Alanna's First Haircut

When Alanna was born and very young I called her my "less-haired" baby. She wasn't bald, per se, but she definitely had a lack of hair.

As she grew it only remedied by a bit.

We often go to the barbershop for William to get his haircut, but every time Lana tags along she recites that she doesn't have enough hair for a haircut.

She just turned 3 years old and never received a haircut.

Well, the other week I finally had enough of her messy top and brought her in.

We went to a cute little place geared just to kids. Every station had its very own television and the hairdressers would turn on the child's favorite cartoon to keep them occupied. The seats weren't your normal chairs, they were planes or trains or cars. Every kid got to choose which chair they wanted to sit in. Not surprisingly, Alanna chose an airplane. William also got a haircut, he chose to sit in an old school racecar.

I didn't want to have all my little girl's hair chopped off, but I was hoping that with trimming up the ends and evening things up a bit her wild wisps would become tame.

It only sort of worked.

There is just too much wave and body to her thin, fine locks that even though I brush and comb... unless I make effort to put them up and back it looks like she's a bit crazy.

Then again, it kind of fits her personality perfectly.

Oh, and I did get to keep a lock of her pretty blonde hair.

When Spring Sprung

I totally meant to blog about this awhile ago... but I, uh, didn't.

Spring finally did arrive in Ohio. It took its darn sweet time too! I complained nearly the entire winter about how crappy the weather was and then spring slowly crept in.

Back in October I did something I'd never done before in preparation of spring -- I planted flower bulbs.

And to my amazement they actually bloomed!


hyacinths with daffodils behind

tulips

My neighbors made lots of friendly comments to me about how lovely and bright my flowers looked. And I admit, I smiled every time I saw them. They really made me happy!


even the tree in my yard bloomed

The flower time is winding down and unless I plant something else to bloom over the summer I will soon be done with flowers. I hope to see them again next spring... and it probably will happen but that all depends on the military, Ryan's graduation, PCSing and what not.

Now the weather is heating up. There have not been a ton of mild spring days and we're right about at the point we arrived a year ago, so I know the humidity will be hitting us soon.

Still not a fan of this state, but at least I can say I grew pretty flowers here.

Oh and thank goodness I don't seem to have allergy issues because apparently this place is in the top 5 cities with the worst allergies. Yuck!

 

Aviation Trail Part 2

• Aviation Trail Part 1

After our time exploring the beautiful and peaceful Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum it was nearly lunch time. We drove to our next destination and enjoyed our lunch in the van.

Where did we go?

Carillon Historical Park.

(Side note: I still mess up when saying the name of this place. I keep wanting to call it "care-ee-yon" like in Spanish when two L's make the "yuh" sound... but it is pronounced "care-uh-lawn" like I'm sure most people would say it)

Deeds Carillon

This wasn't the first time we visited the place but after looking through my blog posts I realized I never posted about it -- we went to Carillon Park in May of last year a couple days after arriving in Ohio. My sister was with me then, and we took the kids out to explore something and let them run. We did get to wander through and see a lot of what was there, but we took a little too long and didn't get to check out everything.

Well, I wanted to go back and see what we missed and we still needed to get another stamp in that passport book to meet our minimum requirement for the Wilbear Wright teddy bears.

We would have eaten our lunch on the grass below the Deeds Carillon, but there were a LOT of children on field trips running and screaming about so I decided to keep my kiddos contained. Then we headed inside.

Since we'd been there before I didn't want to spend much time inside. But we had to ride the carousel!

Lana chose the old school race car

William chose to ride the dog food since there was a puppy coming out of it

Once outside I allowed the kids to wander leisurely and see some of the old houses. Just a few weeks ago a new exhibit opened about the huge Dayton flood of 1913 so of course we had to check that out.

