Ohio Round Up

OK, so this is a long post of our Ohio round up pictures.  All random shots, just showing how much our love of having a hot summer!  We took full advantage of being outside as much as we could...though playgrounds were limited, we hit a few.  SF is bubbling over with playgrounds, most times two or three per neighborhood, but I noticed there weren't that many mainly in suburbia because most people have backyards with big play structures in them.  

 It's funny, most dayss it was about 85 outside and we were the only ones outside playing.  Most, I'm assuming, were inside soaking in the AC but not us...we were literally dancing in the sunshine and heat.

And we loved the warm summer evenings...we took family walks almost nightly, something the kids came to really look forward to.

One thing the children really took hold of was drawing.  I'm not sure what clicked with them, especially Timo, but he spent a great deal of his time drawing.  He toted his drawing pad around everywhere, planted down and just had to get the idea out of his head and on paper.

 

 We caught lightning bugs (and then released them)!  Timo even had one land on his face!

I feel like this summer was our summer of movies...we've seen four!  Our first was Dispicaple Me 2 and the kids loved it...especially the Minons.  We also saw Monsters U, Turbo and Planes...none of which I took pics for.

I was always looking for adventures to take the kids on and didn't really have to look far.  We took a very muddy hike, explored a botanical gardens, putt-putt, made bow and arrows and searched for the hundreds of rabbits that occupy the neighborhood.

We visited the local library and found out we could get a guest pass to check out books...always check the local library, they are a fountain of information and fun.

Games!  We played so many games!  Timo taught Harbachi how to play Snakes and Ladders and he taught Timo how to play a version of the Korean game, Go.  You try to line up 5 in a row of your stones.  We all spent a fair amount of time trying to master Go.

And we ate...and at...and ate.  Harmony kept us well supplies with home cooked Korean food but we did have to take a break from rice at every meal for something a little different at times.  We loved visiting Aunt and Uncle's Chinese restaurant and partaking of the homemade doughnuts.  We also hit up Chick-fil-a and used our Mudcat's coupon for a free Happy Meal!

 But with all the yummy food, ice cream took center spot of our daily routine.  We loaded Harmony's freezer with ice pops and made frequent visits to Mr. Freeze!  Oh, how we miss Mr. Freeze...

I also miss the thunderstorms...we had several.  One day was really scary when all our phones went off with a tornado warning.  Cameron was at gymnastic camp at the time and it was such a horrible feeling knowing I couldn't go get her...it was much too dangerous outside to drive.  Once things died down, Young and I couldn't get there fast enough only to find all the little girls in the bathroom singing camp songs.  The amazing counselors "took them on an adventure" and the girls never knew what happened.

It was a great vacation, we love Perrysburg so much...maybe one day we'll actually get up the courage and make it our home too...

Second Week of School

We just entered our second week of school and woke up to this...103 fever.

I guess that's about right, new school, new friends, new germs.  My poor baby, hope it's a quick 24 hour things because she is not happy about missing school today.  But on the flip side, Timo was so excited that Daddy was walking him to school this morning, he got ready in record time!

School Vacation

The kids had two weeks vacation between their kindergarten orientation half day and starting their full class days so we tried to make the most of our few days remaining of summer.  It's been a VERY foggy summer here in SF which means we hit the road most days looking for some sun and warm weather!  We found a great park just over the Golden Gate, Marinwood, with a community pool, play ground, river and lots of open space to play freeze tag!

We thought the pool and playground were the best thing there until Timo discovered the river that ran behind the park.  Each day was a new adventure hiking along the river...picking up sticks and skipping rocks.

Most days there was too much traffic trying to get home over the bridge, around 6pm, so we enjoyed eating al fresco a variety of Marin restaurants...Cheesecake Factory was the fav.

We also headed the other way, down south to hang out with our South Bay Friends.  We enjoyed the splash pad, stick collecting, hiking and rock band play with Matthew and Noelle.

This was one night after dinner in their back yard..the kids put on a show for us.

The pool in Menlo Park was awesome!

We also got to see Jasper and hit another splash pad in Palo Alto.  Gotta love the ice cream man that pushes the cart through the park...music and all.

We spent Evan's birthday at the movies seeing "Planes!" and then out for some lunch and donuts.  I love how all the boys are being silly and Cameron is smiling...ha, ha.  And a tons of new playgrounds in SF have been remodeled and newly opened.  We spent a few days checking them all out.

In the mist of all the fun we did have to take time out to run errands...watching pizza being made at Costco is so entertaining...they just had to eat it for lunch the next time we went.

And then a few down days of just relaxing at home.  A little house Cameron made for her monkey ball, a tea party for all their friends, a pretty pretty princess and too foggy and cold for a picnic outside...let's have one inside!

A fresh WARM load of laundry I dumped on Cameron...love this silly girl.

And sometimes, when tension was running high, we were off to the library to loose ourselves in books.  I love coming home when all is quiet in the house...

I had a fun two weeks of enjoying Timo and Cameron before school started but I think Timo was ready to get back to his new friends...one more than one occasion he asked "how many more days till we go back to kindergarten?"  Some days I was asking myself the same question...

Sonoma Co Fair

Whew! Timo and Cameron headed back to school today for their first full day of kindergarten.  I have a list a mile long of "things to catch up on", starting with our blog!  Sorry for being MIA the past few weeks...blame it on summer.  The kids had a two week break between their summer orientation and fall sessions and we made the most of our time.  I still have tons of Ohio pics to post but I'll toss in a few SF post first...

Since we missed the State Fair this year (Ohio trip) we decided to get our fair fix with the Sonoma Co. Fair.

It was nice to get out of the city and fog to some sunny warm weather and fun!  The kids got to play one game and we took our time looking for just the right one...our requirement was "any play wins a prize".  There's nothing worse than plunking down money to play only to have your child walk away crying because they didn't win the big stuffed animal!  Cameron chose the froggy jump game and didn't hit any but the kind lady gave her a prize for at least hitting it hard enough to get to the island.  And Timo nailed all four of his balloons with darts!  Success.

We hit the "mid-way" and rode as many rides as we could before the lines got long and the day got hotter.  As you can see, Timo and Cameron were the only riders on some rides, yet they still sat side by side or in the same car with no one else on the ride.  Inseparable.

 Timo got brave on the roller coaster!

Cameron was finally tall enough for the swing ride with an adult!  She sees it at fairs and is always so sad that she isn't tall enough.  Not today!  She was so happy to be ridding this ride, even if Mommy had to ride it with her.  I love the joy on her face!

For some odd reason the kids weren't into the fair food, who's kids are these?  They weren't hungry really all day and just munched on snacks I brought from home.  Timo was just as happy with our sliced apples as he was  with a corn dog.

After the rides and heat of the day we headed over to the livestock area.  The kids love see and petting all the animals.  It's amazing how much they learn watching their favorite TV show "Wild Kratts."  They were giving me facts left and right about different animals we were seeing.  We saw this chicken that had just laid an egg and got to see honey bees up close...but through a screen!

Cameron became fast friend with the horses...

Wouldn't be a fair without tractor races...

 Learning the duties of farm life...Timo was getting the hang of milking a cow.

We were just in time to watch the sheep show...how exciting!  Cameron had to sit and watch the whole show.  It's not the most exciting thing at the fair but we were rewarded by being able to see a sheep sheering up close!

We made our way though every building, had tons of free samples, seen all the winning products from pies to quilts and played our hearts out.  Our feet were hurting and the kids were about at their limit for fun so we decided on one last ride before heading home...the Giants slide!  They went up with two separate mats but somehow came down on one...how lucky to be a twin!