Boating

 

As many of you may know, I am a big couponer. If I can find a coupon then I am going to use it, which is why I have loved so much of the big on-line deal movement that came about a few years ago when Groupon started. I am signed up with several of these on-line deal sites and am constantly looking for fun, family activities. This past year, I bought a deal for a half-day pontoon boat rental at Buckeye Lake. We decided to redeem our coupon after most kids had gone back to school so that we could have a quiet afternoon with the kids (who had never been on a boat).

 

 

We had a hot, sunny day and made our way to the lake outside of Columbus with lots of inflatables, drinks & food. Kyrie was a bit nervous about being on the boat, but she settled into in pretty quickly. We took a tour of the lake (which was quite low due to this summer's drought) before finding a good spot for swimming and a little tubing. Degen was pretty nervous about getting into the water and clung to Darren... that boy has no trust for a life vest at all, but Kyrie happily swam around the boat. Both kids enjoyed some low-speed tubing with Darren hanging off the back of the tube most of the way. Mostly, we just enjoyed the scenery and the cool breeze the moving boat made on such a hot day. Another great family activity to wrap up our summer!

 

 

 

Baseball Fun

 

As Labor Day fast-approached, we tried to fit a last few summer activities into our schedule. Since Darren missed our last outing to a Clippers baseball game, we headed to Huntington Park once more with him in tow. Unfortunately, the hometown team couldn't pull out a win this time around, but we still had fun eating the ballpark fare, watching the hot dog race and singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame."

 

Kitchen Remodel IX

 

Well, after quite a few weeks with not a whole lot of progress on the kitchen, we are finally... possibly... maybe getting to the end of this project. Even while posting these photos, I can glance at the kitchen and it looks very different from the photos here, but first things first.

We got the broken piece of granite replaced. The granite installors also fixed a few seams and things and it looks a lot better than it did before. These photos mostly show the addition of the crown moulding on the upper cabinets. It is a very nice finishing touch and gives the kitchen a really great look.

The biggest change we have is the backsplash. I only have one corner to show you in this post, and though it is a big change from the plain walls we have been looking at for weeks, we loved it almost immediately. It just looks great! In my next kitchen post, I will be able to show you the completed backsplash and our hardware (pulls & knobs). Really, we are down to a lot of little details and could be finished up any day now. Darren & I are more than delighted with our new kitchen. I can't wait for it all to be completed so that I can get everything out of the boxes in the basement and organized.

 

The kitchenette with the new beverage fridge!

 

Our magnetic wall. Because I lost the magnetic side of the refrigerator to a can cupboard, our contractor made this into a magnetic wall where we could hang the kids' art.

Detail work on the crown moulding.

The backsplash!

(Little) Piano Man

 

This summer, Degen joined Kyrie at The Conservatory of Piano for his own class: the preschool summer sampler. For six weeks, he participated in a weekly, hour-long introductory group class which helped establish a foundation to begin piano lessons. At the conclusion of the sampler, he was assigned a teacher to begin private lessons. Degen has shown a lot of interest in music and was always enthusiastic about going to the sampler class. On his first day of private lessons, he got his own COP bag and two books of music- what a proud, little boy!

 

 

Having a three year old in piano is a lot different than having a five year old, which is how old Kyrie was when she started piano. Degen is starting out at the very bottom skill level. Sitting down to practice is a bit like sitting down at the piano with a monkey...a very giggly monkey! Still, at the end of his second week of lessons his teacher gave the somewhat hopeful report that "I think we're actually making some progress." I am encouraged by other waiting room parents who share that their kids started off at the same age and still love piano years later.

 

(Kyrie continues to show improvement with her lessons. She has learned several key positions and has started to play chords.)

St. Andrew Parish Festival

 

We rounded out another summer with a trip to our neighborhood parish festival. The weather was gorgeous this year (we had rain the year before and heat the year before that). Blue skies and mild temperatures brought a lot of families (and even more teenagers) out to the church. The kids & Darren each got ride bands, but Kyrie has gotten a little wary of some of the bigger rides, so they didn't make as much use of their bands this year...especially as the lines grew longer as the evening wore on. Still, they rode all of their old favorites at least once, and the Fun Slide proved to be this year's overall favorite. We did rides then ate, played games, did more rides and used up the last of our game tickets before the crowds were more than we could bear and headed up before the sun was down.

 



 

 

Game, Set, Match

 

This summer, Kyrie took tennis lessons twice a week at The Player's Club. She enjoyed learning the basics of her Daddy's favorite sport and will continue with once a week lessons this fall. 

A Nationwide View

 

Visiting Darren at work is always a treat! The kids love going downtown to join Darren for lunch and say 'hi' to all our Nationwide friends. We are always welcomed to the office with smiles and the extended hand of friendship.

 

 

The kids love the tall, tall Nationwide building, and on this visit Kyrie convinced Darren to take us to the upper floors so that we could look out at the city. They loved being up so high and being able to see the city all around them. Columbus is the headquarters of Nationwide Insurance, and the company has done much to improve the city, including the downtown area called the Arena District.

 

Nationwide Arena

Huntington Park, just west of the Arena

I love this photo!

The Nationwide building