Broken humerus snowboarding with friends today.

Lucky he had a helmet on!

Bad timing!

We are leaving for an Unschoolers Conference at a water park for a few days, we have a quick ski trip planned, he has several circus performances coming up, helping out with a music video in the girls breakdancing class, and he and Joe were going to Jackson Hole for snowboarding and snowmobiling. (which may still be possible if he heals in a timely manner).

Ginger is sick and I spent most of the day at the hospital with Jake,  so packing and shopping for our trip is not happening. So, I will be cramming in what I can tomorrow and then off for a few days of R&R. I’ll be back next week, hopefully with better news. Or at least I’ll be well rested.

2008 went out with a party!!!

Stilt dancing downtown at First Night

Jake got to walk in the streets with the big boys…lucky him!!!!!!!

We made it home just in time!

2008 was good but 2009 will be even better!!!!! The pork is in the crock pot (to ensure my good luck!) And we are off for a day of skiing. Welcome 2009!

It’s almost over-this hectic busy time of year. About now I am wishing for a day to just stay home and do nothing. But soon enough we will be pushed right back into our regular old routine and these days  of visiting and celebrating will be just a memory.So I guess I will take advantage of them and visit all the exhibits that we meant to see before the beginning of the year and use up all of our coupons that expire at the end of the year-all in the next week!

Today the kids had a  stilt dancing performance at The Conservatory. They did awesome-as usual! I am so proud of them that each time they perform I have a hard time holding back the tears! They will be ringing in the new year downtown at First Night again this year too!!

Last night a few fellow, Columbus bloggers (her, her and her) and I attended a shindig put on by Experience Columbus.

It was fun to meet some new people as well as catch up with some ladies (her, her, her) I haven’t seen in a while.   (Sorry if I caught up with you and didn’t link to you, I had Jenl’s ice cream on the brain and it took my techy self way too long to do that many links!)

Abby made sure I didn’t forget about her- or she might kick my stretchy pants covered butt!

They are trying out a new add campaign and we got to preview it and comment and snack and all that good stuff.  Best of all we get to customize a free T-shirt from a local vendor!!  Definitely the best gimme!  Anywho, there campaign is based on what Columbus doesn’t have.  I am a bit leary of this ad concept.  I get that we don’t have bragging rights to the Eiffel Tower, or the Alps.  I don’t think anyone in the three hour radius (those who most visit for leisure) is looking for those things.   I am guessing you would be coming here to visit family, you probably have kids..or you are coming here to shop or visit OSU.   Most every city has a zoo, malls, possibly a science center, art museum etc…I think there ad should focus not only on what we do have but the oddities, off the beaten path, free, and different things Columbus has to offer.

Because I do not have three hours to type out a really great add for Columbus, I will just list some of our greatnesses!

1. The short North-try to visit the art district on the first Saturday evening of any month, year around and you will not only be entertained by the street performers, the open galleries  and stores, many different  eateries and bars, but by the people that attend.  Some of the best people watching around. We are The Indie Arst Capitol of the World you know!  And the short North will prove how serious Columbus takes its Art.

2. The Park of Roses-Come here anytime through out the summer and be amazed by the Award winning rose gardens.  Or come in the winter and hope there is some snow!

3. In the summer you can check out either one of these great free water attractions with your kids:  The Dancing Bunnies or Homestead Park.  Now neither of these are in Columbus proper but really no matter where your staying, it is fairly easy to get around here.  Especially is you aren’t in rush hour traffic.  But if you want water and you want to stay in the city-there is not only shopping galore (for those with money to spend!) but there are also free fountains to play in at Easton .  There are waterfalls to play in here in Columbus  too.  Did you know that?

4.We have great shopping!!  Some of the best thrift stores are here!  Village Discount, Ohio Thrift as well as several Salvation Army’s and Goodwills and Volunteers of America stores.  Antique stores like crazy!

5. Music and Food.  Where do I begin??  Every type of authentic ethnic food as well as American eateries can be found here.  We have many vegan and vegetarian options also.   Now as far as music-well I think we have another title there too-aren’t we like the best new up and coming talent, hot live music scene too?

Well I could go on and on, beleive me I have so much more,  but this took me too long and  maybe someday I will do an insiders scoop of Columbus on the cheap-with and with out kid activities.  Or better yet maybe someone will PAY me for all my good info!

So in a nut shell – Come visit us!  There’s lots to see and do both ordinary and extraordinary.  If you are planning a trip to our fair city and your are looking for something to do-drop me an email and I can certainly point you in the right direction!  I can be like your internet travel guide!!

Moooooooooooo from Cowtown.  Go Bucks.  O_H_I_O We have a little bit of EVERYTHING here!  That’s my new add campaign :

COME TO COLUMBUS-WHERE THERE REALLY IS A LITTLE BIT OF EVERYTHING!

Here in Columbus we often skip Spring. It seems to go from cold to hot almost overnight. But not this year. We have had chilly nights and 60 degree days and lots of sun and a good bit of rain. But not today. Today was another beautifully breezy day. Only warmer. Which is fine by me. I am a girl of summer!

We filled the baby pool with water and added blue food coloring, shiny star marbles, jewels and a fishing pole and fish.

And after lunch we tried to make bracelets out of old tooth brushes. It didn’t work, at all! I hate when there are directions for a project and it fails.

First we tried to pull out the bristles with tweezers. Ha-If you didn’t have carpel tunnel before you started this project You certainly will when your finished .

Ginger enjoyed trying to do this, but Molly turned to scissors!

So that was the first hint that this project was going to be tough.

Next we boiled a pot of water, added the tooth brushes.

We carefully removed one and with a towel wrapped around the HOT tooth brush, we tried to bend it around the bottom of a glass.

It barely bent, we re-boiled several times. Dancing on chairs and stools seemed to help the time pass.

tried different brands of tooth brushes…. Failure #1

Failure #2, after boiling and bending several times:

Then we Threw in the towel. Actually I threw the now germ free tooth brushes into the stack of cake pans still on the counter from the metal tooling project and headed out to drop the kids at my Mom’s for some cable TV while I grocery shopped.

So my advice is Don’t Try This At Home!!!

But I like the photos from this-they are so unexpected.

This actually Saturdays post that was never published as my computer was not cooperating!

We walked to our neighborhood easter egg hunt this morning. Both of the girls found plenty of eggs while Jake slept. Ginger promptly opened her eggs and turned each one upside down after she emptied it’s contents. Note the lone egg off to the side. It had a bit of mud on it and so it was not allowed to sit with the rest of the loot.

Here are the girls practicing their dance moves while watching HAIRSPRAY for the 189th time.

Off to bed as I am sure to be waken early by the candy junkies!

I got nothin’. Not that it wasn’t a fun and creative day but not much to blog home about. Molly volunteered in Ginger’s preschool class today. She had them decorate confetti filled eggs and then hid them for a mini-egg hunt. It was fun I think the kids liked it. Then there was a playdate for the girls while Joe and Jake and I went to an intro to scuba diving lesson. It was really fun, but it definitely seperated the surface snorklers from the scuba divers! My husbands ears would not clear, nor would the spit in his mouth or the water up his nose. So he will be watching me from the surface while I dive down deep on our next exotic vacation. Later I got to meet up with Dawn and her lovely, well behaved children to try to solve my
lame $^& slow computer problems, while Jake went to his break dancing class. He now has a friend spending the night and the girls and the dog are all sleeping peacefully. My poor husband had an emergency service call and had to go out to work and is not back yet. Poor man.
Tomorrow we get to do some baking to bring to a Homeschool Fair at out Rec Center.
So hopefully tomorrow I’ll have something.