Vanilla Icing

Ah! Sweet Water!

All in all, a pretty ordinary day.  I picked up a sprinkler today at Busy Beaver for benefit of the front and back yard but the kids are benefiting too.

I tortured the kids again at dinner today.  The vegetable of the day was roasted zucchini, carrots, squash and cauliflower with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of cilantro.  Tristyn actually ate all of his vegetables and only made a slight face at the 'white broccoli that doesn't taste good like the green broccoli.'  Maia elected to eat only the carrot portion with her raviolis. 

Rick was a bit late home from work today--it's common at the end of the month so I got a late start today heading to the jail trail.  (Rick stayed home to play Twister with the kids)  But, nonetheless, I got in 75 minutes of rollerblading.   I didn't see anything 'unusual' on the trail this time like I did on Sunday--so no man riding a unicycle like the other day. After today's heat spell and my workout the water I had waiting for me couldn't have tasted colder and sweeter had it just come out of the refrigerator!  It always makes me curious as to why when I am very, very thirsty that water tastes sweet.

Well, It's storytime in this house for certain children and I'm off to do so, followed by a long, cool shower and a big nice chunk of time with Rick since I haven't really seen him since he's come home.

Ratatouille and Errands

Sunday, we ended up taking the kids to see Ratatouille.  They really enjoyed it.  I wish more very kid-friendly movies like it would come out.  Our family really enjoys going to the movies together. =)

Yesterday, was a day of errands.  My driver's license expired on August 6th so I had to go get a new picture taken.  Lucky for us, we walked into the driver's center and there was only one other person there.  I got to immediately go over to one of the clerks and get my picture taken.  All in all, the whole procedure took about 5 minutes from entering to leaving.  Tristyn sorely needed a haircut and Maia wanted hers done too, so that was our next stop.

Maia wanted to try hers pretty short.  Payless Shoes were next door and Maia loves to try on shoes so we stopped in there next so she could try them on.  She found a pink sparkly pair that she really liked but they only had them in sizes too big or too small.  She wants me to put 'pink, sparkly shoes' on the list of Things We Need to Buy for School.

(Tristyn's haircut can be attributed to a little too much squirming and wiggling)

We tend to have lunch with Missy on Mondays but since we weren't home, we met her at Panera.  The kids and I all ordered our usual:  Maia-peanut butter on a bagel with chocolate milk, Tristyn-broccoli cheese soup with sourdough roll and HiC, and me-chicken noodle soup with sourdough roll and a diet pepsi.  As usual, Maia ate about half of my roll. She's a bread nut just like me.

From here, we went to the bookstore and the kids got to look at books.  Tristyn disappeared (not really) down an aisle and immersed himself in various books, while Maia brought me every (I think!) book off the 'Off to Kindergarten' display to read to her.  I ended up finding a great cookbook on the clearance table on the way out which of course I had to turn around and go buy. It was 400+ recipes from around the world.  I picked one out straightaway to try making with dinner.

The kids played in the Eagle's Nest while I grabbed a few things from Giant Eagle including the few spices I didn't have that I would need for dinner.  The Eagle's Nest really is a great addition to GE because there is such a wide variety of things for the kids to do there while mommys are shopping. Everyone leaves the store happy because no one got bored or frustrated.  Tristyn and Maia always do the daily (weekly?) project when they are in there and this time they made alligators. 

At home, we spent some time relaxing and playing after a busy morning/early afternoon.  We also tried Tristyn's 'experiment' which consisted of seeing what type of liquid would break up/dissolve goldfish crackers the quickest.

Here it is!  My second attempt at an Indian Dish:  Basmati Rice with Potatoes.   Some of the spices in it included --cinnamon stick, cardamon pods, cumin, bay leaves, tumeric and I think at least one other that I am forgetting.  It turned out really good though of course the kids weren't too sure of it.  =(    They are newly convinced pea eaters though, because they really enjoy eating fresh peas.  This time we got about 2.5 lbs of them to shell for dinner and had a good time doing it.