Locust Grove School Number 12 (1896) a one room school house

old style gas station

part of the Dayton Flood exhibit

And I FINALLY was able to see the Wright Brothers Aviation Center. The kids were being a bit squirrelly but we had a nice tour guide who talked us through rooms quickly and tried to help me keep them entertained. I wish I had time to read all that was there... but we did see one of the few remaining authentic bicycles made by the Wright Brothers as well as the actual original 1905 Wright Flyer III, the world's first practical airplane.

bicycle made by the Wright Brothers

actual plane created and flown by the Wright Brothers

The guide spoke with me for some time about the Wright Brothers and told me about Hawthorne Hill, the home of Orville Wright. Tours can be done there also. Turns out I think that was the place I used to turn around once when I got lost on my way to Kettering. Anyway, after Wilbur died Orville pretty much lost his major drive and focus with the airplane and went off spending more of his time "tinkering around" as the man told me. Since neither brother every married I'm sure he was very lonely.

Anyway, we finished up at the Aviation Center and wandered more around the park visiting the bridges, viewing old historical homes, and then back to the visitor's center and finally back to our house.

You would think my little ones were exhausted, but they weren't. As soon as we got home Will and Lana saw their friends at the neighborhood park so we spent the rest of our afternoon there. By bedtime my kiddos were done!

What a fun day! And now we have enough stamps to get that prize!

Aviation Trail Part 1

Shortly after arriving in Dayton, Ohio I started dragging the kids to the Wright Brothers Sites in our area. Oh, and there's a lot of them. Imagine that! So we began our tour of the Aviation Trail.

We picked up some "Passports" so we could get a Wilbear Wright aviation teddy bear... I mean, we were going to see the historical sites anyway, we might as well earn something out of it.

Before winter we had received almost enough stamps for the prize but then it became too cold and the 2 stamps left I wanted to get meant being outside. Now that the weather has warmed up I decided it was time to finish them off.

Where did we go?

A cemetery, for one.

You may think that's strange, and I admit it kind of is. But I find cemeteries to be interesting places. Almost anywhere you go in the world you can see how different countries and cultures treat their dead and how environments influence that. And the Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum is not your normal cemetery. I found it beautiful.

Let me start from our beginning. First you have to know that this place is still an active cemetery, over 200 acres, and though surrounded by the city you feel very secluded with all the trees and strong nature presence. We parked at the main center to check in and get our stamps. I was very serious with Will and Alanna before we even got out of the car that this was a "quiet place" and we have to be quiet. We had to be well-behaved - no running, no yelling, and they had to stay with me. There was no walking or climbing on the "rocks" (headstones) and we have to be careful walking on the pathways and in the grass. I was sure to remind them throughout our visit, and they both did amazing!

When we got into the visitor's center I was greeted by two very friendly people. They were quite smiley and welcoming and they were telling me how much they enjoyed visitors. William told them about the light bulb burned out and Alanna was being coy and cute. They asked me what graves we were looking for, gave us a map (with directions), and provided some helpful and insightful information. The Woodland Cemetery is a tourist attraction and I was very pleased with the personal interaction we received.

Back into the van we went to drive to the Wright Brothers' family plot. But as we started our drive I spotted Johnny Morehouse's headstone. He was a 5-year-old boy who died in 1860. He was playing near the river one day and fell in. The dog jumped in to rescue him and pulled him ashore, but it was too late, Johnny had drowned. Legend says that after Johnny was buried, the dog was found staying at his grave. Local people would bring the dog food and water and (according to rumor) the dog eventually died there and was buried with Johnny. Later this beautifully carved headstone was placed and people often decorate it and leave toys.

We weaved our way around and found the graves we were looking for: Orville and Wilbur Wright. It is a very large memorial for them. Wilbur died in 1912 from typhoid at age 45 and Orville lived on until 1948 when he died at age 76 after his second heart attack.

Just up a couple rows and to the left is the grave of Paul Laurence Dunbar, famous African-American poet & author, and friend of the Wright Brothers. He died at age 33 from tuberculosis. His mother is buried next to him.

The writing on his headstone is from his poem A Death Song and it reads:
Lay me down beneaf de willers in de grass,
Whah de branch'll go a singin' as it pass;
an'w'en I's a-layin' low,
I kin hyeah it as it go,
singin', "Sleep, my honey tek' yo 'res' at las'."

