~Homecoming~

The tilde on either end of "homecoming" are our wings of happiness! Daddy is finally home and we couldn't be any more excited about that. After a night of talking to Kevin on the phone while he had a layover in LAX, I got a call from him at 6:30am saying that the plane was taxiing at CVG.

I woke up the kids and we jumped in the van to go down to pick him up. I didn't realize how easy it would be to get the kids out of bed. They jumped up and put their sandals on and were out the door. Promising them that we'd take Daddy out to breakfast afterward probably didn't slow them down.

Kevin was already waiting outside the terminal by the time we made it down there. He went through customs in Los Angeles, so that helped sped things along. Standing outside wasn't too bad for him because that morning our humidity was almost non-existent, especially compared to what he's had to deal with the last month.

We went to IHOP for breakfast, as promised. Then we spent a lazy day swimming and relaxing, all in the company of our favorite guy. He even treated us to a dinner of pulled pork that he whipped up himself. Man, are we spoiled!

Later, I'll post some pictures from his trip. They are very interesting! But overall, his observation of China is that it really isn't all that different from our life here in the US. Of course, the details and customs are a bit different, but day-to-life really is pretty similar.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
--Mark Twain

When Tragedy Strikes

By "tragedy" I mean that over-sized window that no longer has blinds because Charlie pulled them down upon himself. And by "strikes" I mean that that window is striking birds in the face left and right.

And if you're wondering how the lil' guy is doing, he's just fine. He got his way, though. I couldn't get him to take a bath until the next day, which is fine. He was a mite tender-headed on Sunday. We got him cleaned up and saw that it was a complicated scratch. One small part was a bit deeper than the other "legs" of the scratch, but it's healing up nicely. Thanks go out to Grandma R. and Cousin Katie for saving the day with help and advice.

More Pictures from Cleveland

These are some pictures that I meant to transfer from my phone to the blog back in May, and just saw that they were still residing on my phone. The boys love fishing with Uncle Paul, and Mom and I love taking our chairs and relaxing by the shore.

Hard

It has been the hardest today. I'm not sure if it's because we ran errands in the morning that made us cranky, then spent the rest of the day at home being bored. Or if it has something to do with the fact that we are all in need of a nice nap, but it's been difficult. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Kevin gets on a plane in less than twelve hours and the minutes can't go by quickly enough.

August 1st?!

I find it hard to believe that it is the beginning of August already, the end of summer. I would love for the school year to go Labor Day to Memorial Day, but that's a discussion for another day.

Checking out the "Summer To Do" list, we still have quite a few things still to check off. Namely, a Reds game. Can you believe that we haven't taken the kids to one in quite a while. Meredith, none at all, although I'm wondering how she'll do seeing as she doesn't like to stay in one place for very long!

Here are some of the other things we'd like to knock out before the school bell starts ringing:

• Go on a picnic (We had a mini-picnic in the backyard, but I'd like to go to a park or someplace.)
• Go bike riding (This is somewhat prohibited by the fact that Louie is not confident in riding his bike. He has pedaled for a great distance now, but he has it in his head that someone has to hold onto the back of his seat, which he doesn't need any more. And yes, I'm aware that it is a failure in my parenting that he has yet to learn.)
• See an outdoor movie (I'd love to be able to take them to a drive-in but there are so few left around here. There are places to see movies outside, in parks, on Fountain Square, though.)
• See an outdoor concert (Apparently these happen on Wednesdays. The next couple of Wednesdays are taken, so hopefully we can get the last one!)
• Make bird houses (I have these little houses that may be good for a rainy-day activity.)
• Have a lemonade/vegetable stand (Our vegetables haven't reached full-bounty yet; we haven't had much for ourselves! But maybe later this month they can do this.)
• Teen ballgame (The boys love to watch the big kids play baseball and we were trying to come up with someone we know who might be playing this summer. If nothing else, we could go over to Crosley in Blue Ash to catch a game.)
• Sharon Woods (We haven't visited many of our old haunts. Not a big deal, as we go here quite a bit during the school year.)
• Visit Pipkins (I thought we'd walk over to the market after a trip to the library, but this just hasn't happened yet.)
• Findlay Market (This will definitely happen at some point. The kids love going down there and so do I, but we have to make time for it.)

It must seem like with a list this long we haven't done anything all summer, but we actually have many things marked on the list. They've had a very full summer of swimming and swim lessons, multiple visits to Grandma and Grandpa's house, and all sorts of picnics and parties. Let's see how much we can fit into these last few weeks!