After dinner was cleaned up, the kids went off to play in their rooms while Rick went to lift weights and I jumped on the treadmill.  I got a good 35 minutes in on the 10% incline. 

The kids and I looked at old baby pictures in our old albums before bedtime instead of our usual couple of stories.  They were both fascinated at how tiny they were, but every time Tristyn saw the obligatory cute naked baby butt picture of himself he was really upset and embarrassed.  I wonder if those emotions will carry through to when he's a teenager in regards to those pictures!  Hahahaha.

Big Love was on at 9 pm and the kids were tucked in and the lights turned out with about 10 minutes to spare.  Rick and I spent the rest of the evening watching the show and relaxing. =)

Neither is Sunday!

After a very long night's sleep (bed at 10 pm!! and waking up at 8 am!!) I got out of bed fully revived and ready to go.  I had a cup of tea and some yogurt and made the kids breakfast.  Then, I loaded up my bike and drove down to the jail trail.  I rode from the start of the trail all the way to the Smithfield Street Bridge.  I crossed over it and got on the Station Square/Southside Trail and rode that all the way to the Hot Metal Bridge.  I didn't cross this bridge even though it would have brought me back to the start of the jail trail for two reasons.  One--it's not fun making the mad dash across the bridge in between cars (the bike bridge isn't completed yet).  I've done that before and it's scary! And secondly, I wasn't ready to end my trip that soon, so basically I turned around and backtracked the way I came for a total time of 56 minutes.

Not too bad this past week in regards to exercise I'd say. I chart from Sunday to Saturday.  This past week:

Sunday--1 hr 24 mins bike ride (with Rick)
Monday--rest day
Tuesday--30 minute run on treadmill
Wednesday--2nd rest day of the week--plus we were in Cleveland and did a lot of walking there
Thursday--30 minute walk on treadmill at fast pace and 10% incline
Friday--60 minutes rollerblading on Jail Trail
Saturday--30 mins of hill running in Lawrenceville area 

=D  Today's ride was a decent way to start the week =D

After I came home, I showered and made lunch for everyone.  Then Rick wanted to take his turn biking but he decided to bike in Frick and do some of the trails there.  He rode to the park, but the kids and I drove over and spent some time playing at the playground. 

Tristyn was in mid-swing when I took this picture.  It took me about 8 attempts to get it because either he'd be too far away or I'd get a close-up of the soles of his shoes.

After I pushed Maia on the swings for awhile (she's only willing to pump half of the time) she wanted to 'zoom like an airplane' and I got this picture of her taken.

You can kind of see their tie-dye shirts that they made in the pictures.  I think they did a fantastic job with them.  Thanks again Missy and Mindy!

Right now, everyone is taking a brief break before we get ready to go to the movies.  =D

Saturday is not for Relaxing

            

 

Tada!  More pink petunias!   I haven't the slightest clue why I love petunias so much but I do.

Maia 'discovered' this visitor resting on one of our bare spots in our yard.  We tried to wave him away from the spot we are trying to patch and get him to land anywhere else on the rest of the green lawn but he wouldn't oblige.

Maia had dance today.  I'm getting really tired sitting in the car while she is in class because I always forget to bring something to do or read and it suddenly occurred to me:  what a perfect time to squeeze in an extra run!  I ran on the Lawrenceville side, zig-zagging my way down the hill for a block, across an alley for a block or two, then down another block, across an alley....and so on until I was all the way at the bottom.  Then, I repeated what I had done but only came up this time.   Then after I got to the top, I crossed Penn Avenue and ran a little bit on the Bloomfield side to even things out to a nice 30 minutes.

Once dance class was over, Maia and I stopped in Squirrel Hill to go to Starbucks.  This is our little Saturday treat--she gets a chocolate milk and I get a nonfat raspberry decaf mocha.  We didn't have a lot of time so we didn't linger long so we got everything to go and I got one to bring home to Rick as well. Tristyn isn't partial to chocolate milk; he was just happy to have the 2 hours or so away from Maia.

