Wow! 2012!

Another year past! 2012 was great.  Rachel is 7 and started 1st grade.

We took our first trip to Disney in the fall of 2010

We took our second trip to Disney in the fall of 2011

We went to Hershey, PA and Wildwood, NJ in the summer of 2012

Rachel turned 7 and started 1st grade

Highlights of 2011

Where has the time gone?  I just can't keep up!  2011 was a fun year!

Rachel finished preschool

 Rachel turned 6!

Rachel started Kindergarten

 And we had an exchange student from South Korea- Yi Seul

Summer Summer Summer!

This has been such a fun (and hot!) summer. We did a lot of fun things and we went swimming a lot too. Rachel really turned into a water baby this year.

Playing soccer

Picking strawberries

Cleveland Zoo

Idlewild & SoakZone

Swimming lessons

Akron zoo

COSI

Birthday party!

2010 where have you been?

Yikes I've been neglecting this blog! Here's a re-cap of the first half of 2010, enjoy!

January was Disney On Ice with Papa & Mamu- which meant cotton candy of course!

February we went to Great Wolf Lodge- it was fun to swim inside with 80 degrees and snow coming down outside!
In March we went to the Akron Zoo on a rainy day to see Animal Enrichment Day- the tigers had a great time!

In April Rachel had her gymnastics Spring Show at Riverfront Y!

And Rachel started riding the bus to school!

June meant last day of school- boy the year went by fast!

Merry Christmas

We celebrated early with my family on December 19- then we went to church on Christmas Eve. Rachel was thrilled to sing her two favorite songs- "Hark the herald angels sing" and "Away in a manger". Santa did bring the hair salon- all is good! Have a very merry Christmas!

"Glory to the newborn King!"

Thanksgiving

Rachel made some neat candle holders at school and my 92-yr-old grandma was here.

Fall is...

Pumpkin farm, leaves, Boo at the Zoo, hikes, Halloween parties, Trick or Treat!

Apple Orchard

We went to Beckwith Apple Orchard today with Rachel's class and it really rained. So we had an inside apple orchard tour. It was still pretty fun but cold. Rachel was happy to see all her school friends.

We have also been doing the Fall Hiking Spree, but we've fallen behind already- only 5 more to go to get our walking sticks.

Whew! It's September already!

Wow- I'm kind of behind on the updates- so here's a bunch at once!

Rachel's 4th birthday party- she wanted a princess theme again and a pinata!

First day of school- 2nd year of preschool- same school, new teacher.

Four year old check-up- she doesn't look too happy does she?

Marriage

My sister got married yesterday! Congratulations Jill & Dallas!

Columbus Zoo

We visited the Columbus Zoo and got to the see the baby elephant Beco that was just born a few months ago. It is a nice zoo but very big and Rachel got tired out after lunch and a trip to the play area for climbing. Rachel got to pet a flamingo! I think she liked the lions and tigers the best. We stayed at the Chase Suite Hotel and I would recommend it- very close to the zoo. We got complimentary pizza and pop and free breakfast in the morning. The rooms are all suites.

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!

Trip to the Zoo

We went to the zoo over the weekend and the weather was great and it was not crowded at all. Rachel loves to play in the zoo keeper's "kitchen". Here's a photo from the butterfly garden.
Hopefully we will have time to do lots of fun stuff this summer as school is almost out!

Happy Mother's Day!

Hope you have a Happy Mother's Day! (artwork by Rachel)

bye, bye kitty...

We had to have our family cat put to sleep today. She was 18+ years old and lived a great life. She just took a turn for the worse about 2 weeks ago and went downhill fast. It was very sad for me.

Post-Easter, Easter Egg Hunt

We had a day-after-Easter, Easter egg hunt in the park today with our playgroup. Boy was it cold! I am not hiding all the candy as we are all "candied" out!

Rachel got an apron for Easter since she like to help me bake muffins. Here she is hamming it up- I think it looks like she is playing "air guitar".

Happy Easter week!

It's almost Easter- we got Easter pictures taken- doesn't she look grown up? (such attitude already!) Hope you and your family have a blessed Easter.

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!

Sons of men and angels say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, ye heavens, and earth, reply, Alleluia!

Charles Wesley

WFMW

Check out my other blog today!

Trip to Splash Lagoon

We went on a mini-vacation to Splash Lagoon so Rachel could go swimming. She liked the little pool and the "deep" pool (to her). She also enjoyed the lazy river tubes.

Napping

The afternoon nap has been kind of hit or miss now. I think she still really needs a nap or she can be very grumpy in the evening. She hates waking up though once she is all warm in cozy in bed! (OK- mom still really needs the nap!)