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!

Trick or Treat!

Rachel was Belle- she loved it!

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.

McKinley Museum

We went to the McKinley monument and museum today. It was a lot of fun!

Playdate

We had a fun play date with some other Korean kids!

A Trip To The Farm

Today we went to Miller's Dairy Farm for a tour of the farm and we got to see lots of animals- baby duck, baby skunk, baby rabbit, newborn calf, horses, goats, alpacas, geese, peacocks, pigs, cows, roosters, chickens, etc. Rachel got to have a try at milking a cow and we had a hay ride and some ice cream. It was a fun day!

Fire Station Tour

Monday we had a tour of the Green fire station- which Rachel did not enjoy very much. Then we went swimming even though I had a sore throat. By Tuesday I was miserable and we missed our Tuesday play group. We are still having a fun summer vacation!

Strawberry picking and a covered bridge

Today was the first official day of summer vacation. We went strawberry picking at Greenfield Berry Farm (it was a nice cloudy day). And later we went through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park to see the Everett Covered Bridge.

Then it looked like rain so we stopped at home to have a picnic in the front yard.

Last Day of School!

School is out for summer! The year just seemed to fly by. Rachel cried on the first day because she didn't want to go to school. And she cried on the last day because she didn't want to leave!

first day (wth teacher):

last day (with teacher):

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!

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".

Trip to the Zoo

Our first trip to the Zoo of the season. Rachel really liked the rock wall in the Jelly Fish area and the animal feeding play area by the lions. It turned out to be such a nice day with our play group.

Our bean plant

We planted some bean seeds in a cup to see what would grow- they have sprouted on the window ledge.

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.

Playdate at the Y

Rachel & I got to go to a playdate at the YMCA today. There was an open gym with lots of fun stuff to do. Rachel liked the trampoline and the round "donut".

Happy New Year!

As much as the presents and the toys were fun, I think Rachel enjoyed visiting everyone most of all. Here she is on a play date with her friend Alex at Pump It Up.