While I made lunch, Rick squeezed in a run and took Riley with him.   Poor Bob!  He didn't get to go and all he did was run up and downstairs looking for them and crying.  He's definitely 'owed' the next time out!

We had a wedding in Waynesburg to go to; Rick's first cousin was getting married.  We got ready and then dropped the kids off at Missy's house where they got to do all sorts of fun things.  Much better than going to a wedding where they didn't know anyone!  They swam, played on the computer, made tie-dye t-shirts and then came back to our house with Missy and Mindy and got to have pizza for dinner. Then they got to stay up extra late playing, playing and playing!   

The wedding was very nice. The bride's dress was beautiful.  It was one of those dresses that you couldn't help looking at and wishing girls and women got to get dressed up that fancy everyday.  There were many many guests at the reception--we heard the count was at like 380!--but the place it was at was more than accommodating and decorated very nicely.  Really, all in all, everything seemed to be picture perfect!

 

            

       

On Fridays, I'm easily impressed

Hmmm...nothing too exciting today.  I did some things with the kids, ran some errands and 'taught' Catharine how to bake sugar cookies. Dinner was simple tilapia, potatoes and baked asparagus with this strange cheese i bought a little while ago--invernia? inverness?  Can't remember right now what it's called but it has a taste and texture not unlike asiago.  After dinner, I drove to the jail trail and rollerbladed for just over an hour.  I did a few laps and really enjoyed it.  I've forgotten how much I like to blade but I won't be forgetting again so soon.  I'm thinking about doing that (or a long bike ride) on Sunday.  I won't have time tomorrow because we have a wedding to go to and Maia has dance in the morning.  I'm thinking a quick morning jog while she is in class would be pretty good though.

Anyways...on a different note, I finished the new Harry Potter book I picked up at Target a couple of days ago.  Can't say I was disappointed--but can't say I was impressed either. 

Edited to add:  I was trying to embed a video clip at the top of this post but vox doesn't seem to let one embed.  here's the link: http://video.yahoo.com/video/play?vid=814197&fr=&cache=1

Cleveland 2 of 3

            

 

This is what we found...

The Cleveland Browns Football Stadium!!

You can see the lake just behind the stadium AND the giant windmill we had seen from the statue with the water fountain around the base of it.  We kept exploring and making our way towards the stadium.

Boo!   Hiss!   We really aren't Browns Fans at all.  How could we be?  We're from Pittsburgh.  Steelers all the way!!

Maia holding her seagull feather poses with me while Tristyn snaps the photo.  Unfortunately the one she took of Tristyn and I didn't come out so well. 

But I got one of all of us!  We look a little funny but it's very hard to stretch one's arm out far enough to get everyone in the picture AND get everyone looking good at the same time.

Remember that windmill?  GUESS what it was in front of.....

            

       

Cleveland 1 of 3

Rick has some mandatory mini-conference thing for IC today in Cleveland.  Always looking for an excuse to travel---even to a city close by that I've been to before---I packed up the kids and we tagged along.  The conference was being held in a hotel near the airport.  Not wanting to deal with driving and figuring out where to park (assuming we got to downtown Cleveland and didn't get lost!), first we took the hotel shuttle to the airport and then jumped on the subway/train.

this might quite possibly be the 'worst' view of the skyline--but it was taken on a moving train, through the not so very clean window from across the river with a cell phone camera!

The train was about a 25 minute ride from the airport to the Tower City stop.  At Tower City, we had a quick lunch and walked around a bit until we found the Children's Place.  The kids needed backpacks for school so I decided to get them a little early

The kids liked these things in the window of an art gallery on 4th Street and wanted a picture with it.

This place is called the Avenues.  At one time it was supposed to have been one of the very first shopping malls.  Everything in it is very ornate and there was about 4 floors (assuming I counted correctly--I did do it very quickly).  There aren't too many stores in it now; the first 2 floors consist of some restaurants and eccentric stores.  The top floors appeared to either be vacant or being used for office space.

