground next to the tiniest library ever features the climbing tunnel of death, the nearly vertical rock wall, and the dangling thingamabobs that Leah has had a hard time mastering.

Actually, the girls really love this playground because it is slightly more challenging than most. When the sign says "Ages 5 - 12" for the main play area, they truly mean it.

The toddler playground is fairly expansive. There is plenty to do for the just-started-walking crowd.

Not only is there a toddler play structure, but there are some rocking structures and some swings for the wee-ones.

Since we brought along not-wee ones, we spent most of the evening at the big kids playground.

I actually hauled my arse up to the top of the play structure so I could take this picture:

Mary, Lilah and Leah climbing up the curly slide:

Mary and Evie striking a pose:

Lilah taking one for the team and climbing up the tunnel of death:

Leah and the required rock wall shot:

Mary and Evie on the rocking fire engine:

Mary trying out the dangling thingamabobs (I wonder if they have a real name?):

Mary practicing to be a future fire fighter by sliding down the pole:

All-in-all, my girls rank this playground pretty high on their list. It is nice that Sarah feels a little challenged by it as most playgrounds don't do much for her anymore.

Newest crafting obsession!

Yes folks, I have been two-timing my inks and stamps with another crafting obsession. Shhhh...don't tell them, but I have started down the path of no-sew fleece blankies! Actually, I have been looking for a craft that Sarah and I could do together to make useful Christmas gifts for Nana, Grandma & Grandpa and Aunt Lori.

I think we have zeroed in on a choice!

These blankets are so easy a caveman could do it. Well, perhaps that takes it too far. Anyway, we did three test blankets (can't do just one when you have three kids!). I really like how they turned out and the girls all love that they have snuggly blankets for the couch. Just in time for our house to be set at a balmy 67 degrees for the winter.

Here are the three test subjects:

Mary's is on the left, Sarah's in the middle and Leah's on the right. I intended for these blankets to be used for couch dwelling during the winter months, but Mary & Leah have kidnapped their blankets and are holding them captive in their room.

As for the details, I made each one 2 yards (supposedly the size of an adult blanket). Each cut for the tied fringe is 5 inches long and 1.5 inches wide (because I'm lazy and wanted to get away with the least amount of labor possible). All in all, it only took me about 1.5 hrs per blanket. Not too shabby! I just hope that everyone on my Christmas list this year is prepared to receive one!

PS - First weigh-in today and lost 7.8 lbs! Yeah for water weight!

Adios Ben and Jerry!

It is time. Time to finally break down and join Weight Watchers yet again. I have done it before, with great success. Each time I got down to a manageable weight, I would get pregnant and gain 70 lbs (no seriously, I gained 70 lbs when I was pregnant).

Ever since Leah's birth, I just haven't felt the urge to take the plunge yet again. It is just so much work and that third kid just pulled all the last vestiges of energy right out of my bones.

I will be starting on Tuesday, so for the last week I have been having the farewell tour of all my favorite bad-for-you foods. I think I'm at the point where I welcome the idea of only eating fruits and veggies for a while. I think I have done some serious artery clogging this week!

So I'm saying ADIOS to Ben and Jerry. I wish it was Au Revoir, but I think I need to just come to the realization that my life will be better without you. LOL!

Better Know a Playground, Part 1

It has been requested that I share some of my playground knowledge that I have gained in my multi-part series entitled "Better Know a Playground". I can't tell you how many parts this series will have because I really don't know how many playgrounds we have tested out. It seems like a zillion, but probably more like twenty. For all you Steven Colbert fans out there, this series was indeed inspired by his 435 part series "Better Know a District".

The playground of choice for today: Northwest Park. I don't name 'em folks, I just drag my children to 'em. BTW, this is about as busy as I have ever seen it on a non-soccer day. During soccer games, the place is packed. It is located just south of Henderson Road, West of Coach Road.

NORTHWEST PARK

This is a playground we haven't been to for a while. In fact, I don't think we have been here at all this summer. The play structure is actually very tall as far as playgrounds go. I took the girls there a couple times last summer but decided it was WAY too tall for a then 2 1/2 yr old to be using. It was definitely heart-attack inducing watching Leah play on it.

Fast forward to this summer, and Leah is perfectly capable at 3 1/2 to climb over the entire structure and go down the slides without fear she will fall off the side.

Here she is demonstrating her new favorite playground equipment, the rock wall.

The slides on the main play structure are quite tall. Mary thought they were the greatest thing ever, for today.

Yes, I am one of those parents that let my kids walk up the slides.

One of the major drawbacks to this playground is the toddler area. It is seriously lacking. We have better stuff in our basement.

That is the entire toddler playground. I didn't even have to step back to take the picture.

My girls absolute favorite part of the park is what I call the Little House on the Prairie hill. They run up and down over and over and over to the point of exhaustion. It is great!

Can't you just hear that theme song in your head?

While we were perched up at the top of the hill, the girls decided to pick a few flowers. I have to say that I always appreciate photo ops that involve my kids and nature!

All in all, it is a nice playground to spend an hour, but it isn't going to keep them entertained for a long period of time. If you hit it when there aren't soccer practices or games, it is nearly empty, which is a major bonus. The walking path around the park is very long and actually connects to Burbank, so you can give it some bonus points for that feature too.

Mirror Lake

One of the things that has been on our summer to-do list for years is to have a picnic at Mirror Lake. For anyone who has never suffered of Buckeye Fever, Mirror Lake is a lovely little spot on campus at OSU. To make it extra fun, The Jessica's also have been meaning to show their girls the joy that is Mirror Lake, so we made it a picnic party.

Over Labor Day weekend we finally took the plunge and picnicked (is that a word) our brains out.

Supposedly, the water is so clear that you can see your reflection (thus the name "Mirror Lake"). I think perhaps it should be renamed to "Murky Lake". Or even better "Murky Pond". Don't think I didn't find the area beautiful. It was quite lovely. I just couldn't see my countenance in the water.

Now, you can't live here without eventually either falling in love with OSU or totally hating it. There is no in-between. I don't get the haters because OSU gives our city so much rich culture. That must be why those haters root for Michigan. They have no culture.

The OSU brainwashing starts early around these parts.

No trip to the campus is complete without dragging five kids to the newly renovated library. You know, the place where college kids are trying to do research and study and stuff? In quiet? The new library is gorgeous!

There is a fantastic look out spot on the 11th floor that has great views of the campus and the surrounding area. I had to include the west view that has what some would say is the most important part of campus. Mary says this is where they have the soccer games with Dippin' Dots. I think Woody might have turned over in his grave.

On that note, here's hoping for a very successful day on Saturday for our beloved Buckeyes! GO BUCKS!