Since I had done a little bit of research before trekking out there I knew of a couple other graves I wanted to find so the kids and I took a stroll... I tried really hard to not get lost in that massive land of headstones.

Oh, something else... if you're a regular reader, you know Ryan and I are pretty big Doctor Who fans. Thanks to that show I am now a bit paranoid about stone angels. Every time I saw one I swear my heart would skip a beat and I found myself looking over my shoulder involuntarily.

While wandering about we came across the grave of a Medal of Honor recipient, Capt. Charles Goodwin Bickham. He fought in the Philippine-American War. I wasn't even aware of such a war until I read up on this guy.

The other monument I was looking for was the Stanley Family plot. Levi and Matilda Stanley were King and Queen of the U.S. Gypsies. You can read about them HERE.

you can barely make out the carving on their monument

Like most cemeteries, there was a section for veterans. I'm sure there were more areas, but the main one I found was for Civil War Veterans.

As I mentioned, Woodland is a rural cemetery in the midst of the city. It is near Dayton University. The entire time I was there with Will and Lana we saw people out exercising and exploring. The cemetery also hosts run/walks and offers walking and Segway tours. Many of the tours are about the famous and interesting people and monuments found there. Thing is, the land is kind of hilly and steep so I'm sure you'd be getting a good workout. In the future I'd like to take a couple of the tours, but probably without the kids.

There was more to admire at the cemetery before we headed out to our second location for our Aviation Trail stamps. We drove to the top of the hill to check out the Lookout. From there you can see the skyline of Dayton. And with such a clear day it looked quite nice.

After that, we headed down near the bottom of the cemetery and viewed the duck pond. There were Canadian geese nesting so we didn't actually get out, but we did see a turtle and some ducks.

We had a nice, peaceful trip to the cemetery... it was kind of weird explaining that I took my kids to a graveyard but it was a very interesting place and I actually want to go back.

I'll share about where we went later that day in my next post.

Boston Solidarity Run

I haven't posted about the horrible bombings in Boston yet. I wasn't sure what I should say, most people have already said it.

My emotions can be simply summed up in one word: sad.

Everything that happened makes me sad. For the families that lost loved ones. The lives that are forever changed. The bodies now missing pieces of themselves. The wounded. The terror that gripped the people in that city. It's just awful, and makes me sad.

With news of the death and capture of the suspects, I think a collective sigh of relief could be heard across the country. What will happen next? I'm not completely sure. I feel sorry for the family of these young men though. Even if I think their denial is wrong, they have lost somebody they deeply love.

I've never been to Boston. And as you recently discovered, I'm still fairly new to the running community.

A friend posted on Facebook that the local running store was hosting a solidarity run for Boston. It was going to be held at a local high school track. This free event was open to the public and for $20 you could buy a shirt and all proceeds would go to The One Fund Boston to help those affected by what happened. I wanted to go, but not alone... so I asked my friend if she wanted to go. She also required childcare so if I lined it up we would go together.

Thankfully another friend stepped in to watch our 4 kids so Christy and I headed out to the school where we would be meeting up with some other ladies we knew.

 Surprise! There was a massive turn out. Around 2,000 people showed up to run/jog/walk around a high school track.

this is somewhere in the middle of the pack... even more behind us

By the time we got there all the shirts were gone (but we still placed an order to get them later).

this is what the shirts look like

Eventually we all got moving for our 2.62 mile run. Why 2.62 miles? Because it is one tenth of what the marathon is. So basically we were going 11 laps around the track (that's not very specific, but I was with people who were tracking our distance so we did the full 2.62!)

This was my first experience of running with a lot of people. It was weird. Unfortunately not everybody came to this with a spirit of solidarity. They were treating it like a real race going for their best time. Other people were not following track etiquette and walking in the fast lane. There were also strollers, double strollers, wheel chairs, and small children darting in, out, and between people. Additionally, there were freaking 2,000 people on a track! It was very crowded, VERY hot, and we were literally ran into by some rude people. At one point I was jogging (in a center lane) and somebody wanted to pass me and I was going to move over but there was a stroller in the way so the dude pushed me a bit and he shuttled by me.