After the Avenues, we strolled around some more and I attempted to take pictures of some of the memorials.  I rather liked the second one and wished I would have had my 'real' camera.

In the same manner Pittsburgh has giant dinosaurs spread about town, Cleveland has giant guitars.  The kids picked this one to pose with because there was a monkey painted on it but I think it's too hard to see it in the picture.

At first, we had planned to stop in at the library and look around in the kids' section (Rick and I have been to this library before and it's huge!)  but I felt compelled to keep walking until I saw what was at the end of this long series of malls.  (I think that's what they were calling these things)  As we walked, it got more and more difficult to weave our way around because there were some people setting up for some event--lots of tents and several stages.  However, it didn't take too long and we finally got to see what was at the 'end.'

Cleveland 3 of 3

            

 

The Great Lakes Science Center!!!  What a bonus!!

Tristyn finally got his picture with 'R2D2.'  We have this mailbox in Pittsburgh too and he's always wanted me to stop and take his picture with it.  Guess we had to go to Cleveland to get the job done.  Inside, I found out that my Carnegie Science Center membership was good here too and we got in free!  Reciprocal memberships are the best!  Thanks again, Dad, for getting our family such a wonderful Christmas present. 

We didn't have all afternoon to spend here, but we did have a few hours and made the most of it.  The kids placed the PVC pipe organ and sure enough it sounded just like the one the Blue Man Group plays--but of course my  kids' played a much different 'song' than the BMG plays.

Tristyn wanted to try out the wheelchair.  While he sat in it, there was a screen in front of him that showed a virtual house and he had to manuever his wheelchair through the house without bumping anything. Everytime he 'bumped' into something, the screen would say things like 'bumped right footrest on counter.'  It was much harder than he thought it would be!

On one of the upper levels, there was an outdoor deck with a few activities on it.  While the kids' tried some out, I snapped this quick picture of the lake.

Maia loved this whirly spinning thing that talked about momentum.  (She didn't care what the 'about' board was about and just wanted to spin). Apparently so did many other children.  She had to wait in a long line to get a turn and her turn was rather short because of the long line behind her.  She didn't mind waiting in line and happily got at the back of the line to wait for a second turn.

We went back inside to spend a little more time doing some of the activities before it was time to start walking across town to catch the train again.  We didn't get to do everything but we sure had a good time!

            

       

I'm awful

            

 

when it comes to piping icing. =(   

            

       

Feeding Frenzy

After years of trial and error---okay, what i really mean is me making a concentrated effort---i've finally gotten in a comfortable routine the last year or so of making it a point to not only wake up before the kids but get moving before them.  I've found if I'm up and moving before them and have a little bit of breakfast and a cup of tea before they come down I am much more awake and ready to jump right back in the mom game.

Routines are good and healthy for all concerned I think, especially in the morning.   I wake up, take the dogs out, come in and have a bit of breakfast.  Then when the kids come down,  which ever kid's turn it is feeds the cats and dog (Neither dog minds if there is a spill-they get to it right away!), while I start their breakfast.  Usually, while it cooks and/or they eat, I unload the dishwasher from the night before.  Whenever one finishes up they usually help too--they like to put away the silverware and the kids' cups which go in a lower cabinet.  Both of these two little morning chores are often fought over and  only by careful keeping track of 'whose turn it is' can we avoid these arguments.

Avoiding arguments are good.  They came downstairs this morning have quite a terrific one.  Last night, Maia lost her 2nd tooth and turned it into the Tooth Fairy for shiny quarters.  As per her request, the Tooth Fairy also left Maia a photograph of herself.  The argument began because Tristyn didn't think it was a real photograph (it was!  Rick printed it out himself on glossy photo paper!) and Maia got upset and informed him that his pirate loot of gold coins and jewels wasn't real.

It's too bad all arguments weren't over such simple things:  the validity of Fairy Photographs v.  Pirate Loot