Anyway, I did it. It was hot and crowded and I didn't actually RUN the whole thing - we walked 1 1/2 laps out of the 11 laps.

In the end I think it was still a good time. I ended up running more with my acquaintance friend Jessica while Christy ran with her other friend Joanna a little bit behind us. It was nice to have somebody to chat with... and that's what made it fun.

me, Jessica, Christy, & Joanna

Visual Schedule

As if you haven't noticed, I've got a couple young children running around my house.

And like most households, we have things that have to be done.

I wanted a way to explain to my kids what we were going to do everyday so they would be somewhat prepared and have the feeling that they knew what was going on. Hopefully their early life wouldn't seem like mom packing them up in the car over and over while they were clueless to where we were going.

After checking things out on Pinterest I figured out something that would work for us - a Visual Schedule. My inspiration came from THIS pin.

this is my visual schedule that we now use

With limited wall space I didn't want some paper or laminated thing. I also wanted something presentable. Oh, and it had to be at a level the kids could see.

Solution: Fridge.

I bought some magnetic sheets for our printer, used Publisher and WORD to create templates and then cut them out.

I tried to cover all our activities: therapies, school, church, visiting friends, bath time, meals, doctor appointments, dentist appointments, exploring, grocery shopping... the list goes on.

These things turned our marvelous! It is easy to change every day. I keep all our magnets in a bag above the schedule so I can quickly go through them and find what we're doing that day. If we have something new or one of them is damaged/lost, I can simply make and print out another one.

I spent a couple days finding a rhythm and order to how to lay out the schedule, but now we have it down. Every day my kids ask me to do the schedule - they like to know what's going on. Everything is quick! If our schedule needs a quick change we can simply remove the magnet or replace it with a new one.

the completely vertical layout didn't flow well for us

columns worked much better

My only drawback on how I made them is that they aren't super sturdy... so when Lana grabs off "Bedtime" and wanders around with it, the poor magnet does not return in the same pretty, clean, smooth condition. Oh well.

 

Do you keep a visual schedule for your kids? How do you do it and where is it displayed at your house?

Another car encounter

Something happened to me last week and I really was not sure how to respond. I mean, what should I have done in that situation? I was completely clueless.

Let me back it up.

At Will's pre-school it is a drop off system. The parents line their cars along the sidewalk and the teachers and aides come outside, remove the child from the vehicle and, taking them by the hand, walk them one-by-one into the school.

It really is a good, efficient system.

And when it is time to pick up the kids the parents again line up in their cars, park, and wait for the line to move as each child is brought out and the parent then buckles them back in the car.

One of the crimps in the system is that the line of parent cars goes through the parking lot, blocking parked cars in. If somebody needs to leave they either sit and wait for the cars to move and provide a break or sometimes a parent in line will move out to let the parked car leave, then get back in line.

Normal business, I've done it myself.

So the kids and I were sitting, PARKED WITH ENGINE OFF, in line. A couple women get in a parked car with the intent to leave. The car in front of me is the one blocking them in, so the driver begins to back up. I look up watching what's going on. I assumed the woman would back up, stop, then pull out of the line to allow the car to leave.

Well... she didn't stop. In fact she backed right into the front of my van.

A look of shock came across my face and since I had my windows down I hear a rather loud "S***!" erupt from inside her car. She then glances back at me and I kind of smile to show I'm not upset. It's an honest mistake and it happens. She didn't hit my vehicle hard - enough to make it move.

Then what happens next it what pissed me off. She pulls out, drives around the loop and parks her car in a different lot. I watch as she walks over to pick up her child (grandson, I think) get back in her car and drive away.

She never stopped to say sorry. She didn't get out and check if anything was damaged. She didn't even wave an apology. Nothing. Just a four letter word and drove off.

I made sure to write down her license plate number just in case when I got out to get Will, if there was damage I would have something.

The only damage was a dent to the license plate frame. No big deal.

I guess the rudeness of the woman is what got to me. Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. The longer I am in this city the more I realize how rude the locals are.

But how do you respond to that?!

Oh well.